Connected∞Learning∞Communities – Motivated and Engaged! Erasmus Project

Project Title

Connected∞Learning∞Communities – Motivated and Engaged!

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Context
The schools involved in the project were building on at least five years of input and previous experience through other collaborative EU projects and training by specialists and experts. They had been involved in previous Comenius projects and the school leading and coordinating from London, had also participated in the Connecting Classrooms programme, a scheme developed through Global Learning – a partnership between the British Council and the U.K Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and, as such had experience of supporting and working with schools in Africa.

The schools in this Erasmus scheme were an exemplary range of primary, secondary, and special educational needs facilities and we found that the differences in both the culture and educational abilities of the different schools, provided an immensely important strength to the project’s validity. Each partner had worked with at least one of the schools involved and, as we knew of each other, it meant that we were much clearer from the outset as to what we were aiming to achieve and the hurdles that might face us.

What nobody could have foreseen was the global Covid pandemic which severely delayed our timetable and the impact this had on people being able to travel and physically attend meetings and the ability to deliver projects in school. All participant schools turned to on-line virtual teaching and for a while our Erasmus project had to take a back burner. We were able to get an extension of 6 months to complete the project and once travel reopened, we worked very hard to complete all the physical mobilities and where staff were unable to travel, we delivered CPD virtually.

Objectives

During the project timeline, we spent a lot of time looking at each other’s curriculum models, sharing best practice and exchanging ideas. As the project developed, we identified that a project based learning approach worked very well across all the different ability groups, especially increasing motivation and participation in learning for those with Special Needs.
One consequence of the project was that we were able to implement, evidence and evaluate a collaborative project that all schools participated in which enabled pupils from different cultures and backgrounds to watch and learn from each other. This was done through physical on and off site training events and the use of digital resources – which we had trialled throughout the project. Training and evaluation of workshops were led by project coordinators supported by external inputs with specialist expertise in relevant theoretical fields. We included a wide audience of key stakeholders, including school Governors, neighbouring schools and sharing with other teachers involved in other Erasmus projects.

The rationale behind our training was based on the theories of positive psychology (recognising strengths and building resilience) and intrinsic motivation (requiring autonomous, related and competence) so were able to deliver engaging learning (flow) that hosted and excelled engagement in conceptualizing academic learning and 21st century skills to individuals’ futures. As the pandemic continued, all the schools found that a focus on wellbeing and social and emotional development became a key focus and we looked to build on learning and development in this area to support pupils’ return to school.

Methodology

As the project unfolded, we made a big effort in ensuring there was always transparency in aim, understanding and commitment from the start and across all mediums. Transnational meetings were used as an opportunity to take part in high quality professional collaboration; sharing and planning further the project’s digital resources and action plans for next steps.
We used the coordinator meetings for the schools to gather and feedback data from any baseline and teacher assessment tools, curriculum approach and how classroom applicable they were. We had coaching sessions as a form of ‘train the coordinator’ including looking at the use of online training tools. The coordinators learnt together and shared expertise thus professionally developing their role as disseminators to their own staff, encouraging the embedding of best practice in their own schools. The teacher training mobility sessions were organised in such a way that consolidated and shared good practice across staff teams both in our own institutions and across the partner schools.

Results and Impact

As the project developed, it became clear that social and emotional learning with a focus on wellbeing was vital in helping staff and pupils deal with the challenges being faced by the pandemic, and that people with strong social-emotional skills were better able to cope with the situation. We were aiming at the outset to facilitate pupil-led (and therefore autonomous and related) meaningful challenges that would allow them to apply their strengths, deal with setbacks and see real success applying creative, innovative skills in order to problem solve.

From the perspective of the students, after three years of working with particular groups with focus on developing emotional intelligence, social skills and elements of PBL we witnessed differences in behaviour, relationships and motivation between the groups staff worked with at the same level three years ago. Pupils were beginning to develop increasing independence and motivation, developing better cooperation and understanding of each other, and that growing engagement, especially in projects, was having an impact on attendance, behaviour and attitude to learning. Through the teacher CPD sessions, we started to develop a transnational key language around wellbeing, PBL and SEL and this was used across the participant schools.

All of the partner schools shared positive results with each other, e.g. The Polish school showed us a film about a healthy food project they had involved pupils in and After School club activities focussed on wellbeing which they delivered to families via zoom. The American Academy Junior school in Cyprus talked with students about their feelings having lost a year and missing out on graduation/end of year closure activities and how, through digital media, they were able to express and share their thoughts in the form of a film made by the pupils themselves. The students at Red Balloon Educational Centre also took the opportunity to make a film about their educational establishment, which using ideas developed through Circle Time (based on social and emotional learning) they were able to ‘front up’, speaking in front of the camera showing increased self confidence and belief. Shaftesbury High School changed its curriculum offer and embedded wellbeing and project based learning into the heart of the school, using SEL at the core with an ethos of Positivity, Wellbeing and Empowerment

The sharing of ideas around staff wellbeing had an impact in the schools too, leading to a better work-life balance between work and private time, improved relationships between members of the staff helped foster mutual support in the staff meetings and across curriculum planning and sharing resources.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 94927,09 Eur

Project Coordinator

SHAFTESBURY HIGH SCHOOL & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Red Balloon Learning Centre
• AMERICAN ACADEMY JUNIOR SCHOOL
• Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych nr 9 w Krakowie