CULTURE AGAINST SCHOOL FAILURE Erasmus Project

Project Title

CULTURE AGAINST SCHOOL FAILURE

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

Culture against School Failure is a three-year Strategic Partnership for Schools Only. It involved eight secondary schools from Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. These schools educate and instruct pupils of diverse ethnic and cultural origins. Most of these learners came from underprivileged families with low opportunities for learning, traveling, and self-educating. They often lacked motivation, ignored the importance of foreign languages and ICT in the labor market. Many of these learners usually gave up when they faced difficulties in their learning. Therefore, our partnership primarily focused on these learners.

On the one hand, we first intended to enhance these learners’ motivation and personal investment in learning thanks to a collaborative challenge, offered them an opportunity to acquire new skills in ICT and foreign languages. On the other hand, we wanted to offer them an opportunity to meet other European learners of their age, to discover European cultures in native place and to put forward their own culture, to develop intercultural skills, and thus, to build their European citizenship.

To implement our partnership and hit our objectives we had shared tasks amongst us according to each other’s experience and expertise. We exchanged our know-how. Besides, a five-day ICT workshop was organized for teachers in November 2017. Participants learned how to use a variety of ICT tools, and how to share all created materials on a dynamic project website. Moreover, four Transnational Project Meetings were organized. These meetings offered teachers the possibility to observe classes in the hosting countries and to give ICT-based lessons themselves. Finally, they practiced foreign languages, got familiar with European cultural diversity, and acquired intercultural skills.

As regards our learners, we first made preliminary assessments and rated their comfort/ability level on a number of skills. Based on the results we purposefully created small groups that blended abilities and backgrounds and incorporated team-building activities carefully adapted to their abilities and possibilities. Besides, we had them complete tasks that involved using ICT and oral communication skills that they would likely need in their future professional life. Finally, they participated in a twelve-day cultural language camp which was organized in Poland. This camp put them in authentic communication situations amongst other European learners of their age and gave them good opportunities to develop cooperation skills and team spirit. They gained a sense of responsibility, high up their self-confidence and self-esteem, enlarged their cultural horizons, made new friends, and fostered tolerance.

To ensure the efficiency of our strategy, various evaluation tools were developed and used. Communication between partners via video conferencing took place every month to ensure the best follow up of the partnership activities. To disseminate our results as widely as possible we created a dynamic website, a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel. To sustain our partnership and its results we have agreed to continue our cooperation beyond the three years of the project via the Twinspace Portal.

As a result, this partnership has not only helped our learners, about four hundred, acquire new skills in ICT, foreign languages, intercultural skills and to build their European citizenship, but has raised their future social inclusion opportunities as well. Teachers involved, around fifty, were given the opportunity to develop their language and intercultural skills, and learned how to incorporate innovative digital teaching tools and project-based pedagogy in their teaching and have made their classes more engaging and more challenging for their pupils.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 185170 Eur

Project Coordinator

COLLEGE GEORGES POMPIDOU & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Zakladni umelecka skola Vsetin
• Szkola Podstawowa nr 5 im.Mieszka I
• New College Durham Academies Trust
• Nareg Armenian Schools
• Centros de Educación Integral S.L.
• 1st GYMNASIUM OF SITIA
• bakirkoy cumhuriyet ortaokulu