Exploring and Developing Cultural Identities in the UK and Spain Erasmus Project

Project Title

Exploring and Developing Cultural Identities in the UK and Spain

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

In 2017 the UK school received funding for a KA1 project & built strong links with Ausias March, Madrid where Content & Language Integrated Learning practices were observed.The UK & Spanish schools want to embed the partnership into school life so the link we have begun to cultivate will be sustained by extending work to build on cultural identities.We agree that these elements of the curriculum which teach pupils to be open minded & curious about places & people across Europe / Internationally- life skills that are essential for our pupils to develop in order to for them to appreciate similarities & celebrate differences between us & be considerate, tolerant & good citizens.
In order to address our EU aims and objectives, staff need to immerse themselves in the cultures of both England/Spain.Throughout the project there would be four LTTAs. Many of the UK staff aren’t widely travelled so it’s crucial for staff to gain firsthand experience of Spanish language / culture & develop authentic language skills in order to teach this confidently.The staff from Ausias March are eager to learn from the UK citizenship curriculum,as they don’t teach this & must be seen within a real context for learning.
Through the project we want to involve our staff & pupils with shaping the nature of the project. We want to develop cultural playground games from UK &Spain.These could be rolled out by pupil ambassadors. During LTT events staff would learn these authentic games.The UK school is very multicultural &diverse,whereas Ausias March is not.By involving parents/carers in writing a cookbook around cultural celebrations, they could explain celebrations& foods that are made.In return, the cookbook written by the pupils at Ausias March would support UK pupils to try unfamiliar foods.
We would also create a shared story about a character who travels to UK /Spain going on adventures around the city,using key landmarks/ features of each capital city.
During LTTAs the PSHCE curriculums would be developed as well as working on specific objectives to address culture &heritage.Ultimately this work would be used to develop shared culturally inclusive outcomes which address the UK & Spanish schools EU priorities.This work needs to be done face to face.
LTTAs are necessary to see this work in action in both schools & provide a context for staff & pupils to share, celebrate &develop our cultural work.

We will monitor & evaluate the project throughout the project lifespan to ensure that we are meeting our project’s objectives, assess impact and success. This monitoring and evaluation will be shared by the IWP with both schools, during LTTAs as well as via other communication methods (eg email, whatsapp, skype etc.).

The UK school has been a part of Global Learning programme and has access to their audits/indicators of success. These will be completed by both schools at the start of the project, at the end of Yr 1 & at the end of the project. This will assess &measure the success, impact & effectiveness of the culturally inclusive curriculum objectives, to evaluate how pupil diversity is celebrated & valued and active global citizenship is promoted across the curriculum.

Units of work created through the project which had been trialled will have their effectiveness reported on by subject leaders in both schools.They will ensure that there is consistency &progression across the school.This will be reported to the IWP to ensure that this work meets the overarching EU priorities & objectives.

The IWG will monitor progress outcomes through staff PDI’s in both schools, observations of lessons which demonstrate how the work done is incorporated in to the curriculum, questionnaires of staff confidence & knowledge, pre / post visit knowledge evaluated & tracked. UK staff will use the Europass Language Passport as a way to measure the Spanish language progress.

The Spanish / UK school links will be a source of knowledge and inspiration as to new ways of thinking, especially as we have already developed strong links with each other over the past 2 years and both schools have demonstrated a firm & consistent commitment to all this work.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 37320 Eur

Project Coordinator

Parkfield Primary School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• CEIP Ausias March