GATES AND KEYS Erasmus Project

Project Title

GATES AND KEYS

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

A common challenge for the European school systems is the prevention of early school leaving. Tackling early school leaving is first and foremost an investment in the future. Young people who leave school early are at increased risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. They are often in more precarious and less well-paid jobs than those with training. Generally, children from low education and socially disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely than others to leave the school system early.
With our project we got support to develop conducive and supportive learning environments that focused on the needs of individual pupils, especially the disadvantaged ones. We promoted a relevant and engaging learning environment for them.
The main goal of our project entitled “Gates and Keys” was to create a meaningful and motivating learning atmosphere where they would have the sense of belonging. The pupils were able to realize how important it was to possess a school education and a professional education so that they could take care for their future concerns and become active and responsible citizens who could contribute to Europe. Besides, the project was framed on different levels to reach as many pupils as possible and to motivate them to gain interesting and positive experiences which kept up their motivation for learning.
We experienced that extra-curricular activities did not only help students to catch up and to revive their interest in learning, but also helped them to re-build a positive relationship with the school and its staff, as well as providing fulfilling activities which boosted self-esteem and reduced frustration.
As early-school leaving is closely related to social exclusion, we blended the discovery of reasons of social exclusion, such as prejudices and cultural barriers with the factors of early school leaving. Students discovered themselves through discovering the “other”. That’s why we carried out our studies in the form of a transnational project which offered chances to compare and discover.
For years, we have been confined to see through the key holes, which has caused us to misconceive the big picture. It was high time we had found the right keys and opened the doors. In order to take our place in the big picture and touch it to better understand , we, 8 partners from different countries or backgrounds, Turkey, 2 Italian Schools, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary,Poland and Denmark came together and had the idea of this transnational project which would give us the clues to be able to find the keys in the maze.
Mobilities of both students and teachers across Europe constituted an integral part of our approach, along with the use of information and communication technologies. Our students participated in activities in multinational teams and acquired active, hands-on experiences by engaging with exploring, evaluating, mapping, meeting volunteer teams, music, dance and art.
In a united Europe students and teachers greatly benefited from working together with partners from other European countries, thus they were able to learn to understand and accept other cultures and their traditions. Furthermore, they raised their cultural awareness, broadened their horizon and learnt a lot about working on projects in teams, connecting them to school.
With this project we mainly addressed to pupils in the age of 14-17 who attended secondary school. At every participating school there was a class or group of pupils who worked on the topics with various subject teachers. Besides an own website, where we published our project work for all people, we also made Erasmus+ corners to attract people who cannot read about our project in the internet. Through the activities the joy about learning was supported in a long term way.
The students involved in the project used languages, ICT, theatre, cinema, music, photo, arts, culture, local dances, traditions and local customs, as vehicles for research and to communicate the results of their work.
Our students got familiar with abstract concepts and were able to encounter with real problems rather than ready made problems. In this way, they had the opportunity of learning to deal with uncertainity and making decisons.
Finally, the results of our interaction reached our schools through products such as Booklets: religions-similarities and difference, Rituals and My Health Guidebook and Poster:How can we reduce racial prejudice and racism? , a website, exhibitions, ideas for lesson plans, workshops and presentations.
At the end of the project the reports of our round table discussions were collected.The proposals were identified to reduce school drop-out schools-wide.
The project was developed through different stages which the schools involved run simultaneously, with a joint work event at a distance.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 235035 Eur

Project Coordinator

Behcet Canbaz Anadolu Lisesi & Country: TR

Project Partners

• Ady Endre – Bay Zoltán Középiskola és Kollégium
• Thyholm Skole
• Stadtteilschule Poppenbüttel
• I.T.E.S. “A. Fraccacreta”
• BIRMINGHAM METROPOLITAN COLLEGE
• Zespol Szkol Ponadgimnazjalnych w Sadownem
• ITI “G.B. Bosco Lucarelli”