Helping and Learning Without Borders Erasmus Project

Project Title

Helping and Learning Without Borders

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

“Helping and Learning Without Borders” is a two-year project inspired by a “Learning To Learn” training (funded under Erasmus+ KA101 project) and created in cooperation between six secondary schools from six countries: Poland, Finland, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Its aim is to answer a growing global desire to find out what we need to change in our educational systems to make the difference; the difference between producing pupils who simply pass or fail exams and producing independent lifelong learners who can thrive in the fast moving, knowledge based economy of the 21st century. With this project and its focus on Personal Learning and Thinking Skills and volunteering we want to give our schools an opportunity to redress the imbalance between the content driven testing culture we now have and a creative, active approach to learning. Thanks to the project, the involved schools will learn how to help young people to become better learners, both in school and out by cultivating habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently, and creatively.
We want to do it mainly by:
– exploring and introducing Personal Learning and Thinking Skills framework to our schools,
– using innovative methodologies based on the latest discoveries in neuroscience: Project Based Learning and Cooperative Learning, while working on the topics of the environment protection,
– involving our students into voluntary service.

Every participant school will engage all the students willing to participate (at least 18) aged 15-18 and at least 3 teachers to help with the realization of the project. These teachers and pupils will take part in all kinds of events and activities that will be prepared at hosting schools for the local community and the participants from other countries. They will be involved in updating the eTwinning Twinspace, blogging and managing the YouTube channel, festivals, charity actions, handcraft workshops and markets, forestation, art galleries, creating the Project Eco-Bag, preparing and disseminating the PLTS posters, volunteering. At least 18 student participants and 3 -5 teachers from each school will take part in mobilities abroad and will get involved in project activities in a partner school.
We will set a volunteer pupils group in each partner school and they will serve a regular voluntary community service during the project.
We will create Learning Communities in our schools – all participating teachers will position themselves as part of the learning community, not as the expert in the room, they will share their knowledge and skills with other teachers through open door approach, during their lessons, they will describe and reflect on their thinking and learning and use language that supports learners (Learnish). They will focus as much on the process of learning as the content and allow students to lead. Each country will choose one area to explore from the PLTS framework: independent enquierers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self managers or effective participators. The project participants will learn what all the areas mean practically and then become the ambassadors of Learning To Learn approach in their schools.
In our project we want to concentrate on three main aspects: water, earth and air as the key elements in our environment, and then we want to deal with ways to protect it. As these aspects are part of the curriculum they will be dealt with in school lessons, with particular focus on the development of critical and cause and effect thinking. At our LTTA meetings we will work together with our partners on these issues with the use of Project Based Learning and Cooperative Learning approach.
We will open the project’s YouTube channel and blog related to Helping, Learning to Learn, Environment Protection and Healthy life. We will use it to promote learning for life, active citizenship, pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour, and volunteering.

In the long-term, we expect the project to have the following impacts on all the present and future STUDENTS:
– Better emotional and social wellbeing
– Development of Learning To Learn competence
– Considerable increase in Key competences, social skills, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
– A big improvement of linguistic skills,
– Enjoying maths and science
– A bigger awareness of global and environmental issues and the influence we have on our planet
– Improvements on the sense of solidarity, cooperation, team spirit, communication skills
-Gaining Volunteering work spirit
This all will make them well-equipped to deal with the complex demands of 21st century living and working.
The project will reduce the early-school leaving. The teachers will adapt the style of teaching to the changing world and will feel less lonely in their classrooms thanks to being a part of the Professional Learning Community.

Project Website

http://ixlo.sosnowiec.pl/helping-and-learning-without-borders-en/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 195278 Eur

Project Coordinator

IX Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. Wislawy Szymborskiej w Sosnowcu & Country: PL

Project Partners

• 5th General Lyceum of Thessaloniki
• Mäntsälän lukio
• IES CAYETANO SEMPERE
• Escola Secundária Jaime Moniz
• Liceo delle Scienze Umane e Linguistico “Danilo Dolci”