Meeting and mirroring cultures Erasmus Project

Project Title

Meeting and mirroring cultures

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The project was initiated as a continuation of a long and fruitful collaboration between Ekenäs gymnasium in Finland, and Lykeio Leros in Greece. The two schools have been involved in mutual projects quite a few times, once before in an Erasmus+-project.

Both schools saw the needs for developing computer skills and distance working methods in their students, as well as for the teachers. There was also a wish for giving creative students means of expressing themselves, as well as letting them develop working skills with multimedia.

The aims and processes of the project were designed with this in mind. It was rather quickly seen that a third part would contribute to the project. A connection between the city of Sabaudia in Italy and Leros exists, therefore Giulio Cesare, a high school in Sabaudia, was also recruited into the project.

The objectives of the project were, in short, to

let the participants work with tasks reflecting and strengthening their knowledge of themselves and their own society and culture, and
by collaborating and sharing the projects letting the participants learn to know the society and culture of the other countries
expand and enhance the participating teachers skills in guiding students in working with multimedia projects
develop the participating schools’ skills in collaborating with each other over a distance, using modern technology
develop the participating students skills in expressing themselves through multimedial , such as photography, picture editing, digital storytelling, movie editing

The main partners were the aforementioned schools, working together for 18 months in order to reach the objectives mentioned. Local organisations were involved when deemed necessary, usually supporting a workshop or guiding students. None were collaborating with the project for an extended period.

The students formed groups at an early phase in the project, each group consisting of members from all the participating countries. These groups were supposed to work together on a chosen theme, for example, photography, language skills, dance, or similar. While working on the project, the student documented their efforts and progress, and the gathered material was supposed to be compiled and presented at the end of the project.

The main activities consisted of learning activities every 6th month, consisting of events and workshops supporting the aims of the projects. During these meetings (one in each participating country) students got to know local culture and customs, and were given guidance in working with the tasks they’d chosen to work with.

In between the meetings the students were expected to work together, using modern technology and communication tools, like cloud services, conference software, and other similar tools. Multimedia material was produced between and during the activities.

The aims of the project were in many ways achieved, while some of the objectives were proved a bit too challenging to reach for the students. The abstract aims, like cultural understanding, knowledge of oneself, strengthening knowledge of collaborative work methods and gained experience of working over a distance, were rather well reached – at least thorough understanding and experience was gained during the project. Many of the video/multimedia productions made by the students were also impressive, but in all fairness it has to be stated that the final level was a bit lower than the original project aims. The reasons for this might well be an overambitious project plan.

The participating students went through quite a long process, in which they were expected to participate in many different ways. Through mirroring their own, and the other participating countries’, cultures in different ways, grew a strong sense of local and global identity. The expected independence of each group and student gave them good experience to continue in various, collaborative ventures, national or international.

The participating teachers and schools also gained invaluable experience in working with open-ended projects, in counselling teams, locally as well as on a distance, and in utilizing modern technology for furthering these aims. The opportunity to work with schools from different countries, learning to see the similarities and differences between the organizations, also proved important.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 93534,25 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ekenäs gymnasium / Raseborgs stad & Country: FI

Project Partners

• istituto omnicomprensivo giulio cesare sabaudia
• Geniko Lykeio Lerou
• Karis-Billnäs gymnasium / Raseborgs stad