Mind Yourself! A positive partnership Erasmus Project

Project Title

Mind Yourself! A positive partnership

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: Creativity and culture; Inclusion – equity; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

‘Mind Yourself! A positive partnership’ is an innovative project that intertwines subject knowledge and employability skills with a much needed focus on improving emotional and physical health and wellbeing for young people in Scotland and Spain. This project has grown from a previous Erasmus+ partnership between Carluke High School and Institut Fransesc Ferrer I Guardia during which participants became increasingly aware of interests and issues which young people have in common in both cultures.

‘Mind Yourself!’ has been designed around two strands. One of the project strands involves the formation of a team of Health and Wellbeing (HWB) Ambassadors who will carry out a clear remit across the duration of the project. The second strand will integrate an enhanced focus on Health and Wellbeing into the normal teaching and learning in the partner schools, in a truly interdisciplinary way.

The following objectives will be met:
HWB Ambassadors:
•Identify and select teams of HWB Ambassadors in each of the partner schools (15 students per school, approx. age 12-14 years old) – develop pupils’ employability skills by running a selection process.
•Support pupils to use their creativity and critical thinking when putting together their application to be involved
•Make use of eTwinning to virtually introduce and establish relationships between participants in partner schools prior to the mobility activities.
•Create a remit in conjunction with the Ambassadors team which outlines their role and intended impact on the wider school communities throughout the project. This remit will have as its aims:
•Investigate and share findings in relation to HWB issues experienced by young people in each school
•Identify and plan opportunities to participate in activities which aim to reduce the effects of negative experiences e.g. stress, anxiety, inactivity, isolation, and to promote positive thinking and action in relation to e.g. coping skills, resilience, fitness, healthy eating and group participation
•Create tools to share learning with others and bring about positive change in the school and wider community e.g. a ‘Healthy Mindsets’ App, Playlists for Positivity, creating Vlogs/Podcasts, supporting/leading workshops with peers and in associated Primary Schools following on from the activities participated in as a group
•Experience day-to-day life and communication in the partner school by participating in lessons, developing an understanding of and appreciation for the customs and culture of the host country whilst using their Modern Language and interpersonal skills to aid communication

Interdisciplinary Learning
While our project will involve a range of partners across curricular areas in both schools, key focus areas will be Modern Languages, Music and Computing/Digital Literacy. Many pupils across our schools in the age range of our HWB Ambassadors (approx. 200 per school) will be involved in learning about aspects of HWB across subject areas and applying their learning to promote positive and healthy living in a range of formats. The pieces of work created will be shared and used as teaching resources in the partner schools, and made available to the wider educational community. A large number of additional pupils will be involved in events during the mobility visits.

A range of inclusive methodologies will be used, including digital meeting spaces, platforms such as eTwinning, and face-to-face interactions, which will allow all participants to have equality of opportunity to take part in the project. The selection process relates explicitly to the Developing Young Workforce agenda in Scotland, and the transnational need to develop young people’s employability skills and engage in Higher Order Thinking.

As our participants work together they will know that they are creating something with real purpose, which will lead to an increased sense of pride in their work and raised expectations of the output of their group -self-motivating to achieve a high-quality end result and therefore high-quality learning as they work towards it. Teachers will be facilitators, leading and stepping back as appropriate so that learning is student-led, active and empowering. HWB outcomes are being addressed throughout the project, and also provide the safe learning environment that is a priority of Rights Respecting Schools and reflected in the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The desired result of improving students’ emotional and physical HWB, as well as developing their communication skills and digital competency skills for employability will be enhanced and positively affect a greater number of students in each of the partner schools beyond the duration of the funded project.
Participants and their peers will be upskilled with tools and ideas that will help them to embrace positive emotional and physical HWB and make inroads to applying these in their own lives.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 61560 Eur

Project Coordinator

Carluke High School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• INSTITUT FRANCESC FERRER I GUÀRDIA