Profession Challenge in Europe – Be the Architect of your Future Erasmus Project

Project Title

Profession Challenge in Europe – Be the Architect of your Future

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: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

BACKGROUND
Early school leaving is often caused by disparities affecting disadvantaged learners. They decide to give up on their education as they cannot handle the failures and because they do not know who to turn to for help.
They feel abandoned and simply withdraw not being able to find solutions on their own.
Students from partners countries had a chance to experience the world from another perspective (being a part of an exchange program and sharing the life of their partners), break stereotypes and become more tolerant and open to differences.
SOCIAL CONTEXT
In partner schools there are students with special needs and students that risk social exclusion. Some students’ families have not got florid finances, so this project gave them a possibility to improve their English, increase their interests and motivation, develop international understanding and cooperation and enlarging their cultural horizons. This project also gave our students the opportunity to compare their culture, customs and knowledge with peers living in other countries of Europe.

PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS:
– Low self-esteem,
– Bad planning,
– Learning difficulties,
– Feeling of abandonment and rejection,
– Peer pressure,
– Unbalanced Life,
– Stress management.

OBJECTIVES:
– Promote positive attitude towards school and education,
– Encourage understanding about self-improvement,
– Raise awareness of critical age phenomenon,
– Develop innovative strategies and methods in problem solving,
– Encourage students to talk about their feelings and emotions,
– Enable students to discover strategies of effective time management,
– Provide students with a possibility to present their findings to European audience,
– Study the educational systems of different countries,
– Exchange best practices,
– Develop students’ and teachers’ ICT skills,
-Improve students’ and teachers’ competence of English,
-Disseminate the results to the partners’ local and national communities and to the Erasmus + community,
– Motivate students to strive for a higher level of education.

Number and profile of participants:
There were 6 partner schools and 6 short-term exchanges, each for 25 coming students and 25 hosts, each school provided 2 teachers to accompany them. The coordinators from all partner schools have experience in either taking part of European projects or applying or simply working with partners on international level. Indirectly entire schools benefitted from the project as long as local communities involved in activities during meetings and during promotional actions.
Sharing the knowledge and experience was boosted and diversified due to the combination of general schools and vocational ones, where students can learn from each other via mixing academic and practical subjects.

RESULTS during the project – students became more aware of their weaknesses and abilities, they developed socially due to the fact that they were introduced to new teaching systems and new environments. Both students and teachers used the potential of good practises and learned form each other. Project with international scope always result in developing students’ self-esteem.
Results on the completion/ Longer Term Benefits – creating educational tools to be used in every partner school, adapting the examples of good practices from each other, establishing a long-lasting cooperation and support between partner schools. Gaining knowledge on local job market, and the awareness about the necessity of long-learning to fit the changing employment trends.

Impact on teachers:
– Improved understanding on critical age symptoms and behaviors,
– Expanded skills to cope with a stressed student,
– Increased ability to meet student needs,
– Enhanced cooperative working strategies,
– Incorporating each other’s teaching and learning activities.
Impact on students:
– Improved self-confidence,
– Increased desire to succeed,
– Increased confidence in hard and stressful subjects,
– Better stress management,
– Improved communication and language skills,
– Enhanced understanding of the need for cooperative working in all levels,
– Established independent learning strategies,
– Increased awareness of possibilities of future education and employment in other countries.
– Enhanced recognition of the importance of being a tolerant European citizen.
Impact on participating organisations:
– Expanded range of opportunities to complement the policies and procedures of each school,
– Improved connection between the school and the wider community,
– Improved curricula in all the schools by focusing on the project’s objectives,
– Enhanced quality of the teaching and learning process,
– Enhanced ability to apply for projects and funding,
– Expanded network of potential partners.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 216050 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych nr 4 w Bydgoszczy & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Gymnasio Agias Paraskevis Geroskipou
• Skrundas secondary school
• Elektrenu profesinio mokymo centras
• Bafra Ataturk Anadolu Lisesi
• Dr Peter Beron Secondary School with Intensive Language Studies