Promoting Inclusion and Motivation Through Peer Support Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting Inclusion and Motivation Through Peer Support

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

“Promoting Inclusion and Motivation Through Peer Support” was an Ersamus+ project involving four schools in Sweden, Scotland, Germany and The Netherlands. There is an increasing number of pupils not reaching their potential due to motivational, transitional and exclusive issues. We have investigated how we can reduce these barriers by meeting different organisations and performing activities in each country before, during and after each mobility performed. We believe that when empowering pupils to understand and overcome these barriers they can act as mentors and support for their peers and reach success in life both on a social and educational level. We have developed a functional system of peer support and co-coaching fitting for our different school organisations as a result of this project.
Within school, our primary objective is to assist pupils to perform the best of their ability, irrespective of social background or disability. Through the project, we have addressed issues that affect all school-age pupils with a specific focus on overcoming the problematic transition between school forms, the feeling of exclusion and other issues teenagers deal with hindering them to perform in school.
The aim was to address the barriers of learning which impede full participation in education which were identified and we divided responsibility as follows: Trinity Academy led the work on transitional problems between primary and secondary school and the difficulties this can bring for some pupils and how to alleviate these; Gymnasium Beekvliet focused on motivational problems; Waldschule Schwanewede led the work on peer support through workshops devoted to coaching and the use of peers to engage less able pupils and Sandagymnasiet focused on integrational activities through visiting organisations working within this field and the creation of activities to be performed in these groups which were meant to reduce barriers between different groups at school, e.g. refugees or pupils not yet attending national programmes.
The project was launched in September 2017. The official opening event was held in Scotland in January 2018. Further travels with pupils were completed in September 2018 in the Netherlands, January 2019 in Germany and September 2019 in Sweden. In between these were project meetings organised in each country to ensure the smooth procedure of the project.
20-30 pupils, aged 16-18 years, from each country were involved in the Learning/Teaching/Training activities, and each school has held one international meeting which has involved workshops and interaction with pupils from other countries as well as organisations and outside parties working with transitions, inclusion and motivational issues. The participants have created hands-on activities to learn and implement the knowledge acquired. These activities have been summarized in e.g. leaflets and films displayed on each school’s web page, our joint project web page and on eTwinning to function as methodological toolkits which are part of the end products of this project.
As the aim was to fully utilise the pupil’s voice, another vital component of our project was to motivate and enthuse young people. Therefore, considerable emphasis has been on the pupils themselves leading their learning using active learning approaches. The activities they have undertaken and the knowledge they have acquired within the project have been presented and, when feasible, implemented in each school’s curriculum and development plan and thus have been implemented within the whole school.
Through these transnational collaborations and visits, we have enhanced the pupils’ linguistic and digital competences but also fostered a greater understanding for and response to cultural diversity thus combating discrimination. This has been reached through for example home hosting and social activities. We have witnessed a more positive attitude towards the participating countries, towards the EU as well as a noticeable change within the pupils as they are now better equipped with self-awareness and self-esteem to facilitate inclusion and transition in other social contexts, they will find themselves in, in the future.
Alongside pupils’ activities, teachers involved in this project have discussed, faced and developed their ability to meet the pupils’ needs through workshops focusing on motivational and inclusive issues based on research within these fields, lectures given by guest speakers and visits to organisations. The project has had an impact on our schools’ organisation through the implementation of peer support, buddy systems and cross- or extracurricular activities initiated. Our schools will benefit from this project on a longer-term through the critical approach to the existing value systems which were highlighted through various workshops and analyses performed on both local and international levels.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 129465 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sandagymnasiet Jönköpings kommun & Country: SE

Project Partners

• Gymnasium Beekvliet
• Kooperative Gesamtschule Waldschule Schwanewede
• Trinity Academy