Same but different Erasmus Project

Project Title

Same but different

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: Inclusion – equity; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The title of our project “Same but different” opened diverse possibilities for working on and thinking about. The EU Strategy 2020 proclaims important strategic targets which were also addressed in this project: our schools tried to work on integration, inclusion and social protection in order to tackle poverty and social exclusion.
Reducing the rates of early school leaving is a challenge for all of us and will enable children to live in dignity. The background is clear: Europe is in motion and the number of immigrants and refugees is still a challenge for politicians and for inhabitants of all European countries and especially for the European Educational Systems. In previous Comenius-Projects we had started with this as our target and we wanted to continue our work and to progress further.
Our objective was, and is, to foster better understanding between people and cultures, to show the profits of diversity and finally to help prevent and resolve intercultural conflicts. We started in our schools with our students from different countries and with different cultures and religions and with different profiles. We were five schools from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain and combined a variety of school types from primary (Portugal) to secondary (Denmark, Germany and Spain) and vocational schools (Italy) which permitted different views on students. Some of us had students with migration backgrounds and with inclusion needs.
Thus, we were able to combine our experiences and learn from each other. Through our activities we tried to develop intercultural competences, enhance learner autonomy and team competences by collaborative and experimental activities during our transnational meetings and the pre- and post processing. We are sure that the positive and motivating experiences we had will have a long-term effect on staff, current pupils and on colleagues in the future and lead to a more sustainable impact for each partner school.
The main activities undertaken and the results attained during our transnational meetings are the following:
a Logo-Competition and T-Shirts for students and teachers with the Logo to enhance corporate identity
information about the school community by creating a school board with regular information > promotion and dissemination
students presented themselves in eTwinning – profiles
questionnaires about personal experiences and attitudes towards discrimination, racism etc.
used and created learning and teaching materials (analogue and digital ones) concerned with the Intercultural Games
inclusive and intercultural games (this was a thread in all activities and meetings)
exchange about future plans and dreams (“Tree of life”) and developing how to deal with stereotypes and prejudices
participation in an eTwinning Project: International School Day of Nonviolence in January 2017– with photos, posters, balloons, etc.
external workshops with museums and cultural institutions
cultural visits during learning activities and project meetings
meeting asylum seekers and institutions which care for refugees
a “Fusion Menu” by cooking together and combining a variety of recipes from all partners
treasure hunts in various countries
videos made by students and staff
photo books
regular evaluations pre- and post processing of the activities
attending classes in the foreign countries
exchange with colleagues and students to compare and discuss educational methods, different ways of inclusion etc.
sport activities
cultural presentations (dances and traditional or local customs)
creating a radio programme with (traditional and modern) music and interviews with the students
a show with and for students
ICT- Workshops with students
farewell parties and presentation of results
a “Book of Cultures” where all of us added our experiences during the activities.
reports to the public in our homepages and local press
contacts and presentation of the project in an eTwinning platform

Some longer-term benefits are the following:
Students, families and staff
were able to practise their foreign languages, especially English
became more self-confident and motivated to make a greater effort to go on learning
enhanced intercultural learning by our common activities and knowing the families, friends, schools and all day-life of our partners
fostered ICT-skills by creating chats, presentations, website- reports, videos, photo-books etc.
Teachers of different countries started to discuss learning methods and materials and will keep in contact and go on exchanging ideas and materials. A further project is in progress in order to inclusive materials and supporting students with special needs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 110240 Eur

Project Coordinator

Martin-Luther-King-Gesamtschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Institut Torredembarra
• Agrupamento Escolas São Lourenço
• Holbergskolen
• I.S.I.S.S. “E. Mattei”