School and family (S&F): strengthening the bond. The exchange of good educational practices to improve the democratic participation of pupils and their families within school life. Erasmus Project

Project Title

School and family (S&F): strengthening the bond.
The exchange of good educational practices to improve the democratic participation of pupils and their families within school life.

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: Gender equality / equal opportunities; Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

School and family (S&F) is strategic partnership based on an educative innovation experience developed from 2/2016 to 6/2019 by Colegio Rural Agrupado Entretierras-Spain alongside the University of Murcia.
The purpose of the activity was to increase the participation of the student’s families in certain school activities, therefore helping to improve the academic performance of the children and promote a sense of belonging within the school community. Now, through the development of an Erasmus+ project 2019-21 (KA229) scheduled for 24 months, the intention is to take advantage of the results of the aforementioned experience to transfer them to the European context.
Therefore, the main objective of the project is to increase the democratic participation of students and families in school life, and consequently achieve greater social inclusion within the local community, country and Europe.
Although the project focuses on social inclusion as a horizontal priority, it also aims to improve children’s access to education and train families in high quality care for young children, and address issues such as early school leaving, gender equality and fairness in education. As well as this, the project seeks to modernise and internationalise the participating schools, share their cultural characteristics and create impact so that the results are beneficial for other schools on a local, national and European level.

There are five primary schools participating in the project: Grundschule Herzogenaurach-Germany, Istituto Comprensivo Ada Negri-Italy, Pubiczna Szoła Postawowa nr 2 im. Jana Pawła 2-Poland, Bohrskolen-Denmark and C.R.A. Entretierras-Spain as the project coordinator. In this sense, the direct recipients will be approximately: 251 innovative teachers who are motivated to continue their training, 4837 students of varied ages and nationalities, and 3420 families of different socioeconomic status. Indirect participates are also considered to be universities, parents’ associations, local social organisations, city councils, educational authorities and the media.
With regards to the profile of the participants, it is important to point out that they come from countries of different geographical locations, history, culture and educational systems; however they all share the same common concern of increasing cohesion among the members of their community, increase the feeling of belonging to the European Union and improving their teaching methods to cater for their diverse students.

In order to achieve the aims of the project, a cooperative methodology is used which begins with teacher training through the exchange of good practices and multicultural educational innovations, based on selected topics in five transnational learning, teaching and training activities. Next, these experiences will be applied in twelve common local activities for the students and families of each partner school. Following this, all the activities will be evaluated by the participants and condensed into valuable results transferable to other educational centres throughout Europe.

To guarantee adequate communication and dissemination of the programmed work, a virtual link is to be included through eTwinning, an initial transnational management meeting between the leaders of each country, six local coordination and training teacher meetings, a shared website, contact with local authorities, media, the publication of four digital newsletters that will document the results and the writing of two official evaluation reports (Mid-term and final)

The expected results are:
-Educational and cultural experiences.
-Harmony of teachers with colleagues, families and students from other groups.
-Increase in training and motivation of teachers who will then have a positive impact on their students.
-Greater gender equality.
-Prevention of absenteeism and early school leaving.
-Acquisition of skills by families to enable them to educate.
-School-family understanding.
-Participation of students and families within school life.
-Greater communication between members of the educational community.
-Enrichment of the “European Development Plan” of the participating schools.
-Transfer of the created materials through an international publication.

Finally, the impact and expected long-term benefits relate to the acquisition of teaching skills to cooperate with the families of students in order to improve social inclusion and school performance, broadening the pedagogical and personal horizons of teachers through working alongside European colleagues, improvement of the social and civic competence of students through greater democratic participation, increase of their cultural background and feeling of belonging to the European Union, increase in the families’ trust in their school, improvement of school harmony, promotion and opening of the schools to the European dimension, and possible continuation of the project after the funding period.

Project Website

http://sites.google.com/erasmusschoolandfamily.com/erasmusschoolandfamily/home?authuser=0

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 101000 Eur

Project Coordinator

COLEGIO RURAL AGRUPADO ENTRETIERRAS & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Bohrskolen
• Publiczna Szkola Podstawowa nr 2 im. Jana Pawla II w Szydlowcu
• Grundschule Herzogenaurach
• Istituto comprensivo Ada Negri