STOP BULLYING: TAKE A STAND AND LEND A HAND Erasmus Project

Project Title

STOP BULLYING: TAKE A STAND AND LEND A HAND

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: Creativity and culture; Access for disadvantaged; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

All teachers, students and parents, as a principle, enjoy a positive study atmosphere in schools, the feeling of normality on playgrounds or at home. Unfortunately such state of things can alter so easily towards aggression and bullying and we must be prepared with the right answers and actions. Our goal was to create a background characterized as peaceful, relaxing and creative for our students so that they can feel safe, jolly and confident in themselves, able to strengthen their personalities, to train and learn to be the trustworthy Europe’s citizens of tomorrow.
The basic approach of the project ” STOP BULLYING: TAKE A STAND AND LEND A HAND” was to offer the educational community reliable tools to fight and annihilate all forms of aggression among children and to model the young personalities in the way to make them proud of themselves when they are adults, and not look back ashamed and disoriented. As asserted beforehand, we designed strategies to facilitate inclusion of students with foreign backgrounds, to smoothen the road of integration and to identify the causes that led to the occurrence of the problems. Our students benefited from innovative learning methods within a friendlier educational environment, able to respond to their individual needs and to cope with cultural diversity. Tolerance and respect for the self and for the others were two key concepts of this approach having as purpose the social inclusion for our students. As for the theoretical training, the project addressed the need to offer students competences and skills for accessing the next level in their professional formation, for active citizenship, voluntarism and future employment in changing international and local communities. All these desiderata required nurturing of qualities such as: team work ability, leadership, decision making, mistake assuming, sincerity, openness, being emphatic, pursuing a common goal, supporting the members in need and others that we promoted through the methodology we applied to our activities.
The participant countries were Romania, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Portugal. Out of these six organizations, only two have participated in a European Union granted project in the 3 years preceding this application, Romania and Portugal. The target group of students is aged between ten and sixteen; it includes students who are socially disadvantaged, who manifest behavioral disorder, students with special needs and migrants who need to be integrated in their new groups of friends and classes. Cyprus retreated and the tasks were redistributed according to the annex.
To review the most important items of our project, it is worth reminding the following points:
• Our priorities were defined by social inclusion and promoting the acquisition of skills and competences.
• Our most relevant topics were: ”Access for disadvantaged”, ”Inclusion – equity” and ” Creativity and culture”.
• Our objectives were related to: diminishing the values representative for the bullying phenomenon by at least half of the present level, making a common chart and protocol against bullying, improving the learning techniques based on collaboration and promoting the European values of dignity, equality and human rights.
• The activities were shared in four phases: ”Let’s know ourselves and one another”, ”Speak out your feelings”, ”Together is better” and ”Classroom management”
• There were three transnational meetings having as topics: planning steps, adjustment and comparing indicators to measure efficiency of implementation.
• There were six learning teaching training activities that contained a variety of activities in accordance with our priorities and objectives.
• The results of our partnership were both theoretical and practical and included: a significant drop in the number of bullying cases; a better rate of integration of the migrant students in the school community, a guide called ”I am not ashamed of my deeds”, observation, progress and work sheets, a ”behavioral contract”, theatre plays, exhibitions, a set of pedagogical approaches, a common strategy of fighting bullying, templates of formal and non-formal activities focused on the project topics, role-playing materials.
• The impact was assured at all requested levels through making the project visible and applying in classes all that the project brings in the education process.
• The dissemination plan was respected thoroughly, setting examples of good practices for other stakeholders.
• The sustainability was assured by each partner through using the ensuing material and techniques in regular and optional courses, establishing new partnerships to go on this work and through maintaining the project ethos after its end. Thus, the longer term benefits become clear, we are intent on sharing our experience with our colleagues that show interest in this respect.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 117380 Eur

Project Coordinator

Scoala Gimnaziala Magura & Country: RO

Project Partners

• Szkola Podstawowa nr 2
• Agrupamento de Escolas João da Silva Correia
• COLLEGE GERARD PHILIPPE
• Nikolaideio Gymnasio
• Cirkevne gymnazium sv Mikulasa
• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO DI ALTOPASCIO