Taking the first step in exchange partnerships Erasmus Project

Project Title

Taking the first step in exchange partnerships

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Coenecoop College, Waddinxveen would very much like to set up a project entailing an exchange programme with IES Las Canteras, Madrid, Spain. It would involve a group of around sixty-five third year students (aged fourteen+) from the bilingual group of both schools and three teachers, as well as engaging the help of colleagues, other students, administrative staff and parents.
The background of the project stems from the ever-changing face of what is considered to be Dutch or Spanish. Many students in the Netherlands nowadays, have a very diverse cultural background. The question is whether Spanish students have just as a diverse background and how does the influx or lack of such diversity affect their view of life and other people?
Our objective is to broaden the horizon of our students and enrich their world-view by strengthening the relationships between our two schools. This would be supported by the development of cooperative skills used by the students during the project in a second language, (English) The project would involve discovering the effects of cultural diversity, for example due to fluctuating migration of people throughout the ages, including the present day. The exchange programme would provide the students with actual first-hand experience of daily life in each other’s country, and could confirm or eradicate certain ‘pre-conceptions’ about the other’s culture compared to that of their own. For the long-term, we believe that such an exchange project would help both schools as a whole to understand Europe’s diverse and rich cultural background and be more accepting of others. By making our findings known on the school websites, through Facebook and the media, would further help in promoting the impact of the project. In short, it would pave the way for more open-mindedness and understanding for the future on both sides.

The methods would be as follows:

Before the exchange:

– The students would gather information about the other country and compare it to one’s own ideas and prejudices as well as the prevalent image of the other country presented by the media

During the exchange visit:

– get to know each other through interviews and playing games and through sports.

– show each other one’s own environment (village, house etc), for example by way of a scavenger hunt

– work in small groups (Dutch-Spanish mix) together on a project: involving the shared history of inclusion and exclusion of minorities in immigrant groups – comparing the past with the present; for example the expulsion of Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula to the Netherlands. Or the trade with and the exploitation of far away peoples in the 16th/17th century, compared to the present-day position of minority immigrant groups.

– Finally, give a presentation of the findings and conclusions of small groups, using video images to other members of the bilingual stream, parents and other classes at school. A local newspaper will be invited to view the presentations of the project results so as to make these findings known to the general public.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 33204 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stichting Coenecoop College & Country: NL

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO DE ENSEÑANZA SECUNDARIA LAS CANTERAS