Teachers as learners, learners as teachers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Teachers as learners, learners as teachers

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Pedagogy and didactics; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Schools, as the training base of future generations, need the interaction of dedicated teachers and confident students. In order to develop our students’ basic and transversal skills and to make them active citizens and Europeans, teachers must be up-to-date with professional skills. Social and economic differences, immigration, unemployment, international labour market and a quickly-changing system of values in European societies are challenges for students and teachers. Meeting these 21st century realities demands a high quality of education and a growing level of internationality.

Our project “Teachers as learners, learners as teachers” with five partner schools from Norway, Denmark, Germany, Slovenia and Italy aimed at these priorities and focused on three work fields:

1) Teacher training in innovative, learner-centred methodologies, e.g. CLIL, flipped classrooms, Dunn&Dunn
2) Active involvement of students in the teaching and learning process and in democratic school organisation
3) Creating a concept for European Days as regular school events beyond the project

TEACHERS AS LEARNERS. Intense teacher training helped us improve our own teaching skills, adopt new views, methods and tools to be able to meet complex classroom realities which often mirror trends in society. A professional teacher trainer supported us. Our aim was to reach the best possible level of professionality and thus strengthen the profile of the teaching professions. Between two and eight teachers from each partner school participated in the project but many more were active in teacher training of the new methodologies. Teachers outside the project can use the brochures we created on the trained methodologies to test and adopt new approaches, even beyond the project.

LEARNERS AS TEACHERS. It is essential, though not always reality, to adapt our teaching and school organisation to the needs of learners. We wanted and needed our students’ feedback on the new methodologies tested and trained. Students were actively involved in the evaluation of our training lessons. They practised and improved transversal skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and communication competence. Nineteen to one hundred students per partner school, age group 13 to 17 years, were active project participants; between fourteen and twenty-six students per country travelled to the international project meetings. Many more students benefited from the project as they were learners in the training lessons of new methodologies and audience of the European Days.

We had chosen the topics “Migration”, “Entrepreneurship” and “Common values” for our three European Days which were prepared by teams of students from each partner school and implemented during three short-term pupils’ meetings. Active support by experts from companies, local and regional councils and charity organsiations offered a practical insight in these topics. Creating and testing a step-by-step concept for European Days enabled the partner schools and others to repeat this regular school event beyond the project. We found it essential to encourage active citizenship in multicultural societies, present the chances of a European career market, promote the importance of common values, social competences, entrepreneurialism, ICT-literacy and language learning.

Only transnationality makes it possible to learn from each other in such a great variety of topics and fields. We need to look beyond borders to experience new ways, attitudes, mentalities and to overcome hindering routines and stereotypes. Five short-term training activities, two for teacher training and three students’ exchanges with homestay, gave us an authentic experience of other nations’ culture and lifestyle. Intense communication had a major impact on the students’, teachers’ and host families’ language competences. They overcame language barriers and now speak our project language English more confidently and fluently.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 109640 Eur

Project Coordinator

Matthes-Enderlein-Gymnasium Zwönitz & Country: DE

Project Partners

• LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE E. BOGGIO LERA
• Efterskolen Solgården
• Spjelkavik ungdomsskole
• Osnovna Sola Verzej