“Think global – act local”. Best practice vor der Haustür Erasmus Project

Project Title

“Think global – act local”.
Best practice vor der Haustür

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: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

“Think global – act local. Best practice vor der Haustür”.
The title of this project mirrors was program. Five partner schools from Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain embarked into international entrepreneurship. Therefore our students analysed four institutions / companies in their respective regions according to criteria they developed on their own. The results of these structured institutional analyses were compared with each other at four international project meetings. ‘What’s similar, what’s different?‘ The answers to these leading questions had been resulted in the recognition of the best practice done among the examined institutions. Museums, companies, hotels and last but not least schools had been the objects of investigation. The partner schools organised the coordination of subprojects according to their respective school profiles.
In the first place the objectives of the project were of a general nature: We aimed to strengthen the communicative, intercultural and technical / organisational competences of our students, as well as we liked to raise their empathy with the European idea. In particular the project focused on the acquisition of methodological skills. On the one hand the participants exercised their practical project management knowhow and skills, on the other hand they were given the opportunity to conduct structured institutional analyses on the basis of self-defined criteria. This resulted in an increasing awareness of the international basic structures of the examined institutions. This awareness also rendered the foundation for the recognition of regional and national distinctive features. As a positive side-effect the students gained deeper practical insights into and contacted with the regional and international world of work.
The whole project was divided into four subprojects that were structured similarly. Irrespective of the kind of institution (museum, company, hotel or school) – the students started with initiating a contact and leading pre-talks. In cooperation with their respective institutions and in close connection and agreement with their partner schools the participants then created a list of criteria in order to fill it in later or at the same time.
The second term of each subproject consisted of the combination and comparison of the national results. In the coordinating partner school the national groups presented the outcomes of their local analyses. On this basis an overview of all analyses was created. The European standards of the examined institutions, but above all their national features so far was displayed likewise. These issues had been assessed after the meeting. The objective was to determine the best practice. Even the international group was required to generate additional outputs. At best furtherleading learning mobilities of several students followed from this.
The postprocessing of the respective subprojects was carried out in the home countries of the participants. The students presented the outcomes of their international project performances in their schools and institutions. In some cases a continuation of these work and contacts was the consequence of this project.
In order to fill the gap between a high amount of directly involved participants on the one-hand side and an efficient performance on the other hand, we agreed on maximum 13 participants and 3 teachers per country and four project meetings. The selection of participants took place in terms of preferring those who were at risk to break off their school careers – they needed our particular support. Taking part in an international project and establishing meaningful connections with some local as well as international companies should provide them with new motivation and chances. At least 500 students participated in the national preparation of our international meetings.
The upmost effect of the project can be seen in the meaningful, practical, structured and goal-oriented contact of students and teachers with the local and international world of work. This offered them access to networks that could promote their career entries. Also the knowhow of methods applied in the working systems can support this objects.
The immediate learning outcomes of the project were the well-illustrated overviews of the institutional analyses. These were and shall be presented in the net, the schools and some institutions. They can become the starting point for factual improvement.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 109405 Eur

Project Coordinator

Erzbischöfliches Berufskolleg Neuss & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych i Technicznych
• ISIS “RAFFAELE PUCCI”
• Colegio Santa Ana
• 19 Mayis Anadolu Lisesi
• Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore Luca Paciolo