Together Everyone Achieves More Erasmus Project

Project Title

Together Everyone Achieves More

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Energy and resources; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

We have dealt with the new challenges both students and teachers experience today. One of our aims was to give students the chance to work together in mixed groups on joint subjects, so we strived for meetings of 3 schools if it was possible. We had a half term meeting with all schools and a final meeting, though unfortunately Scotland was unable to take part in that. We incorporated the help of universities and commercial companies especially in Belgium and Germany. Through different project tasks and time spent together we developed our students’ digital, language and social skills as well as oriented them towards an enhanced entrepreneurship and prepared them for future studies and jobs. We researched the current situation of the well-being, living and working conditions in schools in the different countries involved and researched the potential opportunities for young people of studying and working abroad with a view to promoting mobility within a united Europe. By enhancing the responsibility of students for their own learning, we hope to have promoted leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity and life orientation in a process of mutual collaboration. The project has definitely given the students the experience that working as an international team facilitates better results than working alone.
All project meetings were built on problem-based learning: groups of students were given well defined tasks. Through these tasks we made use of the different backgrounds and experiences of the students such as rural vs. city, countries with different teaching methods and school systems. Working across borders in mixed groups thus was quintessential to this project, as its very aim was to step away from the classic teaching method to a more project-oriented open space.
A core theme of the project was to include students in the planning of a new school building for the Belgian partner school. Different groups of students worked on this field, whose ideas were passed on to the planning authorities. We were assured that they were taken into consideration. Another focus was the invention of a new kind of wind turbine, which the students built with the help of professionals in the German partner school. The wind turbine is set up in the school grounds and it is used for recharging mobile phones.
We had a special focus on MINT-skills and the incorporation of ICT in the project with a view to further heightening the students’ ability for working in mixed groups towards a joint outcome; a system we believe they will need a lot in their future studies and career. As we covered a variety of topics with different approaches from building models to setting up a business plan all students willing to take part were included into the project regardless of their grades. This approach increased their motivation for their daily work by exposing them to new ways of learning and working together.
The students undoubtedly experienced European dimensions by working together for a common goal. Another positive impact, mentioned by a lot of students, is that they learnt a lot about the culture of their host country – not as tourists do by watching from the outside – but as a member of that particular society through staying with their host family. Nearly all students remarked that taking part in the exchange helped them to cope with individual challenges and gain a better understanding and responsiveness to social and cultural diversity.
The teachers involved gained advanced training in corporate planning, terminology, marketing and digital competences, all of which they can disseminate amongst their colleagues and make use of in their regular classes.
We made use of the special relevant competences that the schools involved could offer. The Estonian partner school has special knowledge in sociology, so students taking part in exchanges there looked into this aspect of a young person’s life. The impacts and consequences of the widespread use of social media has proved to be a field in which students were very much interested and involved, so this was also the focal point of work in some meetings in Hungary. The German school has special knowledge on the ecological side, moreover, they have professional expertise in metal- and woodwork, so the wind turbine project was central to meetings there. Scotland’s expertise with wind energy and the inclusion of the Queensberry Initiative in their curriculum has been made good use of during the meetings there. They hosted the half-term meeting where students presented both their national culture through music and dance and our interconnecting European culture through creating a ghost story together. The Belgian partner school’s links with business life and universities were utilised during their meetings, especially the final meeting. The Hungarian partner school‘s expertise in languages and entrepreneurial skills was used for the multilingual dictionary of the work done.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 164015 Eur

Project Coordinator

Urspringschule Schelklingen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Xántus János Két Tanítási Nyelvü Gimnázium és Szakgimnázium
• Wallace Hall Academy
• Hugo Treffneri Gümnaasium
• Heilig-Harthandelsinstituut Waregem