TRACES OF EUROPE! Erasmus Project

Project Title

TRACES OF EUROPE!

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The project “Traces of Europe” started from a previous partnership, between an Italian and Norwegian school. Starting from the common need of innovation, it was decided to form a partnership able to provide a meaningful exchange of best practices and most effective active methods, suitable to reach the 8 European Key competences 2020.

The objectives of the partnership were:
Meet the need for professional growth and professional development.
Increase teachers pedagogical approaches to ensure inclusion of all pupils with differing needs and full spectrum of abilities.
Synthesize and promote knowledge/experience/skills(new and previous)through dissemination on a teacher platform.
Leave in each country a TRACE of the partnership that has an impact on all the components of each host institution.

By using eTwinning the partnership was composed of 4 additional schools from Romania, Poland, GB and Iceland as coordinator. The partnership could guarantee all levels of education from the age of 4 to 16. GB decided to quit after the approval so their tasks and responsibility were split between Italy and Norway.
It was decided to assign a key competence and the related active method to each country according to their past experience and knowledge:
Iceland – primary and secondary school – age 6/16 – Mother tongue – Beginning Literacy
Italy – comprehensive Institute with 3/14 – Digital competence – ICT integration/Coding Robotics/ Tinkering + (from GB) Civic Competencies – Social Emotional Learning/ Mindfulness
Romania – kindergarten 3/6 – Cultural Awareness and expression – Outdoor Learning
Norway – primary School 6/13 – Math and Science – Assessment for Learning/Visible Learning
Poland – primary school 6/13 – newcomer in EU paths – Foreign Languages – Game Based Learning
ALL COUNTRIES – Entrepreneurship – Trained by designing and building the TRACE
The structure used during meetings and intermeetings periods was always the same:
BEFORE MEETINGS
Pre evaluation: knowledge about the specific methods
Each country prepared a presentation about their best practice connected to the competence of the meeting

DURING MEETINGS
Community building activities
Best practice sharing
Workshop & learning the new methods with an external trainer (Educational agencies /departments/Universities)
Open lessons with kids
Lesson planning with Learning Designer
Meeting with parents and municipalities
Leaving a visible trace in the community

AFTER MEETINGS (3-4 months)
Dissemination activities among colleagues
External dissemination Twitter/Facebook project website
New method implementation with kids
Monitoring of the activities and results
Post evaluation

Other undertaken activities were:
3 Transnational project meetings:
NORWAY – The first to create the evaluation forms, train about the PBL and Learning designer and start the project
ITALY – The second for Medium term evaluation
ICELAND – The third one for final evaluation/graphs/project data/long term impact
NORWAY – Final Meeting with children- THE EUROPEAN SCHOOL WEEK when kids from all the partners Countries met together to experience all the methods and European belonging
Each partner was also responsible for some tasks implementation:
ROMANIA – Flyers and LOGO
NORWAY – External dissemination on social media
POLAND and ICELAND – Evaluation
ITALY – Website and ETwinning Twinspace structure
All partners were responsible for the internal and external dissemination activities
Considering the results of the pre and post evaluation forms distributed among students/teachers/parents and the constant monitoring provided by all the teachers involved, it seems that the impact is strong, long lasting and spread among all the school community components:
STUDENTS – generally increased
-sense of European belonging
-understanding of learning foreign languages
-motivation for learning
-ICT skills
-peers cooperation
-inclusion
TEACHERS
– level of professionalism & ability to share their own knowledge
– level of general and specific methodological competences to overcome difficulties
SCHOOL
-Innovation
-Students centered approach
-Inclusion & school climate
-8 key competencies integration
Human relationship
COMMUNITIES(parents municipalities…)
-School consideration and collaboration
-Openness to diversity
-Awareness of the value of an active School
-Participation to the European dimension
-Awareness of the role of Europe in their future
Due to the nature of the project, benefits will be long lasting. Partner schools started a total change process that went deeper into schools organization and into teachers’ instructional strategies. Classroom settings changed, putting students at the center of the learning process, frontal lessons decreased to give frequent chances of active learning. Partner schools started building a new educational system that, thanks to a spread periodic dissemination is getting stronger and stronger.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 155375 Eur

Project Coordinator

Síðuskóli & Country: IS

Project Partners

• Szkola Podstawowa nr 36 im.Narodow Zjednoczonej Europy
• Istituto Comprensivo di Bobbio Capoluogo
• Oakwood Primary Academy
• Sviland skule
• GRADINITA RAZA DE SOARE