United by the European Heritage. Erasmus Project

Project Title

United by the European Heritage.

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: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

Title: “United by the European heritage”
Context and background: Collaboration between partners began with the
eTwinning project “Unite our cities and enjoy the cultural diversity” (2016). Heritage is the backbone of knowledge of this project. This eTwinning was implemented in each center with a KA101 (2017) project that included job-shadowings to learn from the strengths of the other. IES Alfonso VIII (Cuenca, Spain) wanted to learn from the experience of Vimmerby Gymnasium (Vimmerby, Sweden) in how to approach the interculturality and migration, and Vimmberby Gymnasium wanted to learn from IES Alfonso VIII experience in how to fight against early school dropout. The job shadwing meetings of these KA101 projects consolidated, in fact, an association that gave rise to this KA229 project (2018). With this project both centers have tried to awaken in students and teachers their concern to know, conserve and value the European cultural heritage as a source of learning and socialization tool.
The main objective has been that the participants experienced European cultural diversity as an irreversible fact that enriches the European cultural heritage, inexhaustible source of learning, enhancing linguistic diversity, source of enrichment and personal development.
The learning, teaching and training activities have been:
– Two short-term exchanges (5 days) for two groups of 13 students between
15 and 18 years old, from one partner center to the other, accompanied by two teachers, to work together and collaboratively activities on the Heritage of partner countries.
The meeting in Spain took place from 03/18/19 to 03/22/19 and in Sweden from 04/08/19 to 04/12/19. The activities were open to all local students.
– For reasons of COVID19 the two joint planned training activities for staff were developed as virtual mobilities. Each activity was organized by a partner center. Both lasted 3 days long. The number of teachers directly involved and beneficiary of the activity has been greater than expected and these activities have benefited a significant number of local students too. Virtual training sessions were open to the rest of the educational community. The title of the
activities reveals the central theme: “European Heritage as an educational resource” from Cuenca from 04/21/21 to 04/23/21, and “Interculturality in Europe: a challenge educational”, from Vimmerby from 04/28/21 to 04/30/21. These activities included lectures, debates and reflections, times to share experiences about didactics on the use of Heritage in the classroom and organisational strategies for social inclusion and interculturality in the classroom.
The methodology has followed this sequence: analysis of reality, programming, timing, development and evaluation. We include the activity of extra coordination that involved making agreements about postponing some activity due to the COVID 19, request extensions and convert some activity to virtual mobility. A methodology that has been collaborative and that has used eTwinning as a platform study, planning and publication of results, in addition, its videoconference tool and other platforms as a means of coordination.
The meetings have had an appropriate periodicity to the circumstances of each moment.
The results have been: 17 workshops on Spanish heritage and 12 workshops on Swedish heritage during the student mobilities, 23 training presentations on virtual mobilities; it has improved the ability of participants to work in a team; The number of teachers and students involved in the organization of activities has risen; it has been achieved that Erasmus projects be seen as a source of permanent training for the teachers; it has improved the communicative and linguistic competence of participants in English / Spanish; the development of the digital competence of participants has been relevant, and the global competence of the educational community by accepting European migratory movements as historical facts that bring cultural richness has improved.
Impact: the international and European dimension of the partner centers, a school community more open to Europe has been achieved, the network of European partners has increased and Erasmus+ experiences have been shared
to all educational sectors. The European cultural heritage has become an identifying feature of the centers and consequently it must continue being worked on and valued.
The expected benefit has already been achieved by consolidating the relationship between the two centers in a new KA229 action (2020). A new eTwinning project has been promoted in different areas of knowledge and the network of UNESCO schools has been made known in the center partner.

Project Website

https://erasmusplus-iesalfonsoviii.blogspot.com/p/ka229-unidos-por-el-patrimonio-2018-2020.html

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 39243,3 Eur

Project Coordinator

IES ALFONSO VIII & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Vimmerby Gymnasium