UNITING THE DIFFERENCIES Erasmus Project

Project Title

UNITING THE DIFFERENCIES

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: Creativity and culture; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

Context
There are two main points we are about to unite. First of all is to unite people from different cultures, different backgrounds and with different interests and languages, so that they understand each other more, accept the differences and learn from them. Second of all is to unite the Ss with their Ts to gain more understanding for teacher’s work and more respect. We want Ss to understand the mechanics of teaching and show them advantades and problems of teaching, engaging them into preparing lesson plans and running lessons. So the project is just to bring people together and make them learn from each other. This way, we want to unite good Ss with those facing challenges, teachers with parents – this will help all of them understand more each other, respect the differences and feel more valuable.
We hope to achieve the following objectives:
O1. improve cultural awareness and acceptance of social, ethnic and cultural diversity
O2. improve communication and collaboration among actors in the school
O3. improve transferrable skills – data selection and manipulation, ICT, critical thinking
O4. improve language competence
O5. increase students’ self-confidence and creativity
O6. increase the respect for the teaching profession
O7. enable the exchange of experience and good practices among teachers
Participants
The project was thought to be addressed to all the students aged 12-15 – generally over 500 students altogether. There will be about 80 students facing different kinds of challenges. Direct participants will be 60 students and 40 teachers.
Activities
The most important role in the project is played by the students exchanges, where the Ss will have posibility to swap the roles with Ts and become teachers themselves to teach the other students about their geography, history, music, legends, hobbies or the school system and they will have an opportunity to discuss the differences and similarities – all of those will be included in the reports.
There is also scheduled a short-term meeting of staff at the end of the project, to share the practices that will help working with multicultural classes or with groups with socially challenged students. The result will be a Guide called ‘Good Practises Our Way’, including activities and solutions to the issues bothering schools in Europe.
C1 – Poland – NOV 2018 – History and Music in our countries
C2 – Greece – APRIL 2019 – Introducing Legends and presenting Hobbies
C3 – Portugal – OCT 2019 – Geography of our countries and games we play
C4 – Romania – MAR 2020 – People we are proud of and Our Habits
C5 – Turkey – MAY 2020 – joint staff training event
Outcomes:
1. Teachers
– connections among the teachers, exchange the ideas and experience, further coopearation;
– enrichment of teachers’ atelier;
– tightened relationship with the students, easier understanding of Ss’ problems;
– improved language skills;
– improved organisation skills;
2. Students:
– increased motivation to work;
– understanding the specifics of teachers’ work;
– become more cooperative and creative;
– increased self-confidence and self-esteem;

– improved language skills;
– raised awareness of European cultural heritage;
– better relationship with their teachers;
– improved tolerance and acceptance for other people and cultures;
– improved critical thinking;
3. School
– wider educational offer
– greater recognition in the community
– better contact with parents due to created ways of communication
4. Local community
– a possibility to cooperate and have influence on the things going on at school
– cooperation between schools and local companies or fundations
Outputs:
– Legends, songs, lesson plans, presentations gathered into a collection of works.
– Digital diaries made by students at the end of each mobility
– A Guide ‘Good Practicses Our Way’, which is a collection of good ideas, lesson plans and activities to use in the classroom (especially those with challenged students)
– Documents: certificates, reports etc
Impact
The project has the biggest impact on relations among the Ts, Ts and parents. That will have result in better understanding and dialogue, the parents will be more involved in the school life and education of their children. Thus, there will be better atmosphere and respect for all sides of school community.
The project will also have great impact on the Ss themselves, it will raise their motivation to work and make them more confident while using their language skills. They will become more tolerant for other cultures and people with different kinds of problems. They develop a bigger interest for school work and school activities. They will understand the specifics of teaching more and at the same time, know how to learn in the future. The Ss will tighten their partnership with Ts to create better atmosphere during lessons. They will accept the differences between the cultures and they will learn to benefit from them. The Ss will improve their school performance

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 99842 Eur

Project Coordinator

Szkola Podstawowa nr 65 im. W. Orkana & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas Vieira de Araújo
• GYMNASIO – L.T. MAGOULAS KARDITSAS
• Scoala gimnaziala Alexandru Ioan Cuza
• SEHIT ANIL KAAN AYBEK ORTAOKULU