We are seven schools from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain, most of which have already worked together in a Comenius school partnership. All seven schools aim at innovating teaching and learning practices in order to prepare students adequately for their future life in a globalized world and modern Europe. To do so successfully, the participating schools first specify the skills and competences students will need to actively participate as successful employees and responsible citizens of a common Europe. The main focus of the project will be innovating practises in the educational areas; Sustainability, International dimension, Entrepreneurship, Teambuilding and Creativity. Having established what innovative teaching needs to focus on, we need to rethink our role as teachers and reflect on how we can move from being instructors to facilitators of learning. The question of how the necessary skills and competences can be developed through teaching and learning is central to our project. We will use methods such as "Flipped classroom”, Student teams, Cooperative learning,“ Peer education” in our practices. Together we will develop and innovate teaching practices and will publish activities, lesson plans and tool kits created by us on a website and as a booklet. A film showing all the activities and the progress will be made and uploaded on the website. There will be two transnational project meetings in the first two years and three in the final year, each of which is dedicated to the issues mentioned above. Experts will provide methodological input, teachers will share and discuss experiencesm and develop new practises, which will be applied and tested in the short-term exchanges of students. There will be two short-term exchanges of students per year, which are prepared by the teachers at the transnational project meetings beforehand. Participating students provide feedback on the activities, which will then be modified accordingly. They will also play an important role in sharing what they have learned with other students on their return. Apart from methodological inputs through experts, discussions and sharing of experiences and developing material at meetings, we will use the following methodology throughout and after the project: study, experiments, correlational research across borders, network- and teambuilding, field- and observational study through job-shadowing, surveys and evaluation of results. At the end of the three-year project, teachers will be better equipped to face the challenges of education in a modern, globalized Europe. As we will regularly update and inform our colleagues, the know-how acquired during the project will extend to them and we will share activities, lesson plans and tool kits. ICT-based learning and innovative practices will be integral parts of teaching and learning. Not only teachers, students and schools, but also the local community will profit from the project permanently. By the end of the project workshops on sustainability will be regularly held at the participating schools. Environmental awareness and consciousness will increase and hopefully spread to families, friends and neighbouring schools, too; sustainable practices will not stop at the classroom but will have positive effects beyond school. Entrepreneurship education will become an integral part of school life. Students will acquire knowledge, skills and motivation to become active co-creators and citizens of tomorrow’s global society. Entrepreneurial skills have a great value at our times of increasing youth unemployment; they provide students with an adequate tool to face this development and at the same time have a positive effect on our economies. Last but not least, the project will foster the internationalisation of the participating schools; participants will meet, work and socialise with people from other countries. This will increase their intercultural awareness and break down cultural barriers. Being more open to other cultural groups will provide for a respectful living together in our multi-cultural societies and a common Europe. By cooperating across borders, participants will experience the advantages of a common Europe and its diversity.
We live in a constantly changing world characterized by fast developments in society and technology and the opening and expanding of markets. Our globalized world offers a lot of opportunities but at the same time we need to take responsibility and address problems such as youth unemployment, sustainability, xenophobia, discrimination, questions of social equality and political fairness. The objectives of this project have been to innovate teaching methods and learning at the participating schools, and enabling students to adapt to and deal with the constant challenges that they face in an ever changing world. The partners in the project consist of teachers from seven schools, who had worked together in different Comenius Project, with a common goal: innovating teaching and learning practices in order to prepare students adequately for their future life. Austria: Heustadelgasse is a secondary school. Supporting every individual according to their abilities and creating a fruitful learning environment are primary goals. Denmark: Sabro-Korsvejskolen is a primary- and secondary school. Sabro Korsvejskolen has three basic values: Credibility, Respect and Commitment. Students, parents and staff work with an appreciative approach to communication and cooperation. Finland: Pietarsaaren lukio is a high-school, and the mission is to provide nurturing and challenging environments that emphasize democratic values, cultural diversity and life-long learning. Italy: IIS Bodoni Paravia is a secondary school. School works in the field of multiculturality through a number of projects. Poland: ZSS “Splot”. The Independent Middle and High School of Nowy Sącz works towards open and tolerant Europe through education. Slovenia: Gimnazija Jurija Vege. Grammar school, Technical secondary school and vocational school. Works towards Xenophobia. Use the Slovenian language as the prime language. Spain: Joan XXIII is a primary- and secondary school, involved in nets of cooperation and learning with the criterias of respect and solidarity, commitment to sustainability and environment. The main focus of the project has been innovating practices in the educational areas: Sustainability, International Dimension, Entrepreneurship, Teambuilding and Creativity. The methods used have been Flipped classroom, Student Teams, Cooperative Learning, Peer Education, and Design Thinking in our practices, and educational tools provided by Web 2 platforms. Meetings have been very successful. As planned, we had two transnational project meetings in the first two years and three in the final year, followed by short-term exchanges of students. Each meeting has been followed-up with new practices tried out in participating schools, and followed up with evaluation for teachers and students. These evaluations were examined currently, and if necessary, changes in plan were made. 1st Transnational Project Meeting was in Aarhus, Denmark. The headline was Innovation and Teambuilding. Headline for 1st LTT students meeting was “Kids take Action” on Sustainability. 2nd Transnational Project Meeting was in Idrija, Slovenia. The headline was “ Innovation and Learning Skills, Teaching Tools I”, and followed immediately by LTT students meeting. Same theme. 3rd Transnational Project Meeting was in Barcelona on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 3rd LTT students meeting had the headline: “The student as Producer and Entrepreneur” . 4th Transnational Project Meeting in Finland was about Innovation and Sustainable Development, followed up by LTT students meeting "Youth takes green Action". 5th Transnational Project Meeting was in Austria. The headline was Innovation and Learning Skills, TeachingTools II. The 5th LTTstudents meeting had the headline: Web 2.0, and “ A common Europe of Cultural Diversity”. 6th Transnational Project Meeting in Poland had the headline: Innovation and creativity and the 6th LTT students meeting “Creativity as an Innovative Skill”. 7th Transnational Project Meeting in Turin was about summing up results, working on final report and planning future activities. Results of the meetings and cooperation in between meeting have been significant, and published in blogs, booklet and films. All schools now have a policy for sustainable education, which has impact on local communities and families. Each year all schools participate in Earth Day with a sustainable agenda. New practices have been implementet at all schools, and shared among collegues, which has resulted in an educational "make-overs" for all schools. Long term benefits are among others that many teachers have revaluated their role as teachers and established professional networks and will continue to cooperate after the project has finished. Lots of our students are still in touch with each other, even those who have left our schools. The project has forstered internationalisation, and enhanced understanding of cultures.