Our society of knowledge demands high quality training and education for everybody, which leads to a revision of our organizational and teaching methods at school, paying special attention to the pupils’ diversity and their context. Lower rates of school failure and the decrease of early dropouts from school must be priorities in our projects, especially when we come to the realization that citizens without basic qualifications are to be in socially marginalized, which bounds them to personal failure and hinders their community live. The main challenge in teaching is motivation, making our pupils aware of the importance of learning for their future. Dealing with different kinds of pupils, students with different needs and different intelligences (diversity in the end), is something to be taken into account if we want to capture our pupils’ interest and to guarantee their success.That is the case in our schools, where diversity is common in our classrooms, and failure, unfortunately too, especially for those pupils whose low performance, lower ability or difficult background does not allow them to reach the standards. Taking all this into account, new methods of teaching are necessary; therefore, we propose to use teamwork as a collaborative method to learn and at the same time to include diversity. In addition, working with schools in different countries, where different methods and educational systems are enforced and different kinds of students attend classes, allows us to project internationally our community and to include families as an active part of the project. What is more, being involved in different projects with European countries, through Comenius partnerships or Individual Pupil Mobility programmes, has been proved very positive concerning motivation, because it has provided new learning experiences for pupils (especially for those involved in IPM) and new methods of working (and teaching) for teachers and a greater families involvement in school life. And it is that what we pursue, and in the end, what could not be done without this project, higher motivation in our pupils, increasing their foreign language and ICT skills, increasing their eagerness to learn and look for a future, higher interest from our teachers in looking for new methods to reach their pupils and higher parents support in the process of education. Then, through the activities proposed for this project we aimed what have been said above, and these activities are: short-term exchanges of group of pupils, which allow 5 students to attend lessons and participate in different activities in a foreign country, incorporating their families in it, short-term training staff events, which will help teachers see and show different approaches for teaching and search new ways of dealing with diversity and long-term mobilites for pupils, which will allow some pupils spend three months in another country, attending lessons, enforcing the other activities mentioned. As a result of these activities, a model of didactic unit using collaborative methods to make our school inclusive of diversity will be made , to be used in our lessons (incorporating them into our official programming); an international magazine and a digital platform will be improved to disseminate what is being done and a lifelasting relationship among participants will be forged. Finally, All these activities are, therefore, focused on achieving our main objectives, which are: • To improve teamwork and collaboration between teachers of different subjects. • To incorporate new methods of teaching in our classrooms to deal with the different abilities, interests and expectations of our pupils. • To offer our pupils new learning experiences in a different language and in a different country. • To strengthen emotional skills in all areas of personality and relationships with others. • To help teachers learn different approaches of teaching their subject. • To improve interaction between families, teachers and pupils aimed to solve common problems. Objectives, which, could not be accomplished without this project.
Our society of knowledge demands high quality training and education for everybody, which leads to a revision of our organizational and teaching methods at school, paying special attention to the pupils’ diversity and their context. Lower rates of school failure and the decrease of early dropouts from school must be priorities in our projects, especially when we come to the realization that citizens without basic qualifications are to be in socially marginalized, which bounds them to personal failure and hinders their community live. The main objectives are: To improve teamwork and collaboration between teachers of different subjects. • To incorporate new methods of teaching in our classrooms to deal with the different abilities, interests and expectations of our pupils. • To offer our pupils new learning experiences in a different language and in a different country. • To strengthen emotional skills in all areas of personality and relationships with others. • To help teachers learn different approaches of teaching their subject. • To improve interaction between families, teachers and pupils aimed to solve common problems. In addition, working with schools in different countries, where different methods and educational systems are enforced and different kinds of students attend classes, allows us to project internationally our community and to include families as an active part of the project. What is more, being involved in different projects with European countries, through Erasmus partnerships or Individual Pupil Mobility programmes, has been proved very positive concerning motivation, because it has provided new learning experiences for pupils (especially for those involved in IPM) and new methods of working (and teaching) for teachers and a greater families involvement in school life. The schools involved are I.I.S Primo Levi in Italy, IESO Quercus in Spain and the RSG Slingerbos|Levant in the Netherlands. In the Italian school all students study English as a second language, many of them study a second European language (Spanish or French) and many of them study IT. In addition, the presence of many foreign students who come to their region and start learning in their school, often without knowing the Italian language, have permitted them to develop the school’s skills in the teaching of Italian as a second language, as an essential medium of making integration easier. The Dutch school has a bilingual stream in English, this will help our pupils appreciate the use of a foreign language to communicate and work. It's worth highlighting that in the Dutch school ICT in teaching has been enforced for years, this experience will help include the use of ICT in our methods of teaching in the project. As coordinator, the Spanish school brings experience in inclusive education and collaborative work, its performance in managing national and international projects and our successful work involving families and local community in school activities. New teaching/learning methodologies are very present in the Spanish school concerns, as we intend to deal with all kinds of pupils and to face the integration of immigrant students. Then, the activities carried out in this project have been: - two short-term exchanges of group of pupils, which have allowed 5 students to attend lessons and participate in different activities in a foreign country, incorporating their families in it, and one short-term exchange in our own country. - three short-term training staff events, which helped teachers see and show different approaches for teaching and search new ways of dealing with diversity - and 8 long-term mobilites for pupils, which allowed some pupils spend three months in another country, attending lessons, and immersing in family life abroad. As a result of this project: - 12 didactic teaching units using collaborative methods have been made, which can be used in our lessons (incorporating them into our official programming) - a digital platform (https://twinspace.etwinning.net/3398/home) has been created to disseminate what has been done - 3 musical videos, 5 commercials and 5 documentaries have been made to work in groups using ICT. - 3 e-books, 5 environmental magazines and a project in robotics have also been made. - A common evaluation grid forLong term Mobilities The impact has been significant. - students immersed in family life abroad and have developed their social, emotional, intellectual and language skills - teachers have had to adapt their teaching strategies and become more flexible as they were teaching foreign students - families, fellow students, and the community have experienced Italian and Spanish cultural differences and similarities - teachers have become more familiar with collaborative learning methods - the schools involved have strenghted their bonds and will continue their collaboration.