TitleJourneys of hope: Educational pathways to social inclusion and toleranceContext/backgroundEurope is facing the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. About 1 million refugees and migrants arrived in the EU in 2015, Europol estimates, 27% of these are children.This means that the future school population of the EU will be increasingly characterized by multiple cultures and values.In line with the Paris Declaration and bearing in mind the crucial and strategic role of education to help to tackle socio-economic-changes and key challenges of the EU, schools from five countries decided to set up an interdisciplinary, transnational and multilingual project for the exchange of good practice, whose aim is to foster social integration of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, to promote intercultural dialogue, democratic values and fundamental rights, non-discrimination and active citizenship, critical thinking and media literacy.ObjectivesThe objectives strived for are:-Promotion of the inclusion of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, especially newly arrived migrants-Improvement of pupils’ basic and transversal skills through formal/non-formal education in a LLL perspective-Development of innovative integrated approaches promoting EU values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community-Promotion of internationalization and improvement in the quality of teaching staff and their abilities/competences as well as development of synergies between various partners on a EU level-Increasing the attractiveness and visibility of each respective schoolNumber/profile of participantsThe partnership is made up of 5 different schools from Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The target participants are upper secondary school pupils in the ages 15–18. Working groups of approx. 16 pupils will be formed in each respective school. Every 8th (alternating) pupil will take part in transnational learning activities and will act as disseminators for their working group and school community.Description of activities/Methodology usedThe following activities are planned:Content/regional/intercultural preparations-Multilingual videos to introduce the partner schools and their city-Preparation of multilingual/interdisciplinary teaching materials, which are designed in a way that partner schools can integrate them in their own lesson plans-Regional and intercultural preparation of the student exchange-In-school and external dissemination events (conferences with experts, NGOs, etc.) Transnational learning, teaching and education activities-Presentation/exchange of the tests implemented and their results-Documentaries/interviews, after study visits with immigrants and refugees.-Awards for best creative products-In-school and external dissemination events-Exchange with non-participating institutions via Blended MobilityShort description of resultsThe following results are planned: project website, Facebook/YouTube account, various lesson plans, video documentaries, PP-presentations, brochures, e-booklets, guidebook, manual for educators, etc.The dissemination of all multilingual and interdisciplinary project results is planned, so that these can be integrated into the school curriculum in other schools and countries.Short description of impact envisagedThe results strived for are as follows:-Deeper understanding of the themes of “Migration/Refugees crisis”-Promotion of the inclusion of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, especially newly arrived migrants-Improvement of pupils’ basic and transversal skills through formal/non-formal education in a LLL perspective-Development of innovative integrated approaches promoting EU values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community-Strengthening of teaching staff‘s didactic skills-Improved internationalization-Sensitizing and making society aware of the European dimension of education and of its priorities-Improvement of attractiveness and visibility of the school’s locationPotential longer term benefitsAfter the completion of the project, material as well as immaterial results will continue to be available and can be used by further stakeholders. In addition to that, appropriate tools will be implemented, which constitute a substantial and economic resource for ensuring sustainability. The activities realized and the achievable results can provide the following additional long-term benefits:-a change of mindset of the participants involved in the project, resulting in a greater knowledge, a better understanding of the topic and willingness to integrate immigrants and refugees in their society-Impulses for further development-Inspiration for third parties to participate in future Erasmus+ programs-Transfer of project results to new areas-Promotion of the EU values
Context/background of project Europe is facing the greatest refugee crisis since the World War II. About 1 million refugees and migrants arrived in the EU in 2015, Europol estimates, 27% of these are children. This means that the future school population of the EU will be increasingly characterized by multiple cultures and values. The aim of the project was to foster social integration of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, to promote intercultural dialogue, democratic values and fundamental rights, non-discrimination and active citizenship, critical thinking and media literacy. Objectives -Promotion of the inclusion of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, especially newly arrived migrants -Improvement of pupils’ basic and transversal skills through formal/non-formal education in a LLL perspective -Development of innovative integrated approaches promoting EU values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community -Promotion of internationalization and improvement in the quality of teaching staff and their abilities/competences as well as development of synergies between various partners on a EU level -Increasing the attractiveness and visibility of each respective school Number and profile of participants The partnership was made up of five different educational institutions from Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The target participants were upper secondary school pupils in the ages 15–18. Working groups of approx. 16 pupils were formed in each respective school. Every 8th (alternating) pupil took part in transnational learning activities and acted as disseminators for their working group and school community. Description of activities/ Methodology used The following activities have been implemented for the 2016-2018 school years addressing the aforementioned topics: Content/regional/intercultural preparations -Video statements: the pupils introduced their school and their city -Preparation of teaching materials, designed in a way that partner schools can integrate them in their own lesson plans without any problems -Teaching of lessons -Regional and intercultural preparation of the student exchange and creation of a portfolio -In-school and external dissemination events (conferences with experts, NGOs, etc.) Transnational learning, teaching and education activities -Presentation/exchange of the tests implemented and their results - Exchange of and testing of lessons in mixed working groups -Video filming and editing -Documentaries/interviews, after study visits with immigrants, refugees or NGOs. -Awards for best creative products -In-school and external dissemination events -Exchange with non-participating institutions via Blended Mobility Results The following results were obtained for each respective project topic: project website, Facebook/YouTube account, various lesson plans, video documentaries, PP-presentations, brochures, e-booklets, guidebook, manual for educators, etc. All results were distributed open Access, so that these can be used in other schools and countries (homepage, eTwinning, further education servers); the lesson plans developed during the project can also be adopted in bilingual lessons of various school subjects or in a series of lessons (CLIL). Impact -Deeper understanding of the themes of “Migration/Refugees crisis” -Promotion of the inclusion of people with disadvantaged backgrounds, especially newly arrived migrants -Improvement of pupils’ basic and transversal skills through formal/non-formal education in a LLL perspective -Development of innovative integrated approaches promoting EU values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community -Strengthening of teaching staff‘s didactic skills -Improved internationalization -Sensitizing and making society aware of the European dimension of education and of its priorities -Improvement of attractiveness and visibility of the school’s location Potential longer term benefits After the completion of the project, material as well as immaterial results will continue to be available and can be used by further stakeholders. In addition to that, appropriate tools will be implemented, which constitute a substantial and economic resource for ensuring sustainability. Because of the activities realized and the achievable results, the following additional long-term benefits can result from the project: -a change of mindset of the participants involved in the project, resulting in a greater knowledge, a better understanding of the topic and willingness to integrate immigrants and refugees in their society -Impulses for further development -Inspiration for third parties to participate in future Erasmus+ programs -Transfer of project results to new areas -Promotion of the EU values -Promotion of the European added valued resulting from Erasmus+ and motivation to participate in the program