The main aim of the wide reaching three year project "LEADING LIGHTS" is to challenge the younger generation to contemplate on identities and prejudices, to raise students’ awareness on equality and racism, especially in the light of the current refugee crisis, to learn about the forms of discrimination, and to become active citizens by collaborating to combat this in all its forms . The project brings together schools who are right at the edge of Europe including several who are even on another continent, those that are experiencing the refugee crisis as a daily reality and those that are very far removed from it in a unique collaboration. The partner schools will involve as many students in the project as possible, including those from refugee and migrant backgrounds and those with special needs and disabilities. Key objectives of the project will be: a) to create opportunities for all students to develop as active, autonomous citizens, in accordance with their capacities and educational needs; b) to broaden teachers' professional development by the sharing and adoption of innovative pedagogical approaches aimed at promoting the educational success of all students . Bridging the gap between school and the outside world, through partnership work with NGOs and parents, the students' engagement in the project will contribute to the promotion of a positive stance towards school and learning, thus playing an important role in their personal and academic growth and helping to combat school dropout rates. Students, will be active participants in all different phases of the project, developing essential skills and attitudes to succeed not only in today's economy and modern society but also in their personal lives. We will focus on the following skills: 1) the ability to speak foreign languages, 2) sense of initiative, 3) social and civic competences, 4) IT skills, 5) capacity to learn to learn, and 6) cultural awareness and expression.Activities and results include:Year One: Schools gain knowledge and understanding of the refugee crisis through first hand experiences in Italy and Melilla. These are shared with other schools and stakeholders back home through exhibitions and presentations. Investigation of immigration past and present in own regions shared through pen portraits of famous locals with migrant or refugee backgrounds. Project grafitti walls established in each school to feature logo, imagery related to our themes and pledges to combat discrimination. Students research specific equality problems in their schools and cities and collaborate to propose solutions . After tackling the problems in their own environment, the students together with the teachers to create an Equality policy for the school. Project website including teachers tv section to share film clips of our different innovative pedagocila approaches and associated resources.Year Two: Students and teachers meeting in Portugal to have emphasis on valuing the role of disabled people as citizens in their own right, and on the urgent need to promote positive attitudes and behaviours towards different religions and beliefs. Sharing “Pedagogy for autonomy and educational success" through lesson observation.Each school to produce welcome booklet for new pupils and their families through consultation with them and one another to ensure relevance to refugees/migrants as well as to those pupils who have special needs or disabilities in the light of lessons learnt from the project to date.Students engage in project work about facilities for disabled people in our cities/region discovering the challenges faced .Collaboration via Skype on the best ideas to improve integration of disabled children in regular education in each partner country leading to publication of an article .Teachers' meeting in Reunion focuses on the heritage of slavery , on gender quality in the context of education to citizenship. Innovative pedagogy shared in CLIL as well as use of contemporary art as a way of sensitizing to mutual listening. Year 3 : Meeting for students and teachers in Wales. Sharing drama as an inclusive teaching and learning technique to improve confidence for all, working in equitable partnership with a school in a developing country. Focus on the impact of racism and sexism in sport and ways of combating this.Holocaust Memorial Day observed in each school. Pupils work in international groups on plays , flashmobs and other types of performance to highlight and combat one of the different types of prejudice . These are performed at final meeting In Finland. Sharing innovative use of IT . Reaching out and volunteering to support disabled and vulnerable people. Students and teachers spend an afternoon helping out the Iraqi, Russian, Somalian and Syrian immigrants. Completion of graffiti walls in each school complete with pledges for continued action.
The main aim was to challenge our students to contemplate on identities and prejudices, to raise awareness on equality and racism, especially in the light of the 2015 refugee crisis, to learn about the forms of discrimination, and to become active citizens by collaborating to combat this in all its forms. The project brought together schools who are right at the edge of Europe and some that are experiencing the refugee crisis as a daily reality and those that are very far removed from it in a unique collaboration. Our eight partner high schools in Italy, La Reunion, Portugal, Spain, Wales, and in Finland, involved as many students in the project as possible, including those from refugee and migrant backgrounds and those with special needs and disabilities. The key objectives of our project were met: a) by creating opportunities for all students to develop as active, autonomous citizens; b) by broadening teachers' professional development by sharing and adopting innovative pedagogical approaches. Bridging the gap between school and the outside world, through partnership work with NGOs and parents, our students' engagement in the project contributed to the promotion of a positive stance towards school and learning, thus playing an important role in their personal and academic growth. Our students were active participants in all phases of the project, developing essential skills and attitudes to succeed not only in today's economy and modern society but also in their personal lives. We focused on: 1) the ability to speak foreign languages, 2) sense of initiative, 3) social and civic competences, 4) IT skills, 5) capacity to learn to learn, and 6) cultural awareness and expression. In the first year our schools gained knowledge and understanding of the refugee crisis through first hand experiences in Italy and Melilla. Investigation of immigration past and present were shared through presentations on local migrant and refugee backgrounds. Project walls were established in each school to feature logo, imagery and pledges to combat discrimination. Our students researched specific equality problems in their schools and cities and collaborated to propose solutions. Portuguese coordinator’s research article on “Pedagogy for autonomy and educational success" was introduced and agreed to contribute to in the partner schools involved. TwinSpace website, blogs and Facebook group were created to share information on equality associated resources. In the second year, students and teachers met in Portugal emphasizing the role of disabled people and different religions and beliefs. “Pedagogy for autonomy and educational success" was further acquainted through mutual lesson observations. The best ideas to improve integration of disabled children in regular education were discussed and learnt from. Teachers' meeting in Reunion focused on the heritage of slavery and on gender equality. The use of contemporary art was shared as a way of sensitizing to mutual listening. The cultural diversity was introduced through the exploration of religious practices, sanctuaries, festivities and musical performances. In the third year of the project students and teachers met in Wales. The focus was on the impact of racism and sexism in sport and ways of combating this. Students also shared their experiences and views of sexism homophobia, transphobia and discrimination. Equality video presentations challenged our students to shine a light on either difficult equality issues or equality advancements in each partner country hence bringing the issues out into the open and seeking solutions for them together. At the final meeting in Finland innovative use of IT in math lessons was introduced. A living library panel discussion introduced local minorities such as Romani people, Swedish speaking Finns, immigrants and sexual minorities. Student presentations on Best Equality News Videos from Europe ended our three-year-project with a positive note for a better future. The quality of teaching and learning in all schools improved through the sharing of pedagogical approaches. The ability of teachers to embrace the increasing diversity of our school populations was enhanced. The project supported all to examine different identities and cultures, and raise awareness of the consequences of unconscious bias and prejudice. After tackling the problems in our countries, in partnership with the "Leading Lights" high schools, we introduced an Equality Act to ensure protection from discrimination, harassment and victimization on the grounds of specific characteristics. In our schools it is unlawful to discriminate against students or treat them less favorably because of their gender; race; disability; religion or belief; gender reassignment; sexual orientation; pregnancy or maternity. This was agreed upon and signed by all the eight partner schools.