Born from the need to motivate our students, and develop in them the awareness of European democratic values, our project has the following general objectives :* GO1 – Increase the degree of motivation in students;* GO2 – Implement the democratic pedagogy blended with the GRIT methodology in the partner institutions;* GO3 - Train teachers in innovative methodologies and integrating ICT in the classroom;* GO4 - Develop awareness of democratic values among students;* GO5 - Develop students' basic skills like language skills, science skills, artistic skills and ICT skills; * GO6 – Prevent the school dropouts from the partner schools. The partnership includes 7 partners from 6 countries: one municipality and 6 schools of secondary level but with different profiles and students of different ages. For example we have a Second chance school (in Spain), a VET school (in Portugal), a language school (in Bulgaria). Because in all the schools there is a diversity in students' ages we've established different target groups: TG1 - teaching staff; TG2 - students 5 to 10 years old; TG3 - students 11 to 16 years old and TG4 - students 17 to 25 years old.To accomplish our objectives we are going to work on two directions:1. To implement in our schools an innovative approach that will be a mix of methodologies (the democratic pedagogy and the GRIT methodology, completed with the integration of ICT resources in classrooms) that are meant to increase our students' motivation. From this complex activity of practice and research, an intellectual output will result - A successful approach in DESS which will be a methodological guide. 2. Implement in the school a series of activities meant to develop the students' awareness of democracy, to develop their basic skills, to encourage the cultural exchange. These activities will be implemented during 3 thematic years:- 1st year – Let’s know each other better! - the results from the activities of this year will be 2 intellectual outputs: Travel guide through Europe and Conversational guide;- 2nd year – Democracy Year - the results from the activities of this year will be another intellectual output: Little dictionary of citizenship. It will also be the year of implementation of the innovative methodological approach.-3rd year – Success year - In this year, the result of the research will be published with the title A successful approach in DESS.As we've explained before, the relationship between democratic school and the teaching-learning process contributes to problematize this project, valuing the different pedagogies. In order tor build our students' motivation we've opted for an innovative methodology in Europe, introduced to us by Iceland, called grit methodology, where teachers and students are working as a group in the classroom and more than that, this methodology meets the social, educational needs of students who are the future society. The grit methodology is based on the premise that motivated students who face a challenge or are in relationships with others, learn and develop better. The expected impact will be the enriching of the educational system inevery partner country by implementing new innovative methodologies in schools. Also, the communities will gain future active citizens with developped basic skills and abilities in practising democracy.The longer-term benefits are:- Modern democratic schools where the students are motivated and the dropouts from school are decreased or not existent;- Motivated students,who are aware of their self-worth as European citizens;- Schools with a better image in the community;- Teaching staff that uses innovative methodologies in class, - Institutions opened to European cooperation, etc.
Our partnership was born during the Contact Seminar „FLIC – From local to international cooperation“ that took place in Ericeira, Portugal from the 18th to the 21st of November 2015 where the coordinators from the partner institution met. We established together the objectives of the project: – Increase the degree of motivation in students; – Implement the democratic pedagogy blended with the GRIT methodology in the partner institutions; - Train teachers in innovative methodologies and integrating ICT in the classroom; - Develop awareness of democratic values among students; - Develop students' basic skills like language skills, science skills, artistic skills and ICT skills; – Prevent the school dropouts from the partner schools. The partnership included 7 partner institution from 6 countries: one municipality – Almada, Portugal, and 1 school of lower secondary level in Romania, a Second chance school in Spain, a VET school in Cuba, Portugal, a language school in Bulgaria, secondary school also and two secondary schools in Germany and Iceland. The activities of the project were grouped in 2 years – „Let’s know each other better Year“ and „The Democracy and Success Year“. In the first year the activities were dedicated to learning and finding out information about each partner, it’s culture and traditions, the common cultural and democratic European heritage. Activities such as: Bulgaria Month, Germany Month, Iceland Month, etc, The culture diversity of Europe, Discovering the European Cultural Heritage, Discovering the European Democratic Heritage, The winter holidays traditions of Europe, etc. The activities were meant to develop in students the curiosity and the interest in the partners, to become aware of the fact that even if we are different, we have a lot in common. The result of these activities was the “Travel guide through Europe”. During the first year, two learning/training/ teaching activities for the teachers took place: “Changing practices” and “GRIT seminar for DESS teachers”, both followed by training sessions in each partner school for the teaching staff that the two new methodologies, the democratic pedagogy and the GRIT methodology blended with integrating ICT in class could be implemented. Another activity was the “DESS School Magazine”, a magazine made by each partner team, in native language, where impressions of the participants in the project, teacher and students were published. These magazines were conceived as dissemination materials but also as a tool of evaluating the success of the project. During the whole project two numbers in each language were made for each year. The second year of project was dedicated to the activities of democratic citizenship, to the organization of the Students’ Councils in all the partner schools, to the activities meant to develop in students the self-image and self-esteem. Activities such: debates on topics related to the democracy (freedom of speech, gender equality, Students’ Council and their role in school life, etc), the European carnival, Principals of democracy, etc took place along with workshops (artistic, literary, scientific), meetings with local authorities, successful adults, visits to local Universities or other educational institutions. Two products were also made during this year: “The little dictionary of democratic citizenship” and “The conversational guide”. Two learning/training/teaching activities were organized during this year “Students’ Councils in the democratic schools” and "The European Art Festival”. Most of the research on the innovative methodologies also was done and the intellectual output was finished: “A successful approach in DESS – Methodological guide” Six multiplier events took place at the end of the project. Some of the results of the project, apart from those already mentioned are: - Project website: http://www.dess-project.com; - Project logo; - Transnational sharing of experience and best practice; - Project presence in the media – in each country articles in the local press were published, the project is visible on the websites of the partners. The impact of the project: a. On the partner institutions: - Motivated students for a successful educational traject; - Trained teaching staff in innovative methodologies; - Better image of the partner institutions in the community - Creation of stimulating, interactive and innovative learning environment; - Students’ Councils democratically organized in each partner school. b. On the target groups: - Students involved in their education and in their career choice; - Students aware of the democracy values and who are able to practice them in the school and in society; - Teachers who changed their practice offering their students a better learning environment; - Students and teacher more aware of the cultural and democratic heritage of Europe. c. At partnership level: - A better knowledge of the partner countries’ culture, people, traditions.