Schools, as the training base of future generations, need an interaction of dedicated teachers and confident students. In order to develop our students' basic and transversal skills, teachers must be up-to-date with professional skills and constantly generate relational bonds. Teachers need to bee lifelong learners themselves. Meeting the 21st century realities demands a high quality of education and a growing level of internationality. This requires teachers that are keen on understanding the dynamics and situations that influences student’s life. This is necessary in order to establish a mutual relationship that affects a better learning. The participants consists of 5 very different schools which have created this project together at a self-financed prep. meeting in November 2016. Our project: "Teach and learn – new possibilities for teachers and learners" aims and focuses on three work fields: 1) “New possibilities for teachers”: Teacher training in innovative, learner-centred methodologies, e.g. success with ICT in learning situations (introduction of open source programmes), cooperative and collaborative learning and flipped classrooms. Because all of our teachings and activities will be accomplished in English the methodology CLIL (contents and language integrated learning) will be integrated through the entire project. 2) “New possibilities for learners”: A) Active involvement of students in the teaching and learning process. B) “Making an Erasmus Day” Creating a concept for three Erasmus Days as an events that focuses on cultural values for specific countries and focuses on shared values across European countries from the perspective of the students. 3) “Challenges and possibilities when theories on learning are put into practice” We want to debate how students of the 21st century challenge the professional teachers of today. This raises questions like; what describes and defines students of today? How does the students’ resilience or lack hereof affect the learning situation? How important are the relations between students and teachers in school and life in general? FOR TEACHERS: Intense teacher training helps us improve our own teaching skills, adopt new views, methods and tools to be able to meet complex classroom realities. Our aim is to reach the best possible level of professionalism and thus strengthen the profile of the teaching professions. Teachers from each partner school participate in the project but even teachers who are not directly involved in the project will be active in teacher training of the new methodologies and be inspired by the pedagogical approaches. FOR LEARNERS: It is essential, though not always reality, to adapt our teaching and school organisation to the needs of learners. We want and need our students' feedback on the new methodologies tested and trained. Among 20 students per school, age group 14 to 17 years, are project participants. Many more students will benefit from the project, as they are learners in the training lessons of new methodologies and audience on the Erasmus Days. The topics "Youth of today”, “Youth in a digital world" and "Youth and values in Europe" for our three Erasmus Days which will be prepared by teams of students from each partner school and implemented during three short-term pupils' meetings. These topics meet the personal field of experience of our students and make an impact in their educational career and later work life. We find it essential to encourage active citizenship in multicultural societies, present the chances of a European career market, and promote the importance of common values and language learning. We expect a major impact of the project on our students' and teachers' language competences. English is our project language. Many training lessons during the project meetings will be a challenge for both teachers and students. Teachers, most of whom are not language teachers, will be part of lessons with international classes of students in different subjects. Last but not least, host families and other people not directly involved in the project will benefit from intense communication. We are sure that all of the mentioned groups will overcome language barriers and speak English more confidently and fluently at the end of the project. Only transnationality makes it possible to learn from each other in such a great variety of topics and fields. We need to look beyond borders to experience new ways, attitudes, mentalities and to overcome hindering routines and stereotypes. Five short-term training activities including teacher training and three students' exchanges with homestay, give us an authentic experience of other nations' culture and lifestyle. An Erasmus project that lasts two years will make a lasting impact on teachers and learners and most definitely create new possibilities.
Meeting the 21st century realities demands a high quality of education and a growing level of internationality. This requires teachers that are keen on understanding the dynamics and situations that influences student’s life. This is necessary in order to establish a mutual relationship that affects a better learning. This Erasmus+project has helped all of us in order to gain a better understanding of the complexity of teaching and learning. The participants consists of 5 very different schools (Norway, Portugal, Finland, Germany & Denmark) which have created this project together at a self-financed prep. meeting back in November 2016. Our project: "Teach and learn – new possibilities for teachers and learners" aimed and focused on three different work fields: 1) “New possibilities for teachers”: Teacher training in innovative, learner-centred methodologies, e.g. success with ICT in learning situations (introduction of open source programmes), cooperative and collaborative learning and flipped classrooms. Because all of our teachings and activities has been accomplished in English the methodology CLIL (contents and language integrated learning) has been integrated through the entire project resulting in a high level of benefits and new knowledge. 2) “New possibilities for learners”: A) Active involvement of students in the teaching and learning processes. In order to document how students have benefitted from our project we have made thorough evaluations after every transnational meeting. B) “Making an Erasmus Day” We created a concept for three Erasmus Days as events that focused on relevant topics concerning European countries from the perspective of the students; youth of today, youth in a digital world & youth and values in Europe. 3) “Challenges and possibilities when theories on learning are put into practice” We debated how students of the 21st century challenges the professional teachers of today. This raised questions like; what describes and defines students of today? How does the students’ resilience or lack hereof affect the learning situation? How important are the relations between students and teachers in school and life in general? In order to improve our knowledge we included experts as guest speakers and read scientific articles. In every visit we have had an introduction of the national school system by highly recommended professionals and a discussion about challenges meeting and teaching the students. FOR TEACHERS: Intense teacher training helped us improve our own teaching skills, adopting new views, methods and tools to be able to meet complex classroom realities. Our aim was to reach the best possible level of professionalism and thus strengthen the profile of the teaching professions. Teachers from each partner school participated in the project but even teachers who were not directly involved in the project has been active in teacher training of the new methodologies and was inspired by the pedagogical approaches. FOR LEARNERS: It is essential to adapt our teaching and school organisation to the needs of learners. therefore we have been focusing on our students' feedback on the new methodologies tested and trained. Among 20-30 students per school, age group 14 to 18 years has participated. Many more students has benefited from the project, as they have been active in the training lessons of new methodologies. The topics "Youth of today”, “Youth in a digital world" and "Youth and values in Europe" for our three Erasmus Days has provided meaningful insights for students as well as teachers. We have experienced a major impact on our students' and teachers' language competences. English has been our project language. Many training lessons during the project meetings has improved language skills both regarding communication and cultural understanding for both teachers and students. Teachers, most of whom are not language teachers, has been part of lessons with international classes of students in different subjects. Last but not least, host families and other people not directly involved in the project has benefitted from intense communication. We have seen that all of the mentioned groups has overcome language barriers and speaks English more confidently and fluently at the end of the project. Our conclusion at the end of this project: only transnationality makes it possible to learn from each other in such a great variety of topics and fields. The transnational meetings, the home stays, the pedagogical discussions and the constant exchange of culture and values has been really rewarding and successful.