Early school leaving remains a key issue in Europe. The European Union aims to reduce the level of early school leaving to below 10% by 2020. The project "Tackling Early School Leaving, focusing in the Inclusion of Minorities" unites 5 schools from Greece, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, that wish to tackle the problem of early school leaving as a whole and more specifically for the students who belong to minorities. Our target groups are the whole community (teachers, parents, students) of partner schools and especially students of minorities (refugees, immigrants, repatriates, gypsy etc.) which will benefit of learning activities. Our main objectives are to apply Participatory Learning Methodologies and tools (Circle technique, World Cafe, Open Space) in order to improve relations between all members within the school community, boosting students’ self esteem and finally reduce the drop-outs rate by 30%; evaluate the Participatory Learning Methodologies been used, in order to create a guidebook of good practices; train teachers from each school in using e-learning tools (moodle platform) as well as creating and applying on-line 8 linguistic units for further linguistic support of minority students; develop a network of cooperation of each school with the Local Bureau of Education, school counselors and parents; reduce racial prejudice and discrimination through a number of cultural activities. For this a number of learning and training activities will take place in the following countries: "Participatory Learning Method: “Applying the Circle in multi ethnic Groups" for students in Italy, “Using E-learning, for linguistic improvement of students ” for teachers in Greece and “Using Participatory Learning Methodology, World Cafe and Open Space” for students in France. The expected results of the project, in terms of knowledge, abilities and skills, will be: improvement of interpersonal relationships among students as well as between students and teachers; boosting students’ self-esteem; supporting students' families and raising awareness of parents; better language skills for teachers and students that participated to mobilities; development of ICT skills for teachers; Professional development for teachers. We and other stakeholders, will also benefit of tangible results as: project’s Facebook, project's web page, E-twining ,a Guidebook of good practices & techniques translated in English and in every partner’s national language, two project’s Diary, a moodle platform with five (5) on line courses of eight (8) native language lessons for each country and a DVD including multimedia material of the project's activities and evaluation results. The expected impact in our schools and local communities will be: enhancement of interpersonal relationships between students and teachers-students; increased self esteem, self confidence and development of the sense of security and belonging to school for students; improving command of foreign languages they already know (mainly English) or learning new ones, for participants; increased interest in foreign cultures which will lead to an attenuation of the degree of discrimination and racist behavior; construction of a European identity and citizenship; develop new approaches and Participatory Learning methods for tackling early school leaving; develop different teaching approaches using E-learning methods (moodle platform) and increase teachers' ICT Skills; partnership schools will be transformed to centers of innovation through transfer of good practices for the other schools in their area; partners will increase extroversion and will promote the activities of the schools in the community through dissemination activities; increase the interest of other schools and institutions/organizations for the realization of similar European programs of collaboration; the schools will act as multipliers and contribute in the application of Participatory Learning Methods by other schools in the region.
The project "Tackling Early School Leaving, focusing in the Inclusion of Minorities" implemented by a consortium of 5 schools from Greece, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, under the coordination of the Greek school. Our target groups focused on the whole community (teachers, parents, students) of partner schools and especially students of minorities (refugees, immigrants, repatriates, gypsy etc.). We try to help more this group of students by giving them priority in the learning activities conducted in our school and in activities C1 & C3 (mobilities). Our main objectives was to apply Participatory Learning Methodologies and tools (Circle technique, World Cafe, Open Space) in order to improve relations between all members within the school community, boosting students’ self esteem and finally reduce the drop-outs rate by 30%; evaluate the Participatory Learning Methodologies been used, in order to create a guidebook of good practices; train teachers from each school in using e-learning tools (moodle platform) as well as creating and applying on-line 8 linguistic units for further linguistic support of minority students; develop a network of cooperation of each school with the Local Bureau of Education, school counselors and parents; reduce racial prejudice and discrimination through a number of cultural activities. For this a number of learning and training activities took place in the following countries: - "Participatory Learning Method: “Applying the Circle in multi ethnic Groups" for students in Italy, - “Using E-learning, for linguistic improvement of students ” for teachers in Greece and - “Using Participatory Learning Methodology, World Cafe” for students in France. The consortium produce some tangible results that benefited our school community during the lifespam of the project but more thant that these results will be available after the end of the project for our local community and any other stakeholder. These results are: project’s Facebook page, project's web page, E-twining ,a Guidebook of good practices & techniques translated in English and in every partner’s national language, two project’s Diary, a moodle platform with five (5) on line courses of five () native language lessons for each country and a DVD including multimedia material of the project's activities and evaluation results. The expected impact that already has been noticed in our school and local communities is: - raising awareness about european projects among our school communities in significant degree. It is worth mentioning that during the lifespam of the project more teachers of partnerships' schools activated and applied for new projects - the interpersonal relationships between students and teachers-students were increased significantly for those attended the activities of the project. - for some of the students (about the half of them) their self esteem, self confidence and the sense of security and belonging, were increased - all students and teachers who participate in mobilities improved command of foreign languages they already know (mainly English) or learning new ones. Moreover increased interest in foreign cultures which lead to an attenuation of the degree of discrimination and racist behavior; - construction of a European identity and citizenship for the teachers belonging in the projects' team and for more students attended the school activities related with the project - developed new approaches and Participatory Learning methods for tackling early school leaving - develop different teaching approaches using E-learning methods (moodle platform) and increase teachers' ICT Skills but not in the degree it was expected by the initial objective. - schools formed the prospect to became centers of innovation through transfer of good practices for the other schools in their area. Especially the coordinator, the Greek school, during dissemination actions, meet the desire of other schools to act as a multiplier for them