In these terms, 1 September 2017-31 August 2019, six European schools will work together to implement the partnership ”Go For Literacy To Enlighten Your Future” (GFLEF). The partner schools are: -Institut Marina (La Llagosta, Spain)-coordinator -Necmi Asfuroglu Anadolu Lisesi(Hatay, Turkey)-partner -Paikuse Põhikool Secondary School(Paikuse, Estonia)-partner -Berufskolleg Borken College (Borken, Germany)-partner -College Sainte-Anne(Le Bouscat, France) - partner -Killorglin Community College (Kerry, Ireland) - partner After having identified the common problem for our schools (the low level of many students regarding the literacy skills), we went to the next steps: analysis solutions, determining the scope and objectives of the partnership, the analysis of the capacity of schools to implement the project (by developing a SWOT analysis), identification of risks and their management strategies, establish desired outcomes, impact identification, dissemination and exploitation strategy development and monitoring and evaluation strategy, establishing the plan of activities and allocation of responsibilities and roles. The target groups for the implementation of project activities are the teachers and students aged 14 to 19. The purpose of the project is to value the literacy potential as a personal and consolidation development instrument of the key transversal skills needed for lifelong learning. Objectives of our partnership: -develop pupils skills in literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and of the transversal key competences (critical thinking, attitude networking, communication and collaboration with others, communication and English language, learning to learn, spirit initiative) -reading capitalization strategies for developing literacy skills in students and encourage reading for pleasure among students -developing teachers' knowledge and skills in the design and organization of activities and lessons that help develop among students transversal key competences and skills in literacy -promoting the exchange of innovative practices and experiences between European schools through the development of teaching materials based on strategies for reading, writing, speaking The project’s implementation will be organized based on packages each package being coordinated by a partner and all partners, as fallows: Management and Coordination”, ”Meetings”, The guide "The teaching of Living Abilities with Literacy" (A Training Manual), The guide "Inspire Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches" ("Literacy lessons"), ”Dissemination and Exploitation”, ”Monitorization and Evaluation”. The main results of this project will be: -the guide "The teaching of Living Abilities with Literacy" (A Training Manual) which will be structured in three modules "Reading Strategies", "Writing Strategies" and "Speaking and Listening Strategies" (Oral Communication). -the guide "Inspire Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches" ("Literacy lessons") a teaching material with lesson plans and educational activities developed and implemented by partners during project. Implementation of the project will have an impact on the participants (teachers and students) and the participating schools. The students between 14-19 years, who represent the target group for this project, will be involved in the phases of the project (planning, implementation, dissemination, evaluation). There are two main levels regarding the impact of the project on the target groups: -developing the skills in literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening) -developing the key transversal skills. Literacy competencies will help target groups to develop problem-solving skills, the ability to explore issues from their own perspectives, the capacity to apply knowledge to new situations, critical and creative thinking skills, ability to concentrate, to learn how to learn, socializing and communication, initiative spirit. The skills mentioned are useful for work, learning and life and will help the target groups with their jobs and adapt to workplace change. Employees in the 21st century need to have greater literacy skills than in other time periods. The slogan of our partnership is: ”Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility” (President Bill Clinton on International Literacy Day, September 8th 1994). According to the EU high level group of experts on literacy, today, the European Union is in a literacy crisis. Poor reading and writing skills can have a detrimental impact with 75% of school dropouts reporting reading problems and 50% of adults with criminal records identified as having reading difficulties. Employees in the 21st century need to have greater literacy skills than in other time periods.
From 2017 to 2019 five European schools have worked together to implement the partnership ”Go For Literacy To Enlighten Your Future” (GoFor).The partner schools have been: Institut Marina (La Llagosta, Spain)-coordinator, Necmi Asfuroglu Anadolu Lisesi(Hatay, Turkey)-partner, Paikuse Põhikool Secondary School(Paikuse, Estonia)-partner, Berufskolleg Borken College (Borken, Germany)-partner, College Sainte-Anne(Le Bouscat, France) - partner. Our Irish partner, Killorglin Community College (Kerry, Ireland) resigned even before we started implementing this project (September 2017). After having identified a common problem for our schools (the low level of many students regarding the literacy skills), we went on working on: review of the project scope and objectives of the partnership, the analysis of the capacity of schools to implement the project ( SWOT analysis based on our students' levels literacy skills, habits, likes and dislikes), identification of risks and their management strategies, establish desired outcomes, impact, and dissemination channels (each country's blog, school's websites, local press, brochures, project facebook, youtube channel), as well as monitoring and evaluation strategies, establishing the plan of activities and allocation of responsibilities and roles during the 1st transnational project meeting. The target groups for the implementation of project activities have been the teachers and students (aged 14 to 19). The main aim of the project was to value the literacy potential as a personal development tool of the key cross-curricular skills needed for lifelong learning and working. Our project objectives have been the development of students' skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and other cross-curricular abilities (critical thinking, initiative, teamwork, communication, learning to learn, creativity, digital competences), improving school strategies to develop these skills in students and encourage their reading for pleasure, developing teachers' knowledge and skills in the design and application of activities that help developing these cross-curricular abilities and skills in literacy. By means of learning by doing and other methodologies combined provided us with a 100% practical and active approach to learning based on preparing and discussing the real-life implementation of activities which were reviewed,redesigned and approved by all partners.These methodologies also gave us the change to work cooperatively, putting our knowledge into practice, analysing our learning environments and drawing up concrete proposals to improve them, getting to know and apply innovative ICT tools, and a determined action plan that has been followed. The project’s implementation was organized based on packages, each one being coordinated by a partner and all partners, as follows: Management and Coordination”,”Meetings”,The guide "The teaching of Living Abilities with Literacy",The guide "Inspire Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches"("Literacy lessons"), ”Dissemination”, ”Monitorization,Evaluation and Exploitation”.The main outcomes of the project have been the publication in paper version and online of "Reading Strategies", "Speaking and Listening Strategies" (Oral Communication) and "Writing strategies" which make up the Guide"The Teaching of Living Abilities with Literacy"(Training Manuals) as well as the Guide "Inspire Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches".Moreover, a parallel Etwining project has been developed by our students.Based on reading circles (1st-year project) and collaborative stories (2nd-year project), students have been working in mixed-nationality groups in order to attain project objectives.By means of continuous Skype and WhatsApp communication, sharing tasks to do, taking decisions on what to read and when to meet, or writing collaboratively short stories have potentially helped our students to improve their literacy skills. Implementation of the project has had an impact on the participants(teachers and students),and even a greater impact in the community involving around 5000 people including parents, authorities, and other stakeholders.The students between 14-19 years, who represent the main target group for this project, have been actively involved as project ambassadors in all the phases of the project(planning, implementation, dissemination, evaluation). This continuous exchange, sharing, analysing, testing and assessing processes as well as project outcomes have proved how important literacy is in our students' training for a future workplace.Moreover, it has been stated the need for literacy to be dealt, not just by language teachers, but most importantly by other teachers, regardless the subject taught, in order to fight against the "literacy crisis" as it has been mentioned by the European Commission. More than ever, employees in the 21st century need to have greater literacy skills.