Culture against Failure at School is a three-year Strategic Partnership for Schools Only. It involves eight secondary schools from Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Poland, Spain and Turkey. These schools educate and instruct pupils of diverse ethnic and cultural origins. Most of these learners come from underprivileged families with low opportunities for learning, travelling and self-educating. They often lack motivation, ignore the importance of foreign languages and ICT in the labour market. Many of these learners usually give up when they face difficulties in their learning. Therefore, our partnership will primarily focus on these learners. On the one hand, we first intend to enhance our learners’ motivation and personal investment in learning thanks to a collaborative challenge, offer them an opportunity to acquire new skills in ICT and foreign languages. On the other hand, we want to offer them an opportunity to meet other European learners of their age, to discover European cultures in native place and to put forward their own culture, to develop intercultural skills, and thus, to build their European citizenship. To implement our partnership and hit our objectives we have shared tasks amongst us according to each other’s experience and expertise. We agreed to exchange our know-how. Besides, a five-day ICT workshop will be organized for teachers in November 2017. Participants will learn how to use a variety of ICT tools, and how to share all created materials on a dynamic project website. Moreover, four Transnational Project Meetings will be organized. These meetings will offer teachers the possibility to observe classes in the hosting countries and to give ICT-based lessons themselves. Finally, they will practice foreign languages, get familiar with European cultural diversity and acquire intercultural skills. As regards to our learners, we will first make preliminary assessments and rate pupils’ comfort/ability level on a number of skills. Based on the results we will purposefully create small groups that blend abilities and backgrounds, and incorporate team-building activities carefully adapted to their abilities and possibilities. Besides, we will have them complete tasks that involve using ICT and oral communication skills that they will likely need in their future professional life. Finally, they will participate in two twelve-day cultural language camps which will be organized in two different partner countries. These camps will put them in authentic communication situations amongst other European learners of their age and give them good opportunities to develop cooperation skills and team spirit, to gain sense of responsibility, to high up their self-confidence and self-esteem, to enlarge their cultural horizons, to make new friends and foster tolerance. To ensure the efficiency of our strategy, various evaluation tools will be developed and used. Communication between partners via video conferencing will take place every month to ensure the best follow up of the partnership activities. To disseminate our results as widely as possible we will create a dynamic website, a Facebook page, a Yahoo group and a YouTube channel. To sustain our partnership and its results we have agreed to continue our cooperation beyond the three years of the project via the Twinspace Portal. As a result, this partnership will not only help our learners, about four hundred, acquire new skills in ICT, foreign languages, intercultural skills and to build their European citizenship, but will raise their future social inclusion opportunities as well. Teachers involved, around fifty, will be given the opportunity to develop their language and intercultural skills, and learn how to incorporate innovative digital teaching tools and project-based pedagogy in their teaching and make their classes more engaging and more challenging for their pupils.
Culture against School Failure is a three-year Strategic Partnership for Schools Only. It involved eight secondary schools from Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. These schools educate and instruct pupils of diverse ethnic and cultural origins. Most of these learners came from underprivileged families with low opportunities for learning, traveling, and self-educating. They often lacked motivation, ignored the importance of foreign languages and ICT in the labor market. Many of these learners usually gave up when they faced difficulties in their learning. Therefore, our partnership primarily focused on these learners. On the one hand, we first intended to enhance these learners’ motivation and personal investment in learning thanks to a collaborative challenge, offered them an opportunity to acquire new skills in ICT and foreign languages. On the other hand, we wanted to offer them an opportunity to meet other European learners of their age, to discover European cultures in native place and to put forward their own culture, to develop intercultural skills, and thus, to build their European citizenship. To implement our partnership and hit our objectives we had shared tasks amongst us according to each other’s experience and expertise. We exchanged our know-how. Besides, a five-day ICT workshop was organized for teachers in November 2017. Participants learned how to use a variety of ICT tools, and how to share all created materials on a dynamic project website. Moreover, four Transnational Project Meetings were organized. These meetings offered teachers the possibility to observe classes in the hosting countries and to give ICT-based lessons themselves. Finally, they practiced foreign languages, got familiar with European cultural diversity, and acquired intercultural skills. As regards our learners, we first made preliminary assessments and rated their comfort/ability level on a number of skills. Based on the results we purposefully created small groups that blended abilities and backgrounds and incorporated team-building activities carefully adapted to their abilities and possibilities. Besides, we had them complete tasks that involved using ICT and oral communication skills that they would likely need in their future professional life. Finally, they participated in a twelve-day cultural language camp which was organized in Poland. This camp put them in authentic communication situations amongst other European learners of their age and gave them good opportunities to develop cooperation skills and team spirit. They gained a sense of responsibility, high up their self-confidence and self-esteem, enlarged their cultural horizons, made new friends, and fostered tolerance. To ensure the efficiency of our strategy, various evaluation tools were developed and used. Communication between partners via video conferencing took place every month to ensure the best follow up of the partnership activities. To disseminate our results as widely as possible we created a dynamic website, a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel. To sustain our partnership and its results we have agreed to continue our cooperation beyond the three years of the project via the Twinspace Portal. As a result, this partnership has not only helped our learners, about four hundred, acquire new skills in ICT, foreign languages, intercultural skills and to build their European citizenship, but has raised their future social inclusion opportunities as well. Teachers involved, around fifty, were given the opportunity to develop their language and intercultural skills, and learned how to incorporate innovative digital teaching tools and project-based pedagogy in their teaching and have made their classes more engaging and more challenging for their pupils.