CONTEXT/BACKGROUND Our project is based on the shared value of solidarity, social inclusion and active citizenship in Europe which is the only way to decrease the effect of current social and financial crises. We want to exchange and discover new ways of school community service and volunteering related to European Voluntary Service and European Solidarity Corps. OBJECTIVES • to promote social inclusion, cohesion and solidarity of students by discovering good practices of partner schools; • to find new ways and methods for teachers to enhance students’ social and civic competencies and attitudes in extra-curricular activities; • to increase students’ active European citizenship, ability to work in multicultural groups, positive attitude towards European projects and tolerance towards different cultures; • to create opportunities for students to participate in a wide range of volunteering activities in order to resolve challenging situations across Europe; • to build a European network of schools lasting after the project period. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS • 5 European secondary schools in Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, all having programs for school community service and ready to join EVS and European Solidarity Corps; • 15 teachers in the given schools; • 20 - 25 students (15 taking part in mobilities) in each school, above 15. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES 1. Setting up project management, assessing skills, distributing tasks and reponsibilities; 2. Selecting students, assessing their civic, social and communication skills, organising after-school workshops; 3. Creating and operating interactive project website, eTwinning platform, social media groups, online forum for communication and dissemination; 4. Project meetings – preparing for reporting, monitoring, evaluating and disseminating results and indicators; 5. Preparing students for exchanges; description of good practices in English, organising activities: 6. Student exchanges – meeting local NGOs, carrying out school community service activities; 7. Joint staff training – workshop and study visit – visiting accredited NGOs, studying materiels about EVS and European Solidarity Corps, working on accreditation; 8. Monitoring, evaluating and disseminating results; measuring satisfaction of teachers and students; 9. Accreditation process of each partner; 10. Registering and placing students in EVS or European Solidarity Corps as volunteers; 11. Cutting, editing, subtitling and uploading video guide and methodological resource book to project website; 13. Final monitoring, evaluating and disseminating results by each partner, indicators, assessing skills enhanced, measuring final satisfaction of teachers and students. METHODOLOGY Activity and competence based methodology is in the centre of our project: • AT PROJECT MEETINGS: presentations, reports, analysis, discussions, planning, monitoring and evaluating progress, evaluation sheets, surveys and questionnaires; • AT AFTER-SCHOOL WORKSHOPS FOR STUDENTS: group or pair work, presentations, studying the background of partner schools and countries – history, geography, people, habits, languages, NGOs, community service related activities, etc., monitoring and evaluating progress, self evaluation sheets and questionnaires; • AT STUDENT EXCHANGES: ’learning by doing’ - transnational group or pair work, peer to peer learning; interactive workshops and round tables, presentations, role plays, discussions, games, intercultural learning, monitoring and evaluating progress (e-logbooks, Europasses), evaluation sheets and questionnaires etc. • AT JOINT STAFF TRAINING (WORKSHOP AND STUDY VISIT): discussions, presentations, visits to local NGOs, planning, evaluation (Europasses), application form. RESULTS AND IMPACT MAIN PRODUCTS • interactive project website; • methodological resource book with a video guide – uploaded to the website with free access for the public. IMPACT ON PARTNER SCHOOLS • the project will promote their school community service program with project- and activity based methodology; • they will become accredited EVS and European Solidarity Corps institutes. IMPACT ON PARTICIPATING TEACHERS • the project will contribute to the development of their professional, English and ICT skills, the enlargement of their methodological repertoir and help to prevent professional burnout. IMPACT ON PARTICIPATING STUDENTS • they will gain experience in project- and activity based learning and school community service in European context - their knowledge, critical thinking, communication, social and intercultural skills, attitudes and commitment to solidarity and active participation in society will improve; • they might get involved in the activities of NGOs related to EVS or European Solidarity Corps. LONG TERM BENEFITS • the work of 5 European schools will result in a long-term cooperation; • the participating students will actively take part in the life of society, volunteer for NGOs.
CONTEXT/BACKGROUND School community service and volunteering can offer solutions to several social and environmental issues in Europe, sharing the values of solidarity, social inclusion and active citizenship among young people. OBJECTIVES The main objective was to promote solidarity, social inclusion &cohesion and active citizenship by discovering and exchanging Good Practices of partner schools and supporting teachers with the enhancement of social and civic competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) of their students. We wanted to educate our students’ to become active European citizens, to develop their ability to work in multicultural groups, positive attitude towards European projects and tolerance towards different cultures. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS There were 5 European schools involved in the project - from Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, which all had their extra-curricular programs for social inclusion via community service. They all provide general education at secondary level, the Belgian, Portuguese and Turkish schools are state run, while the Spanish and Hungarian schools are maintained by foundations. Each school has involved participants aged 14-17 with gender balance and English skills at least at B1 level who were committed to school community service. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES 1. Preparation – project management was set up, students were selected, their competences assessed and project workshops held in each school, while the project website was created and maintained by the coordinator school: https://comserv.poli.hu. 2. There were 6 transnational project meetings to discuss management issues, to plan how good practices can be integrated to community service programs of partner schools. 3. There was a staff training event in Turkey to learn about ESC and applying for Quality Label accreditation. Till the end of the project, each partner registered students on ESC platform, applied for ESC Quality Label, the Portuguese and Hungarian partners have obtained it. 3. We organized 4 short-term exchanges of groups of pupils - one in Hungary, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, where both teachers and students took part in community service activities organised by the host school. 4. We created our main products: a Teachers’ Manual - https://comserv.poli.hu/2019/12/26/1031/ and a video guide - https://comserv.poli.hu/2019/12/20/video/ METHODOLOGY We used a non-formal, activity and competence based approach in the project. Our main method was ’learning by doing’ and ’peer to peer teaching’, i.e. students worked in transnational groups, presented home assignments, took part in interactive workshops, discussions with representatives of NGOs and carried out community service activities. At project workshops between student exchanges, students worked in groups or pairs. They carried out school community service activities and prepared materials for the exchanges: made presentations, made and watched videos about community service, shared information about partner schools and countries. After each exchange, they reported to their peers: introduced the activities they had taken part in with photos and videos. RESULTS 1. Main products - the project website for disseminating results, a Teachers’ Manual and video guide, uploaded to the website with free access for the public. 2. The project TwinSpace has been awarded a European Quality Label: https://comserv.poli.hu/2019/11/10/european-quality-label/. IMPACT 1. On partner schools - the project has enlarged their community service programs with new activities and their European network, the Portuguese and the Hungarian partners have acquired a Quality Label in ESC. 2. On participating teachers – it has contributed to the development of their motivation, attitude, professional skills and methods, English and ICT competences. 3. On participating students – they have gained experience in project- and activity based learning and school community service in European context – their knowledge, critical thinking, communication, social and intercultural skills, attitudes and commitment to solidarity and active participation in society has improved. The inclusion of students with fewer opportunities has helped their social integration. LONG TERM BENEFITS 3 of the 5 partner schools have started another collaboration in a KA229 project in September 2020. Student participants might get involved in the activities of NGOs related to ESC. There can be other schools in Europe, taking over school community service programs developed in the project.