We are living through a turbulent period: economical crisis and migration are putting on the test our belief in being part of European Union. Thanks to this project we’ll try to rediscover the initial basic values of EU especially the political cohesion and social inclusion. By exploring the topic, all partecipants will have the chance to improve social inclusion and integration and to contrast the risk of new edition of racism and xenophobia. General aim of the project is giving to the students the chance to develop most of the key competences: communication in foreign languages, digital skills, learning to learn, social and civic responsability, cultural awareness and expression. Among these competences, it will stress intercultural ones (respect of other cultures, openess, curiosity by viewing difference as a learning opportunity, discovery etc.). In add it aims for to develop life skills (self-development, self-confidence, autonomy etc.) All of them are necessary to follow their studies or to enter in the job market and improve European and global citizenship. Apart for teachers and students involved in mobilities (about 90 people), will be involved in the project about 250 students and teachers in schools, 150 parents, 50 stakeholders inside schools (headmaster, bursar and others), about 400 people outside (municipality councils, experts, cultural associations, refugees, broadcast and print media journalists, hoteliers etc.). They will take part in the implementation of the project at different levels and at different times (before, during and after the project) and they will help us organize meetings at school, manage hospitality, keep people informed of what is going on and disseminate our results. Our project, which will run for two years, will be split into four modules, three international meeting and four short-term exchange of groups of pupils: A) Modules I Overview of Migration (political and cultural perspective) II Migrants through Art and History (artistic and and historical perspective) III Integration Today (sociological perspective) IV Integration at School (pedagogical perspective) B) Transnational meetings We planned three international projects meetings: the first one at the beginning of the project to fill a details agenda; to second one at the beginning of the second years of the project to plan the activites of the second year and the third one at the end of the project to assessment the two years work and to writing the draft of the final report. C) Short-term exchange of pupils Four short-term exchange of groups of pupils, one for each country, are planned to actualize the intercultural perspective and to feel part of European community. The last one will include the visit to a European Institution (Parliament or Council). Through the four modules we will produce several outcomes: logo and poster of the project, videos and script of migrants’ interviews, survey and evaluation questionnaire, E-book with the best proposals of social inclusion, e-book with best artistic materials written by students (songs, poetry, short stories etc.), web site with a rich menu (in addiction to materials of the project, it will contain a gallery of histor photos, poetries, songs, novels, painting, reviews of movies all about the topic of migration and a gallery of famous migrant people), the charter of welcome will be written in five different languages (English, Italian, French, Spanish, Bulgarian) and will collection of useful information and a description of the tasks and role of the Committee. Through all activities carried out in different contexts, we’ll pass trough several innovative techniques (CLIL, cooperative learning, learning by doing, creativity in learning, flipped classroom, role play), use of ICT technology to make education attractive and engaging and improve knowledge, skills and competences, including the key ones. Regarding students, we envisage improving motivation, reducing the drop-out rate among pupils, especially foreign ones, improving social inclusion, understanding the political, economic and social changes, empowering citizenship. Regarding teachers, we envisage improving motivation, enriching innovative and collaborative work, improving language skill (especially for teachers of other subjects). Regarding schools, we envisage reinforcing the European dimension of school partners (schools will gain recognition by local, regional and national authorities and cultural institution), modernising education and training, promoting innovation. Regarding communities we envisage reinforcing integration and social inclusion. Teachers will be able to continue to use new methods and approach, will hopefully involve in international cooperation projects and disseminate good practise in their schools and in the future. The Charter of welcome and the Commitee will continue its activities of supporting and promoting inclusion of foreign students
Europe and the world at large are going through a period of rapid change. The various economic, political and social crises and the new migratory flows test the results of sixty years of hard work for the construction of the European Union. Two different tendencies oppose, those who want to strengthen European unity and those who question the legitimacy of the Union and want to leave it (Brexit e.g.). Our project is aimed at rediscovering the initial values of the EU and at promoting the development of the key competences of citizenship. By closely studying European issues, by discussing these issues, our students developed skills that will allow them to deal with complex situations, to understand them and to analyze them from different angles, in order to make appropriate decisions, respecting humanistic and democratic values. They learnt to avoid simplistic solutions, to give in to dangerous stereotypes or new forms of racism and xenophobia. This project cut through most of the key skills needed to flexibly address the political, economic and social evolution of Europe and beyond. The theme of the project aimed in particular at promoting social and civic skills (such as respect for other cultures, open-mindedness, curiosity in considering the difference as an opportunity for learning, discovery, socio-linguistic awareness, the feeling of empathy) that allowed everyone to acquire a culture of peaceful and harmonious coexistence, in the respect of democratic values and within the framework of a European and world citizenship. Our project also aimed at promoting the development of foreign language communication, digital skills, social and civic responsibility, creativity, and also learning to learn, develop personal fulfilment, self-confidence and autonomy, as well as reinforcing the European dimension of our schools. During the two years, participating students explored the migratory phenomena through different perspectives, such as institutional, historical, artistic and human ones. They met migrants, listened to them, exchanged ideas, created together, to better understand their background, their history and thus developed their sense of empathy. They also screened in migration situations during playful experiences (role plays) and creative activities (creation of short stories, poems, songs, short films). They compared different integration strategies both in their own country and in countries whose integration model is well known (France, U.K., Germany), in order to better understand the institutional mechanisms. Through a simulation of a session of the Junior Parliament, they discussed new strategies to improve the integration of students from migrant families into their own schools. Finally, they drafted a charter for newly arrived pupils on European soil, which will be ratified and used in all the schools of the partnership and, hopefully, beyond. This charter has been drafted in accordance with the European founding values of democracy, education, justice, equality, citizenship and civil rights, in consultation with the Council of Europe, which has agreed to lend us a hand. Visits and exchanges Each time, seven students and two teachers visited one of the partner institutions to participate in training activities related to the project: meetings, workshops, visits, etc. Students were welcomed in the families of participating students. - LTTA 1: Spain, January 2018 - LTTA 2: Bulgaria, May 2018 - LTTA 3: Italy, November 2018 - LTTA 4: France, March 2019 The last exchange, which took place in France was completed in Strasbourg, where all the participants visited the European Parliament and the Council of Europe in order to present the "Charter of Welcome". Seven MEPs signed our Charter.