Context and objectives: This project aims to address the theme of motivation among students from the partner schools. Our main objective is to place the role of students studying General Studies in focus and let them reflect upon teaching practices and European educational objectives. We wish to explore and compare the school systems of the partner countries with regard to improving student motivation and confirm the school’s role in forming students to become good and active citizens of the future. A common challenge for Northern European Upper Secondary schools is the decline in student motivation regarding their studies. Large numbers of students rate their motivation to learn as being low. In addition, many General Studies students don't find their curriculum relevant. In light of recent developments in Europe and the wider world, we feel it is more important than ever that this project confirms and promotes some of the fundamental principles that form the basis of a democratic, European society. Especially relevant are 2 of the main EU objectives set out in the ET 2020 forum: • Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training. • Promoting equality, social cohesion, and active citizenship. Participants: Sortland Videregående Skole (Norway), Pudasjärven lukio (Finland), Skanderborg Gymnasium (Denmark), Borgarholtsskóli (Iceland). Project leaders: Neil Clarke, Pia Virranmäki, Anne Blum, Kristveig Halldórsdóttir. 24 teachers. 150 students from the partner schools. 72 students on Short Term Learning Activities. Activities: Student awareness of the relationship between Family-School -Society: This activity allows individual school partners to study their school systems. Students begin in the present by looking at their school system and charting their course in it. Students proceed to chart the historical and cultural aspects of what their society expects regarding education. It enables them to place themselves within a historical context and realize how their school system has evolved. Student Networks: This activity explores the idea that students exist in networks and act accordingly. These networks can be; family, friends, hobbies, sports clubs, school, and jobs. Students will vizualize these networks and prioritize them according to motivation. Civic and Social Responsibility: This theme will bridge the gap between school and society, allowing students to compare both spheres. It focuses on the formation of young people and expectations set out by schools and societies. Motivation and formation: This theme is designed to connect the work done in the first 3 themes. Students gather their ideas concerning motivation and create an ideal school system from what they have learned. Design Teaching Packages. Methodology: The project will entail a number of different teaching methods, ensuring methodological diversity, guaranteeing varied lessons for students and to see the matter from different perspectives. Both inductive and deductive teaching methods will be used to foster critical thinking, team work, communication skills, digital competence and personal and social responsibility. Results envisaged: Improving student motivation is a realistic goal regarding the project's results. To heighten student awareness regarding their position in the family-school-society network. Specific results: - Teaching packages. -Student empowerment and responsibility. -Increased participation among young people in society. -Students, families and teachers to achieve a closer relationship at Upper Secondary School level, allowing a better understanding of education's role in preparing students as future citizens of society. - Enabling young people, along with their teachers, to explore the possibility of influencing teaching practice and developing a new, motivational learning arena. - Students will learn life lessons in both traditional and non-traditional ways. By reinforcing the relevance of school curricula and school-based formation in an innovative manner, students can realize that education can be dynamic and lead to renewed motivation. This can also contribute to a lower level of school drop-out and increased learning. Long term benefits: Our vision is to help students realize their position in society through the relevance of education and increased motivation. This project will contribute to the formation of good, well-balanced and well-informed future citizens of Europe, who will go on to take an active role in democratic society. The project will spread within the school organizations and become a natural part of school development. The project will be anchored in the school structure and add to a qualified debate about school enhancement. Future students will benefit from the project, as it will become integrated in the formation of students to become active, democratic citizens while contributing to innovative teaching practices that can be shared as an open educational resource.
Context and objectives: This project addressed the theme of motivation among students from the partner schools. Our main objective placed the role of students studying General Studies in focus and allowed them to reflect upon teaching practices and European educational objectives. Students explored and compared the school systems of the partner countries with regard to improving student motivation so as to confirm the school’s role in forming students to become good and active citizens of the future. 2 main EU objectives set out in the ET 2020 forum formed the backdrop of this project: • Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training. • Promoting equality, social cohesion, and active citizenship. Participants: Sortland Videregående Skole (Norway), Pudasjärven lukio (Finland), Skanderborg Gymnasium (Denmark), Borgarholtsskóli (Iceland). Project leaders: Neil Clarke, Pia Virranmäki, Anne Blum, Kristveig Halldórsdóttir. 24 teachers. 150 students from the partner schools. 72 students on Short Term Learning Activities. Activities: All activities set out in the application were undertaken with the correct amount of participating students and accompanying teachers. These were: Student awareness of the relationship between Family-School -Society: This activity allowed individual school partners to study their school systems. Students began in the present by looking at their school system and charting their course in it. Students proceeded to chart the historical and cultural aspects of what their society expects regarding education. It enabled them to place themselves within a historical context and realize how their school system has evolved. Student Networks: This activity explored the idea that students exist in networks and act accordingly. These networks were found to be; family, friends, hobbies, sports clubs, school, and jobs. Students then vizualized these networks and prioritized them according to motivation. Civic and Social Responsibility: This theme bridged the gap between school and society and allowed students to compare both spheres. It focused on the formation of young people and expectations set out by schools and societies. Motivation and formation: This theme connected the work done in the first 3 themes. Students gathered their ideas concerning motivation and created an ideal school system from what they learned. Methodology: The project included a number of different teaching methods that ensured methodological diversity, guaranteeing varied lessons for students so as to see the matter from different perspectives. Both inductive and deductive teaching methods were used to foster critical thinking, team work, communication skills, digital competence and personal and social responsibility. Results: Both project leaders and the students involved believe that this project has provided a perspective that has helped to Improve student motivation. We believe that it has heightened student awareness regarding their position in the family-school-society network. Specific results: - Teaching packages have been produced as a result of the 4 different themes. -Student empowerment and responsibility has been achieved, seen through the student presentations and workshops that took place during the mobilities. -Increased participation among young people in society has been achieved. -Students, families and teachers have been brought closer together at Upper Secondary School level, allowing a better understanding of education's role in preparing students as future citizens of society. - The project has enabled young people, along with their teachers, to explore the possibility of influencing teaching practice and developing a new, motivational learning arena. This was particularly evident during the last theme where students designed their own 'ideal' school system. - Students have learned life lessons in both traditional and non-traditional ways. By reinforcing the relevance of school curricula and school-based formation in an innovative manner, students and teachers have realized that education can be dynamic and lead to renewed motivation. Long term benefits: Our vision was to help students realize their position in society through the relevance of education and increased motivation. The project has contributed to the formation of good, well-balanced and well-informed future citizens of Europe, who will go on to take an active role in democratic society. The project has been anchored in the partner schools' structure and added to a qualified debate about school enhancement. We still feel that future students will benefit from the project, as it will become integrated in the formation of students to become active, democratic citizens while contributing to innovative teaching practices that can be shared as an open educational resource. This can be seen in the teaching packages that have been produced.