The main project objective is the achievement of pupils´ realization of importance of freedom, they will become aware of the fact that freedom is not a widespread natural right and they will recognize how far the freedom oppression can go.The topic of freedom is a hot issue recently, because we can see more and more different displays of intolerance, hatred and violence. Ignoring these issues can result in oppression of basic human rights and in limiting freedom. The pupils will get to know various places, meet new people and recognize different forms of human rights oppression during different historical times via experiencing the planned activities. The project title itself is based on the above mentioned idea - FREEDOM - NATURAL RIGHT OR PRIVILEGE? LIFE WITHOUT FREEDOM - DIFFERENT PLACES, DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT TIMES. We see the importance of this project in gaining new knowledge about own country´s history and about neighbouring EU countries by pupils. Getting to know different cultures and different environment while participating in the project will help pupils to better understand different customs, traditions, their tolerance of different opinions, different religions or different ideologies will increase. Project activities for individual events, mobilities, are planned in such a way as to bring the highest benefits to pupils and teachers. There are four partner schools participating in the project. The project is intended for pupils 16-20 years old attending academic and vocational courses and for teachers of these schools. Two Short-term joint staff training events for 12teachers are going to take place. Four Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils are going to take place with 24pupils. Every time the exchange will take place in a different country, every school will try out the role of the host. Every exchange is focused on a specific historical period, on a certain historical event. Pupils will gain new knowledge while working at their school between events, mobilities, with formerly prepared worksheets, they are looking for information about a given topic. During exchanges of pupils, which are going to take place in individual partner schools, pupils are going to gain additional information through e.g. excursions, specific lectures, presentations and dialogues. All activities put stress on a personal experience, an awakening of emotions, on processing of own feelings. Pupils will process their experiences creatively into partial outcomes which will be presented to an audience at the end of each exchange. Life stories of common people influenced by certain historical events will be at the centre of attention. Based on personal experiences from different places, on meetings with different people and based on the acquired information about various life stories during individual activities and during the preparation phase the pupils are going to create artworks by their chosen method. Activities are planned in such a way as to create a complex set of goals leading towards the expected results, outcomes and project objectives. Pupils are expressing their personal experiences by means of artistic creations which are going to be presented at the end of the exchange. Thanks to participation in project activities another objective is reached, skills and key competencies of pupils are increased (competence for learning, problem solving, communication, personal and social competencies, competence for work placement). Through participation in project pupils will gain better self-confidence, they will be encouraged to be more independent, they will experience feeling of success, will be motivated towards continuing education. Thanks to an active use of the English language they will break through a language barrier, will get better in using English. Pupils will form new international friendships which can continue after the project will be finished. Short-term joint staff trainings are planned for the beginning phase of project and topics are chosen accordingly to expected outcomes of project activities. Trainings are focused on an improvement of ICT competencies of teachers. Knowledge gained at seminars will be used for realization of individual project activities and also when teaching classes at their schools. Professional and personal skills of teachers will improve. After this project is finished further cooperation among all participants is expected. The project will increase knowledge and language skills of pupils and teachers and will strengthen the awareness of belonging to the European community. The project realization is in accordance with long-term goals of participating schools, meaning reaching of certain level of key competencies corresponding with individual abilities and personal characteristics of individual pupils. Realization of this project is an appropriate tool for development of pupil´s creativity, for pupil motivation towards self-development and towards critical thinking.
The main aim of the project was to make pupils aware of the importance of freedom, that freedom is not a matter of course and what its limitation may lead to. The theme of freedom is increasingly topical, with various expressions of intolerance, hatred and violence often encountered in the world. Ignoring these manifestations can go as far as restricting the fundamental human rights and freedom of certain groups of people. Through the planned activities, the pupils got to know different places, different fates and different forms of human freedom restrictions. The title of the whole FREEDOM project was based on this idea – COMMONPLACE OR PRIVILEGE? LIFE WITHOUT FREEDOM – DIFFERENT PLACES, DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT PERIODS. Pupils gained new knowledge about the history of their country and neighbouring EU countries. Learning about other cultures and other environments within the project helped pupils understand other customs, traditions,, opinions, religions and ideologies. Four partner schools were involved in the project (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Germany). The project was aimed at students in both courses of study and apprenticeships aged 16-20 and teachers in participating schools. Within the project, there were two Short-term staff training events for 29 teachers. There were also four Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils, involving a total of 89 pupils and 8 teachers. Mobility took place each time in a different country, so each school tried out the role of host during the project. Each exchange was focused on a specific historical period, a historical event. During the inter-mobility period, pupils gained new knowledge while working in home schools, working with prepared worksheets, actively seeking out available information on topics, communicating with pupils from participating schools. During the Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils, pupils gained further information on the subjects through excursions, workshops, professional interpretations, lectures, interviews and competitions. All the activities were focused on personal experience, evoking emotions, processing your own feelings. Pupils processed their experiences in a creative way into partial outputs presented at the end of each mobility. Activities had been planned to form a whole together and to lead towards the expected results, outputs and objectives of the project. Participation in project activities has achieved the additional objective of enhancing the skills and key competences of pupils. By participating in the project, pupils have strengthened their self-confidence, been driven to self-reliance, experienced a sense of achievement, been motivated to self-education. Thanks to the active use of the English language, they got rid of the language barrier, they improved at using English. The pupils have made new international friendships during the project, which will certainly continue after the project is finished. Short-term joint staff trainings were aimed at increasing the ICT competence of teachers. During these activities, teachers applied their professional and linguistic knowledge. They used the acquired knowledge from the seminars not only in the implementation of individual project activities, but also in future teaching at home schools. The professional and personality skills of the teachers involved have been increased. The project has increased the knowledge and language skills of both pupils and teachers and strengthened the awareness of European togetherness. The implementation of the project was in accordance with the long-term objectives of the schools involved, it is an appropriate tool for developing the creativity of the pupil, motivating the pupil to self-development and critical thinking. The Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 made it impossible to implement the last mobility that was supposed to take place in Slovakia. The project involved schools from four countries, each school followed epidemic regulations in force in its own country. The implementation of the project was extended by 12 months, at this time the project teams of each school implemented the planned sub-activities. Mobility in Slovakia has not been achieved exactly as planned with all partners for the reasons mentioned above. However, it was managed to carry out this activity with two schools at least, which we consider a great success given the situation. Unfortunately, pupils from Hungarian and German schools were not able to participate physically in the mobility, so they met others virtually at least. We selected project partners based on previous positive experience. The unusual epidemiological situation has complicated the implementation of the project for all schools involved. Even at this difficult time, the project was successfully completed, including the achievement of the expected goals and outputs. We have further deepened our partnership and therefore expect further cooperation in the future.