Our project evolves from a trustful relationship between the partner schools (Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany) that have already successfully worked together in previous European projects. The exchange has led to the realisation that all schools – regardless of their differences – share the same problem: Students are at the risk of dropping out of school because of academic failure, school absenteeism or a lack of social networks. Each school has already come up with certain strategies, concepts or projects in order to avoid this problem, but the schools all strive for a way to improve the efficiency of these strategies. The key to an innovative design and development of the schools will be their distinctness. The new partner schools from Denmark and Austria, which have been found via eTwinning, have also expressed the same problems and offer possible solutions. The six project schools are secondary/comprehensive schools with students between the ages of 11 to 18 years. All schools are located in provincial areas, they have a coordinating Europe-Team and consulting services with social workers. The participants of the project originate from various social classes and have been attending special classes at school (elective classes, clubs, Europe-classes) that are connected to other schools via eTwinning. These classes are open to all students and are currently attended by 30 students in each country. Two teachers and five students actively participate in the learning and educational activities. The final aim of the project is to unite in order to face the problem of school dropouts in Europe by improving the social integration and the attachment to the school of each student. Therewith the project shall create the base for a successful and autonomous adult life in Europe for the participants. That means that both self-efficacy and resources will be revealed to the students as well as to the teachers. In addition, the identification with the school will be strengthened and shall serve as the base for academic success. Moreover, the design of the school as a place to live by the students and the teachers will improve by gaining innovative ideas from the exchange between the different schools. Another point is that the participants will consciously experience social integration at school as well as in Europe. Finally, increasing school attendance will also increase academic success and thereby create incentives for a prosperous concept of life in Europe. The project activities include three different levels: 1) continuing education of teachers (exchange of concepts, workshops), 2) short student exchanges (workshops, introduction of schools, implementation of results), 3) Europe (exploration of the partner cities, shared campaign “Every school day matters”). When choosing the methods all educational levels and social classes will be considered by founding the project work on concrete experience. The structure of the project is based on the concept of Think-Pair-Share: 1: coming up with solutions at home, 2: discussing solutions within the frame of the educational and learning activities of the project and preparing to share them, 3: sharing and implementing innovative ideas back at home. Observing school, actively participating in workshops and experiencing Europe will help activate, integrate, develop and disseminate examples of good work. The project is bilingual – the workshops will be offered in two languages simultaneously. Concepts will be shared in English and translated into the mother tongue. The result will be a model to innovate and implement the solution approaches that can be used by each school and can be in the form of concepts, mind maps, PowerPoint presentations, documentations, posters and more. All results and reports will directly be uploaded to the online portfolio on eTwinning and will be connected to the school homepages. The continuous campaign “Every school day matters” will be shared via surveys, statistics, flyers, posters and presentations. Together we are fighting the problem of school dropouts in Europe by sharing examples of our work with different schools, facing school absenteeism, actively designing and preparing our schools for the future and allowing our students to have a prosperous, autonomous and active life in Europe based on academic success.
Due to the already existing contacts of the schools in Portugal, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands there was already a trusting cooperation in various European projects. The exchange led to the idea that, despite their differences, the schools described a common problem: pupils are at risk of dropping out of school due to school failure, school absenteeism or a lack of a social network. Every school was already pursuing approaches (concepts, supporting structures, student projects) to counter this. However, all schools sought to increase the effectiveness and expansion of the existing programs. The diversity of the schools was the key resource used for the innovative design and development of the schools. The new partner schools from Denmark (newcomer) and Austria were specifically searched for via the eTwinning portal and also mentioned the problematic field of dropping out of school and offered possible solutions. The six participating schools are secondary schools / comprehensive schools with the same age structure (11 to 18 years). All have a coordinating European team, a counselling service with social workers and are located in a small town or rural environment. The project participants from all social classes took special courses (elective courses, working groups, European courses). A maximum of 30 students attended these courses, which were open to all students in the school community. Two teachers and five pupils who were actively involved in design took part in each of the AULs. Via eTwinning the participants were networked beyond the boundaries of their own school. The aim of the project was to step together - hand in hand - against dropping out of school in Europe, to achieve the basis for a successful, independent adult life for our students in Europe through social integration and loyalty to school. Self-efficacy and resources were shown and used at student and teacher level in order to increase identification with their own school and to use it as the basis for school success. Through the project, the pupils and teachers have experienced innovations for designing their living space “school”, which can be implemented in the respective schools. The social integration in the individual school and in Europe was consciously experienced (especially by young people to whom this field of experience is usually inaccessible). Increasing the participation in school life and lessons inspires individual success in class and offers concrete incentives for a successful life concept in the protected area of Europe. The activities of the project were on three levels: teacher training (exchange of concepts / workshops), short-term exchange for school groups (workshop design, school presentation, consolidation of results / implementation) and Europe (exploration of the partner cities as an active European, joint campaign "Every school day counts!" ). When selecting the methodology, all levels and social classes were taken into account, in that concrete experience was set as the starting point for the work. The project’s structure and implementation followed the think-pair-share principle: 1) inventing solutions at home and in the project 2) discussing, sharing, preparing for dissemination during the AULs 3) disseminating and introducing innovative ideas at home. This three-step process was used in the AULs: observing at school, taking part in workshops and experiencing Europe. - The project was bilingual (English-German / English-German mother tongue) in order to take as many students as possible into the project. The workshops were also offered parallel in two languages. The concepts were exchanged in English and translated into the mother tongue. The result is the template for innovation and implementation of the solution approaches for use / multiplication in the own school system as a concept template, mind map, PowerPoint, experience documentation (quikfilm, posters, PowerPoint presentations). All results and reports were posted directly in the online portfolio on eTwinning and linked at the respective school homepage. For the ongoing campaign "Every school day counts!" surveys, statistics, flyers, posters and presentations were created for dissemination. Because of the corona pandemic, the content of the encounters, which had to be omitted due to Covid-19, was presented in the virtual room of the Twinspace. This was we went "hand in hand - together against dropping out of school in Europe" for three years by exchanging good examples of our work in schools, facing up to the challenge of school absenteeism together, actively shaping our schools for the future and actively helping our students experience and bring in a successful, independent life as active Europeans based on school success, especially looking beyond the period of the pandemic restrictions.