CONTEXT The project DiscriminACTion for a better IntegrARTion was created when the need to integrate harmoniously students with different backgrounds (special needs, different origins or religions, different social backgrounds,...) in the Institution Sainte Marie became obvious. Art seemed the best way to work on discriminations and to make the students aware of what being "different" means because art is creativity and allows freedom. The French team then got in touch with 3 European partner schools because respect also means understanding people with a different language and different traditions. Working in international teams about discriminations seems an obvious choice. PARTNER SCHOOLS The Institution Sainte Marie, with its tradition of welcoming students at any time of year thanks to the two boarding schools, is the coordinator of the project. Sainte Marie will deal with the issue of discrimination towards the less-privileged. Vilnius Martynas Mažvydas progymnasium is a large Lithuanian middle-school, eager to find new ways of learning and teaching and engaging their students in their learning. It has all the facilities for special needs students and they will focus on that topic. The Institut Joan Sola in Spain will focus on sexism and discriminations between men and women. The fourth partner is the Istituto Comprensivo Statale IC3 Don Bosco d'Assisi in Italy is experimenting new creative ways of teaching through art (ceramics, engraving,....). They will deal with bullying and anti-bullying policy. ACTIVITIES There will be 4 learning, teaching training activities, one taking place in each country with 15 foreign students and 7 foreign teachers. The students will be hosted by the families so they can best apprehend their partner's way of life and culture. English will be the main language of communication and work. Each mother tongue will be favored, in the families of course but the students will also be encouraged to learn some expressions in the other languages during the art workshops or during the periods devoted to the discovery of th hosting country. Each school will decide which way is the best for them to work on the topic: they can either favor a particular art (engraving, story telling, drama, video,...) or decide to propose a mix of them, according to their abilities and possibilities. METHODOLOGY The students will use the Twinspace to get in touch with each other, exchange information, prepare their work, chat together during the project and share the results and outcomes of their stay. Each school will work on compulsory events: the European Day of Languages in September and Zero Discrimination Day in March (for 2018-2019), the International Day for Tolerance in November and the Europe Day in May. (for 2019-2020). Other events can be organized, according to the priorities and interests of each group: Homelessness Day/Day of Mental Health, November- International Migrants' Day, December- International Women's Day, March- International Day of Pink, April- International Day for Older People- October, Human Rights Day or International Day of Persons with Disabilities- December. Each school will engage in a cooperation with one or more association or charities dealing with the topics of the project. Together they will plan actions, conferences, collects, exhibitions to make people aware of discriminations. A website, a multi-lingual brochure and a facebook account will be created to disseminate the project. The different teams will report on their outcomes and results on the Twinspace and on the website. Newspaper articles will be published in the regional media. In each country, questionnaires will be filled in by the students and their parents to assess the success of the project (placement test for their level of English, questionnaire about discrimination, satisfaction questionnaire after their stay...). A book with the most representative works done by hte students will be published and sent to the partners (50 copies for each) school for dissemination. RESULTS AND IMPACT The impact will be positive at different levels and for different audiences: the students will improve their language skills and will become more aware of the differences between people and ways to overcome discriminations for a better inclusive school and society. This project will also benefit the schools because the students, parents, teachers and communities will understand the effort made by the schools to integrate and welcome all types of students. The atmosphere in the school will become more peaceful and respectful. LONG-TERM BENEFIT For all the participants involved, this experience will mean a better understanding of the Other, who can be from another country or different for a whole range of reasons (special needs, social background, different religion,...). It means that in their future life, they will pay more attention to others and will understand that working together is vital.
CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES At first the whole tealm at Institution Sainte Marie Ribeauvillé, France, felt the need to promote toleance and to favour a good inegration for all its students, coming from very heterogeneous backgrounds. Fighting against discriminations seemed obvious and a good means to make the students aware of differences among peers. The whole educational community thought about how to implement the project. Creating and exploring new artistic techniques seemed a good way for the students to express themselves about the topic, that can be touchy for some of them. Discovering the Other can also means getting to know someone who speaks another language, lives in another country and has different habits from mine. Finally, using the English language as a means of communication was important so the students understand the importance of being able to talk one ore more foreign languages to communicate properly without prejudice or fear. We then got in touch with our three partners through E-Twinning. PARTNERS Four partners worked together: Institution Sainte Marie, Ribeauvillé, France is the coordinator of the project, Institute Joan Sola, Torrefarrera Spain was in charge of creating and maintining the website of the project, Don Bosco d’Assisi, Torre del Greco, Italy maintained the twinspace and Vilnius Martynas Mažvydas progymnasium, Vilnius Lithuania, created the multilingual brochures. ACTIVITIES Each Erasmus team in the different countries had to organize events about 4 international Days: the European Day of Languages (September 2018), Zero Discrimination Day (March 2019) , International Day of Tolerance (November 2019) and Europe Day (May 2020). Each Erasmus+ team could also work, according to its sensibily or ability to do so, on other international Days such as the International Day for Women, the International Day for the Elderly, the International Day for Human Rights, Each school had to get in touch and organize fundraising, conferences, work with charities in its community to work on the topic "Discrimination" and Tolerance" MOBILITIES Three mobilities could be organized "physically" before the Covid 19 pandemic: in Spain about sexism, in France about the tolerance towards the less-privileged, in Italy about (cyber) bullying. The last mobility was virtual and organized by the Lithuanian team about disabilties and was made possible through videoconferences, powerpoints and tutorials. During the mobilities, the students were hosted by the partner families, shared their daily life, took part in artistic workshops about the topic and visited landmarks of the region. All activities and mobilities were disseminated thanks to the twinspace, the internet website, newspaper articles, open-door days, training sessions,exhibitions or conferences. RESULTS The final products of the project are the individual concrete artistic productions of the students: videos, booklets, small texts, engravings, photos, dances, songs...Furthermore, two booklets were produced by the coordinators of the partner school about the project and will be sent to their networks such as the academic authorities, the mayor of the town, the other schools of the area,... One PDF (attached document final booklet) booklet explains how to deal with the topic disciminations through artistic activities with students and has a pedagogical goal. This first booklet is more for teacher or educators. The other PDF booklet (https://www.calameo.com/books/0065652019125a1a4e9e5) shows the whole life of the project, explains who the partners are, explains its objectives and how they were reached. This booklet is intended for all the stakeholders with an interest in the Erasmus+ programmes and its opportunities. LONG-TERM BENEFIT The long-term benefit, on an individual level is the awareness that understanding the differences of the Other, whether he/she is a classmate or a foreign partner is vital for a good understanding betwwen the persons. All the students realized the importance of speaking at least a foreign language, in this case English. For the partner schools, the long-term benefit is a more peaceful and relaxed atmosphere during the lessons, breaks and life at school. Some actions will be promoted such as tutoring of younger pupils by older students or the Zero Discimination Day that will become a landmark in one of the participating school.