Unifying in the difference: we think this is one of the most important issues of our project, promoting the knowledge within the different European nationalities, to create a network of relations through which we can know each other, exchange our ideas, experiences and fears. Our project, called “Walls and Bridges”, was born to destroy walls and build bridges between students, teachers, parents and other active citizens in Europe. It will be carried out by exchanging ideas and cultural proposals between the partners to promote, to develop and deepen the knowledge of historical, artistic and cultural European heritage. We have chosen to treat the topic “Walls and Bridges” because we desire to help people to pull down divisions: the “wall” is a physical reality and a metaphor typical of all European and extra-European cultures. It is the physical wall which was once built around the castles and the Medieval villages, and it marked boundaries, frontiers and flanks; it is also the wall of prisons. Nowadays, it is the physical wall built around and among towns because of international tensions, political and religious differences. It is the wall as a metaphor of human limits, as an obstacle to relationships and as a set of conventions and prejudices we raise around us. Through knowledge we can overcome our prejudices and accept people of different nationalities, cultures and abilities. When we become aware of a problem, we study it in depth to find a solution. So, the wall is no more a barrier, a cause of incomprehension and separation, we will build bridges, the means for union, socialization, friendship, comprehension, acceptance, dialogue and solidarity. The project will become an instrument to pull down physical and mental barriers, heritage of lack of knowledge. There are no more walls but bridges which help to build up a network of relations. The project idea was born from the needs of the schools to be able to deal with different ability students or coming from different cultural, religious, social, geographical, linguistic backgrounds and facing difficulties in learning and socializing. The main objectives are to provide the students quality and useful knowledge, to integrate those who have any kind of barriers and in this way, to lower the early school drop-out in the participant schools. Our team is containing of 6 schools from six different countries: Hungary as a coordinator, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey are going to work together in a vertical project including students aged 12-18 from primary schools to secondary schools. All schools have some expertise and it helped them to share the tasks of the project. The schools are very different in the number of the students , from 75 to 2300. That is why sharing the educational methodology and showing each other how our schools work is a major point of the project work because of the best practices. In the first year the countries are providing knowledge, are dealing with metaphors of the wall and the bridge in Literature, are learning and destroying stereotypes about the cultures and acquiring logical, technical, linguistic, literal and numeric skills. The second year will de designed for destroying the barriers through new methodology, improving non-verbal skills-composing music using ICT with common lyrics, doing sports together, learning the different types of dances. The verbal communication will be developed and a new style of linguistic support will be given using online foreign language applications. Students will acquire information about the building techniques and materials and the shapes of the walls and bridges through history; they will compare the functions of the different systems. They will work on researching Cultural Heritage Sites in their own neighbourhood regarding walls and bridges, they will visit these places, make promotional leaflets and present them to their partners. Individual, group work, cooperative techniques, round table discussions, presentations, seminars, games, exhibitions are just some of the methodology which will be used during these 2 years. The planned results are also leading to impact: producing a material, which will help the schools in destroying the barriers, the Educational Integration Program will be introduced,tested and disseminated. The other major result is the final event-the game and exhibition " We build too many walls and not enough bridges" which will summarize and exhibit the major results of the activities carried out. This educational and didactic path will give the opportunity to students and teachers to increase their sensitivity towards the problems of the contemporary world. At the same time, it will promote the growth of the future world citizens (who will foster peace and brotherhood) and of their well-balanced personalities.
Our project was born to destroy walls and build bridges between students, teachers, parents, and other active citizens in Europe. The wall is a physical reality and a metaphor, as well, typical of all European and non-European cultures. It is the physical wall which was once built around the castles and the Medieval villages, and it marked boundaries, frontiers, and flanks; it is also the wall of prisons. Nowadays, it is the physical wall built around and among towns because of international tensions, political and religious differences. The wall is a metaphor of human limits, an obstacle to relationships and a set of conventions and prejudices we raise around us. The bridge links two countries, towns, or can be a symbol of unity, socialization, friendship, acceptance, dialogue, understanding each other, and the helping hand. The idea was born from the needs of the schools to be able to deal with different ability students or coming from different cultural, religious, social, geographical, linguistic backgrounds and facing difficulties in learning and socializing. Providing basic skills in Literacy, Numeracy, ICT, and Foreign Languages was one of our main objectives, besides the cultural and intercultural experience. The project was an instrument to pull down physical and mental barriers, and for this reason contributing in the background knowledge on the topic, integrate and include those students, teachers, parents who have any kind of barriers and in this way lower the percentage of early school leaving in the participant schools. Our team was containing of 6 schools from six different countries: Hungary as a coordinator, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey worked together in a vertical project including students aged 12-18 from primary schools to secondary schools. All schools had some expertise and it helped them to share the tasks of the project. The schools are very different in the number of the students, from 75 to 2300. That is why sharing the educational methodology and showing each other how our schools work was a major point of the project work to collect best practices. Our common work consisted of dealing with metaphors of the wall and the bridge in Literature, to learn and destroy stereotypes about the cultures and acquire logical, technical, linguistic, literal, and numeric skills. To destroy the barriers, we experienced and worked on new methodology, improving non-verbal skills-composing music, using ICT with own lyrics, doing sports together, learning different types of dances from the countries' culture. The verbal communication was also developed through our common language-English- which was given extra support on in each participant school. Students acquired information about the building techniques and materials of the walls and bridges. We worked on researching Cultural Heritage Sites in our own neighbourhood regarding walls and bridges, many visits were organized, promotional leaflets were made and presented to each other. The Bank of Knowledge was the topic of our regular videoconferences, where the students could show their personal strengths, in this way building up personality skills. Art was an important path in the project, the pictures and drawings representing the two symbols were exhibited in Italy. The pandemic situation had a lot of negative effects on the implementation, not being able to work at schools and do mobilities, however a great artistic material was born, with the title ‘Walls in COVID time’, exhibited in all the participant schools. Individual, group work, cooperative techniques, round table discussions, presentations, seminars, games, exhibitions, concerts, and drama are just some of the methodologies which were used during these 3 years. The results and products are leading to impact: we produced a material, which helped the schools in destroying the barriers, tackle the school drop-out and the disadvantaged students of all types. The Common Inclusion Program was tested and disseminated in all partner countries. The other result is the final event-the musical ‘You Will be Found’ which summarized the major goals and acquired soft skills. The linked associations and organizations were an added value in the project and the work with them will ensure sustainability and impact in long-term. Unifying in the difference: we think this was one of the most important issues of our project, promoting the knowledge within the different European nationalities, to create a network of relations through which we can know each other, exchange our ideas, experiences, and fears.