The school's task should be to prepare students for life. In this era of globalization, people move to other countries to look for work, to have better employment opportunities in those countries that need workers. Also for this reason, meeting and learning about different cultures can help young people to get better in a new work and life context, when they decide to move to another country. Our project combines all these aspects: - it compares different cultures and aspects of the world of work; - it disassemble prejudices through knowledge and friendship; - it offers an overview of the world of work in Europe, useful to everyone, but especially to those countries that have difficulty in employment; - it allows children to improve their linguistic skills; - it allows teachers to reinforce their linguistic skills and to know the organization of school and work systems in other countries; - it allows to include in the school curricula the good practices in use in other countries of the European Community and to make them become an integral part of their curricula. Summary; - Context/background of project: cooperation between countries with such a different background both from the cultural point of view and from the economic point of view can only represent an added value for the project. Italy is among the most industrialized countries and has a cultural history of all respect, but has suffered serious damage from the economic crisis of recent years, especially in the southern regions and especially in the area of Taranto, which also suffers a severe form of environmental pollution. Germany, on the other hand, is a country with a solid economy and a school system that enjoys the support of industry, above all in technical and professional education. Slovakia, with a growing economy, but still uncertain, and finally Croatia, which still has strong areas of poverty and unemployment. - Objectives of your project; improve the level of skills and key skills, with particular attention to the labor market and to a strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work; fostering the international dimension of education and training, in particular through cooperation between the institutions of the Program countries and partner countries; improve language teaching and learning and promote the broad linguistic diversity of the EU and intercultural awareness. - Number and profile of the participants; the participants are four schools of different order, all equally motivated to offer their students a wider vision of the working world in Europe, both in view of their future work mobility, and to prepare for the reception those who live in an economically stronger country. The teachers are also motivated by the desire to learn about different school systems to import into the curricula of their schools the good practices with which they will come into contact. - Description of activities; the activities will consist of visits to artisan and industrial companies operating in the countries involved in the project; short training activities aimed at the management of the project, but also of an organization in general; knowledge of the school systems of the countries involved; visit of the main cultural attractions. methodology to be used in carrying out the project; - Short description of the results and impact envisaged and finally the potential longer term benefits. We have divided the expected results into four different fields: Career, language, social and ICT. 1. Career Students and teachers will be able to acquire knowledge of academic and political requirements. Students and teachers will see the work situation in their own and in the partner school countries. They will have new contacts with people from other countries. They will also see what kind of work is desired abroad. 2. Language All communications will be in English so that students will be motivated to learn more about English. The English language is an indispensable precondition for obtaining work experience abroad. After finishing the project, students will be able to continue communication via social networks in English. 3. Social field: Social understanding of cultural characteristics and foreign customs. Our teachers and students will meet foreign cultures, e.g. food, music, tradition, work habits and places. They will have the possibility to eliminate stereotypes about people and foreign countries. 4. ICT In the ICT sector, participants will join several workshops in project meetings, such as workshops for Web 2.0 tools, workshops for creating online quizzes and film production. After these workshops the participants will use the new knowledge acquired during the project even after finishing it.
Summary During the period of the implementation our project “Culture and work in Europe” we developed an important aspect of school task: prepare students for life. The project subject matter offered our student a broader vision of the world of work in other countries of the European community and a deeper knowledge of different cultures, a new work and life context if they decide to move to another country. In occasion of mobilities students and teachers took part in a unique community sharing and understanding cultural characteristics and foreign customs (food, music, tradition, work habits, places). - Context/background of project: cooperation between countries with such a different background both from the cultural point of view and from the economic point of view can only represent an added value for the project. Italy is among the most industrialized countries and has a cultural history of all respect, but has suffered serious damage from the economic crisis of recent years, especially in the southern regions and especially in the area of Taranto, which also suffers a severe form of environmental pollution. Germany, on the other hand, is a country with a solid economy and a school system that enjoys the support of industry, above all in technical and professional education. Slovakia, with a growing economy, but still uncertain, and finally Croatia, which still has strong areas of poverty and unemployment. - Objectives of your project; improve the level of skills and key skills, with particular attention to the labor market and to a strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work; fostering the international dimension of education and training, in particular through cooperation between the institutions of the Program countries and partner countries; improve language teaching and learning and promote the broad linguistic diversity of the EU and intercultural awareness. 1. Career Students and teachers were able to acquire knowledge of academic and political requirements. Students and teachers saw the work situation in their own and in the partner school countries. They had new contacts with people from other countries. They also saw what kind of work is desired abroad. 2. Language All communications were in English so that students were motivated to learn more about English, because the English language is an indispensable precondition for obtaining work experience abroad. At the end of the project, students were able to continue communication via social networks in English. 3. Social field: Social understanding of cultural characteristics and foreign customs. Our teachers and students met foreign cultures, e.g. food, music, tradition, work habits and places. They had the possibility to eliminate stereotypes about people and foreign countries. 4. ICT In the ICT sector, participants joined several workshops in project meetings, such as workshops for Web 2.0 tools, workshops for creating online quizzes and film production. After these workshops the participants used the new knowledge acquired during the project even after finishing it. The partecipating students reached the most important goals planned during the application: - Their foreign language skills increased (oral communication with foreign people, presentations in English, student chats, online vote, online surveys) - Their ICT competence improved (they made presetations, videos, used online interfaces…) - Their self-confidence rose, they became braver in social situations thanks to the positive experiences they had in this opened international partnership that helped in overcoming the language barriers - their knowledge of cultural characteristic and foreign customs increased, so they have the possibility to eliminate stereotypes about people and foreign countries. - They knew more about the labour market and the close connection between the world of education and training and the world of work. - Number and profile of the participants; the participants are four schools of different order, all equally motivated to offer their students a wider vision of the working world in Europe, both in view of their future work mobility, and to prepare for the reception those who live in an economically stronger country. The teachers are also motivated by the desire to learn about different school systems to import into the curricula of their schools the good practices with which they will come into contact. The project subject matter was developed through different kind of activities and students took part in it with pleasure and enthusiasm: - Presentations about each country, school and local traditions - A logo competition to create and choose the logo of the project - The creation of an “Erasmus corner” in each school to expose photos and material about activities and partner countries - Interviews , exhibition of photos and presentations about work in the past and at present - Presentations about history and celebration of Worker’s Day in Europe - Survey among students about jobs/occupations they liked - Presentations and a drawing context about craftsmanship, agriculture - Presentations and photo exposition about raw materials and factories - Discussions and interviews about unemployment, immigration and intolerance - Creation of variuos materials about the touristic opportunities of each country - Personal ideas about work in the future and how current works could evolve in years to come. During the mobilities activities were based on the most important goals planned: - Visits of the school and introduction to the school system of the host country - Visits to know the local historical and cultural values in every country - Visits to the artisan and industrial companies operating in each country - ICT activities - Sharing of the project activities done between the mobilities - Short training activities for the development of the project - Through the planned activities the German, Croatian, Slovakian and Italian institutions were able to compare each other’s cultures and aspects of the world of work, to know the good practices in use in other countries of the European Community and make them become an integral part of their curricula.