In order to realize these ambitions, we have identified eight goals at the outset of the project: 1. Consolidating and further developing the beneficial effects of previous European projects such as LINPILCARE (LINking Practitioner Inquiry via effective Professional Learning Communities) organized by Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen, in collaboration with universities from the Netherlands (Tilburg), Estonia (Tartu) and especially the SRI (School Reform Initiative) supervised by Gene Thompson Groive (USA) and with insights gains from visiting institutes such as Dene Magna, UK. 2. Improving the effectiveness of staff meetings and collaboration within a professional context. 3. Promoting the use of data-driven and evidence-based decision processes. 4. Discovering strategies in order to successfully address learner diversity (for example, fast learners, underperforming students, creative thinkers). 5. Enlarging our knowledge about nowadays motivating teaching techniques. 6. Enhancing our staff's foreign language (L2) skills and knowledge, as well as exploiting the beneficial effects of techniques used in the L2 classroom (for example, in the context of Content and Language Integrated Learning, or exploring recent cultural trends in different European countries). 7. Encouraging the use of ICT tools in order to improve learning outcomes. 8. Exploring the potential of technology-based learning settings (for example, hybrid learning).
The aim of the school is to become a professional learning community in order to address the challenges imposed by a quickly evolving societal and educational context. More specifically, we have observed the need of promoting evidence-based decision making and enhancing the effectiveness of staff meetings through protocols and collaborative techniques. Moreover, given our internationally-oriented identity, we continuously focus on broadening our staff's foreign language skills, for example, in the context of content and language integrated learning. Furthermore, we encourage our staff to improve their ability of dealing with educational change processes and questioning the role of educational leadership. Finally, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in techniques dealing with different types of issues related to learning and motivation. Therefore, we intend to further explore the pedagogical use of ICT tools, to discover motivating teaching techniques, and to gain on the one hand better insights into the assets aligning different types of learners and on the other hand more individualized types of learning paths.