The partnership consists of 3 unexperienced (PL, ES, GER) and 3 experienced (I/P/GR) partners and was formed due to personal contact and the usuage of eTwinning. During a self-financed prep visit on Crete we could even more realize that we share a wide common need for the project: All schools struggle with the achievements of the students, a lack of motivation concerning learning and hardly any identification with school. A large number of our students has an underpriviliged family background. They have never been abroad. Therefore the mobilities of students are a major target. A lot of students have only little knowledge about the EU. By participating in the project and the mobilities they have the oppurtunity of developping a new understanding about Europe. Each school has realized the importance of integrating the topic Europe at each school programme. All the participating persons will acquire and develop basic skills. We would like the students to foster and develop their self-esteem, teamwork, ICT, creativity, tolerance and respect, English as a foreign language, motivation for learning, identification and to break down prejudices against other cultures. All participants will work on a portfolio during the 2 years in order to evaluate if the objectives concerning soft skills have been reached. We strongly believe that every student has got talents and strengths which we want to discover and foster. Therefore we have chosen the title "Creative talents crossing borders". We will have a total of 6 meetings. The first meeting in Poland will be used as a planning and training (ETwinning) one. Since not all partners are familiar with eTwinning it is useful to have a training session as to how we can integrate eTwinning in our project (communication, uploading of products etc.). The project is mainly focused on students but it will also contribute to the improvement of the teachers' profession and it will have a positive sustainable impact on the development of each school. Each mobiliy has got a certain topic: Spain (sports), Portugal (cooking), Greece (music), Italy (politics, art) and Germany (drama). The distribution of the various topics/workshops relies on the expertise of each school and teachers. Our intention is that if students work for example successfully on the topic sports, the students motivation for general learning will improve. The students should get positive feelings towards school and thus increase their identification with school. We strongly favour interdisciplinary project work with students of different ages (14-16). The sudents will work in mixed groups during the workshop in order to support the oppurtunity of exchanging ideas and experiences. We want to learn from each other in the European context. Moreover mixed groups foster competences like English as a foreign language, teamwork and the personal development of students and teachers. We expect continous work of each Erasmus+ team in-between the mobilities. The dissemination of the results and products is intended by creating a project homepage which is linked to each school homepage. Members of each Erasmus+ team will frequently inform various committes of teachers, parents and students. An Erasmus+ corner will be introduced in the lobbies of each school, project days will be conducted, guests will be informed during events like open-door day or parents' day. The project is supposed to be carried out in the wider school community by having reports in the local press. We also intend to invite representatives of neighbouring schools in order to inspire them for an Erasmus+ project. We want the project to be sustainable and use the outcomes and results in the future. Firstly, we are hoping of making friendships between people and schools so that there will be exchanges even after the project. The results and products such as a dvd of traditional sports, a booklet of traditional recipes, the song of Europe, varoius interviews, portfolios, videos, survival dictionary, the video of the Grease performance, the final booklet and new methodical and didactical ideas can be used in different subjects in the future. Hopefully new ideas, results and outcomes can be integrated into the schools curriculums.
The project team consisted of 3 inexperienced (PL/ES/D) and 3 experienced (I/ P/ GR) schools. The partners were found partly through personal contacts and partly through eTwinning. A preparatory visit to Crete was conducted in January 2019. In all schools we could observe a great intersection: Student performance has steadily declined in recent years, closely linked to lower motivation to learn and hardly any identification with their own school. In addition, part of our student body comes from socially disadvantaged families who have never been able to travel abroad. Student mobility is particularly important to us. Many of our students do not associate much with the EU. If we give them the opportunity to go abroad, they will be able to develop a different understanding of Europe. Each school has recognized the importance of integrating the topic of Europe more strongly into its own school program. All those involved in the project should acquire various key qualifications. The aim is to promote creativity, improve language skills, ICT skills and the ability to work in a team, to enable the personal development of students and teachers. The reduction of prejudices and the teaching of tolerance and respect are also important goals in the area of intercultural learning. All persons involved kept a portfolio throughout the entire period in order to better evaluate the improvement of soft skills. Each student has talents and strengths that should be discovered or encouraged in this project. Therefore we chose the title "Creative Talents crossing borders". A total of 5 mobilities took place, because the Spanish school left the project prematurely. The 1st mobility was a staff meeting with the aim to further concretize and organize the project. In addition, a training on eTwinning took place so that all partners could use eTwinning for the project work. The project was very much student-centered (14-16 years old), but it also contributed to the improvement of the teachers' profession and could positively influence the process of school development. Students learned from each other together with teachers. Each mobility had a thematic focus: home economics, music, politics/art, sports. The distribution of the different workshops depended on the different expertise of the foreign school and its teachers. The intention of the project was for students to successfully participate in the project, for example, and for this sense of achievement to have positive motivational effects in general on learning at school. School should be perceived as something positive and an identification with school should be made possible. The project work was carried out across subjects and grades. The workshops took place in mixed groups in order to better promote international exchange. We were able to learn a lot from each other in a European context. In addition, the mixed group work promoted language skills, teamwork and personal development of students and teachers. Between the respective mobilities, each school worked continuously on the project. Dissemination of the project results was an important component. The Twinspace on eTwinning was public. A padlet with most of the results was just rececntly produced in order to display the results and products (https://padlet.com/wicedyrektor10/33yrz69t8f8mfm7o). The project was to be perceived positively and disseminated at the respective school. The progress of the project was reported in various committees, the school's own homepage was linked to the TwinSpace, and an Erasmus+ corner set up in the entrance area provided up-to-date information. Thematic project days were held and reports on the project were presented at parent-teacher conferences and open days. In addition, the project was to be carried into the wider school community by making use of the good relations with the local press. Many newspaper articles appeared, and in Poland the project was even covered on TV. During each mobility, we were invited as a group by the respective mayor. Neighboring schools should also be infected with the Erasmus+ virus by inviting them to events. The sustainability of the project is an important component. We hope that this project will result in lasting friendships and partnerships that will have an impact beyond the project. In general, the project should also promote school development, so that concrete results (e.g. cooking videos, traditional sports, interviews, etc.) can be used after the end of the project (collection in the different subject areas) and have partly been included in the respective internal school work plans.