With the project Crossing Borders: United in Diversity, three partners set up a Strategic Partnership in the field of education, training and youth supporting the exchange of good practices during two school years. This secondary school exchange partnership consists of three European schools: one in the north-east of Europe ‘Germany’, one in centre ‘Belgium’ and one in the south ‘Spain’. Youngsters of today grow up in a fast changing world. International relationships are under pressure and are being rearranged and reinvented. As new powers attempt to ascend, established institutions are trying to safeguard their positions. This raises mondial instability. Millions of people are on the move. On top of that young people are confronted with a galloping climate change endangering the environment and challenging political and economic leaders. The European Union is facing these challenges and the next generations will have to deal with major geopolitical issues. Bearing these needs in mind our school exchange project Crossing Borders wants to enhance critical thinking upon different kinds of young people from diverse European countries about the importance of intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the collaboration within and outside the European Union. They should be united in diversity: mondial cooperation is a must to deal with today’s problems and embracing diversity is a main ability to succeed in our fight against discrimination and segregation. Crossing Borders was therefore chosen as our project’s theme. Cross-pollination of ideas and stepping out of our safe cocoon of often conservative thinking is a first step towards tolerance and respect of human, social and economic rights in a safe and democratic Europe. In our project we deliberately depart from a mix of students from different directions and study fields (vocational, arts, sciences, commerce…), speaking different languages, coming from different places within the North and South of Europe to make them cooperate on these matters. Participants are German, Belgian and Spanish pupils aged 15 to 18 years old and from different educational levels: general, technical and vocational. We will select the most suitable candidates from different types of education to obtain a healthy mixture of young people including pupils with a disadvantaged background and supporting gender equality. Candidates will be recruited by an application in English convincing teachers of their profound motivation to join the project and their willingness to be part of a two year lasting -effort demanding- engagement. Pupils should have language skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, they should be hard-working, open-minded, sociable, creative, communicative both non-digitally and digitally. We promote critical thinking and an earnest interest in the ways of European development thereby strengthening the team skills and competences. 39 youngsters, 13 from each country, will cooperate during three projectweeks in Spain, Belgium, Germany. Via daily programs including social, cultural, artistic, culinary and physical activities that address cultural heritage on the one side and community ideals on the other, Crossing Borders will promote interdisciplinary cooperation, social inclusion, non-discrimination and unification in diversity. Excursions to places of interest (the Muslim and Jewish community in Antwerp, the EU institutions in Brussels, the United Nations Organisation in Bonn, …) will make them see the importance of the above objectives and stimulate exchange of good practices. From the start pupils and teachers will communicate and work via digital platforms such as eTwinning and Schooleducationgateway. Teachers as well as pupils can give input and are able to define and analyse questions posed in the project objectives. By research and practice – through activities and visits- they will develop and adapt good practices. Reflection and assessment by peer groups and teachers will take place on a regular basis throughout and at the end of each projectweek. Pupils will gain life long experience and maintain cross cultural friendships involving foreign languages. Results of Crossing Borders will be spread to the staff, all teachers and pupils of schools involved, the parents, the stakeholders inside and outside the schools by meetings, by the school website, the local media, the Erasmus+Project Results Platform. We will disseminate the results of our project so that the long term effect of it will contribute to a better understanding of the aims of the European Community. The school will gain a European dimension and reputation that is essential for the future of our students in a globalized world and for further cross border projects. It will improve the intercultural, managerial and linguistic skills of teachers and all affected by it. This way the project will widen horizons and open new perspectives as well as fight social exclusion in the long-term.
With the project Crossing Borders: United in Diversity, three partners set up a Strategic Partnership in the field of education, training and youth supporting the exchange of good practices during three school years. This secondary school exchange partnership consists of three European schools: one in the north-east of Europe ‘Germany’, one in centre ‘Belgium’ and one in the south ‘Spain’. Youngsters of today grow up in a fast-changing world. International relationships are under pressure and are being rearranged and reinvented. As new powers attempt to ascend, established institutions are trying to safeguard their positions. This raises mondial instability. Millions of people are on the move. On top of that young people are confronted with a galloping climate change endangering the environment and challenging political and economic leaders. The European Union is facing these challenges and the next generations will have to deal with major geopolitical issues. Bearing these needs in mind our school exchange project Crossing Borders wants to enhance critical thinking upon different kinds of young people from diverse European countries about the importance of intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the collaboration within and outside the European Union. They should be united in diversity: mondial cooperation is a must to deal with today’s problems and embracing diversity is a main ability to succeed in our fight against discrimination and segregation. Crossing Borders was therefore chosen as our project’s theme. Cross-pollination of ideas and stepping out of our safe cocoon of often conservative thinking is a first step towards tolerance and respect of human, social and economic rights in a safe and democratic Europe. In our project we deliberately departed from a mix of students from different directions and study fields (vocational, arts, sciences, commerce…), speaking different languages, coming from different places within the North and South of Europe to make them cooperate on these matters. Participants were German, Belgian and Spanish pupils aged 15 to 18 years old and from different educational levels: general, technical and vocational. We selected the most suitable candidates from different types of education to obtain a healthy mixture of young people including pupils with a disadvantaged background and supporting gender equality. Candidates were recruited by an application in English convincing teachers of their profound motivation to join the project and their willingness to be part of an effort demanding- engagement. Pupils had to have language skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, they had to be hard-working, open-minded, sociable, creative, communicative both non-digitally and digitally. We promoted critical thinking and an earnest interest in the ways of European development thereby strengthening the team skills and competences. 39 youngsters, 13 from each country, cooperated during the project weeks in Spain, Belgium, Germany. Via daily programs including social, cultural, artistic, culinary and physical activities that addressed cultural heritage on the one side and community ideals on the other, Crossing Borders promoted interdisciplinary cooperation, social inclusion, non-discrimination and unification in diversity. Excursions to places of interest (the Muslim and Jewish community in Antwerp, the EU institutions in Brussels, artistic collective in Cologne, excursion to a polluted river in Spain…) made them see the importance of the above objectives and stimulated the exchange of good practices. From the start pupils and teachers communicated and worked via digital platforms such as eTwinning and TwinSpace. Reflection and assessment by peer groups and teachers took place on a regular basis throughout and at the end of each project week. Pupils gained life long experience and maintained cross cultural friendships involving foreign languages. Results of Crossing Borders were spread to the staff, all teachers and pupils of schools involved, the parents, the stakeholders inside and outside the schools by meetings, by the school website, the local media, the Erasmus+Project Results Platform. We disseminated the results of our project so that the long-term effect of it contributed to a better understanding of the aims of the European Community and to have long-term effects of our as well as other schools` teaching. The schools gained a European dimension and reputation that is essential for the future of our students in a globalized world and for further cross border projects. It improved the intercultural, managerial and linguistic skills of teachers and all affected by it. This way the project widened horizons and opened new perspectives as well as it fought social exclusion in the long-term.