BACKGROUND CONTEXT This project emerges from the need to establish international policies and European school mobilities. We are a secondary school that teaches the curriculum in several languages: Valencian, Spanish, English and French. We have had some experience on Erasmus + Projects , collaborating with a Commenius Project. Simultaneously, we are implementing our third KA102 Project, "Crossing Borders III" in Vocational Courses, in which we do student internships and jobshadowings for teachers. We highly encourage our students in higher vocational training to participate in the FCT European Programmes. We have also experience participating in several eTwinnings but we would like to take a step forward and encourage our students to participate in short-term mobilities with other European Schools to promote specific skills to face an increasingly globalised world, in which students will have to be able to communicate in different languages, gain autonomy and be able to adapt to different environments and work in teams. By means of this project we aim to raise awareness about cultural heritage in other European countries. It's a step further in the project we have already started on eTwinning. MAIN OBJECTIVES: -To encourage students to take part in extra school activities and integrate them in the curriculum, contributing to a reduction in early school -leaving. - To motivate our students to learn from the processes of artcraft and traditional products of different European heritage. - To take part in workshops about the elaboration of typical products from different cultural heritage by means of Project-Based Learning (PBL). - To promote families´participation in the school activities and encourage them to participate as host families for the students´exchange. - To raise awareness on different cultural identities in the European Union. - To establish networks for international team work. - To make students´ aware of the potential economic value that these business activities have and how they are closely linked to our traditional culture. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS Five European Countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Poland), 100 students short- term mobilities, (age range of students 11-15), 10 teachers involved in the mobilities. (2 from each country) ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION + short- term mobilities for students and teachers among the partner schools to develop several workshops and PBL methodology about cultural heritage. + A transnational meeting at the beginnning of the project to sign down formal documents and agree on the main guidelines to be worked with when implementing the project. + The implementation of all the activities consolidated by a team work that will undertake this Project. Every school partner has created a teamwork to undertake this project following the established criteria. We coordinate the project with the other schools by using emails, text messages (via WhatsApp )and videocalls (by means of Messenger) and on the eTwinning chatroom. LONG -TERM BENEFITS AND IMPACT - We aim to improve the educational level and personal maturity, especially among the participating students that will be assessed by means of their successful results. - We aim to consolidate a collaborative work pedagogy and Project-Based Learning. - We aim to improve the European feeling among the eduactional communities of the school partners. - By means of dissemination, we aim to improve the European feeling among the correspoding local and regional environments. - The dissemination procedures will include posting all the activities on the website, in the schools social networking sites, Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp and we will publish news articles in the local and regional press (newspapers, radio and television) as well as public speeches and oral presentations in other schools and eduactional organisations that offer seminars about European programmes, open school seminars where we will explain our projects to the families and the students. SHORT -TERM BENEFITS + We aim to emphasise the value of traditional professions related to these cultural festivities. + We aim to increase the educational choices and personal autonomy. + We aim to promote collaborative work and cooperative effort. + We aim to implement the PBL in the 5 educational systems. + We aim to gain social recognition towards the work implemented by the participating schools about cultural heritage.
PROJECT CONTEXT/BACKGROUND The project arises from the need to find the common roots among the partners. We already knew some of them from other projects and we considered that our traditions could become meeting points to find what unites us and makes us strong (Common Roots). We also have a great challenge to face and with which we are indebted: save the planet. For this reason, our challenge consisted of looking for small actions that would contribute to saving the planet (Common Actions For Earth) without losing sight of our identity and with an eye on the training of our students (also teachers, families, the entire educational community). In this way, those actions that contribute to saving the planet, within our traditions, could help the training and growth of our students (main objective). Common Roots Make You, Common Actions For Earth. NUMBER AND TYPE/PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS Initially, the project was planned for only 5 students per school in each mobility. Various reasons made us increase the number of participants. In the first place, the fact that the students that were coming from Greece in 2019-20 were in their last year at the centre. Then, the pandemic emerged and these students could not carry out any mobility. Moreover, those who went to Greece could not receive their classmates because the following year there were no mobility opportunities. The idea has always been to correspond to the ages of the students and we founnd ourselves with a certain mismatch from what we initially planned. Different kind of students have participated, some with cultural, educational, social differences... MAIN OBJECTIVES -Encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities and integrate them into the curriculum, helping to reduce early school dropout. -Promote students’ interest in learning about the process of making artisan and traditional products of our cultural heritage. -Participate in workshops on the development of typical elements of the various cultural heritages through Project-Based Learning (PBL). -Increase the participation of families in schools through their involvement in the student exchange processes included in the project. -Know and appreciate different cultural identities of the European Union. -Establish collaborative networks at an international level. -Raise awareness of the economic potential offered by business activities linked to traditional culture. PERFORMED ACTIVITIES In the mobilities we have studied the cultural heritage of our partners and our own. The activities were aimed at knowing the trades of artisans of products linked to cultural manifestation. They were made with alternatives to traditional materials or techniques. We were committed to seeking the reuse and recycling of materials and more ecological options; and always, as far as possible, thinking about actions to protect the Earth. The methodology used, PBL, posed challenges with motivating activities, to work as a team, always with students from each of the different countries in each group. In addition, cultural visits were made to get to know the most representative cities of each mobility. The work involved music within each cultural manifestation, as well as the gastronomy of each area. The work carried out in eTwining, especially during the pandemic, was aimed at showing the music, gastronomy, the traditional costumes and cultural events to the rest of the partners. It is important to mention the preparation process of each mobility, in which the students were quite involved. Not only were the students who joined the mobility involved in the process, but also students from other levels and even from other schools, as the case of the Alfadalí school. They helped us prepare some of the Fallas activities. Our project was presented at a teacher training conference on European projects, held in Gandía in June 2022. In the two years of the project (we do not count the pandemic), the students who participated in the mobilities have been the protagonists of the Erasmus Days, recounting their experiences. PROJECT EVALUATION In each mobility we have asked students, teachers and families about their degree of satisfaction, about the experience of sharing their time with students from other countries and about the activities carried out. At the end of the project we have created a form for the students who participated in the mobilities about their learning, their European awareness, their involvement and commitment to save the planet... https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=FBHdc33vx0CGaVadMufim4Gul2g1j-dGo7z7-dsk6B1URUdKMVpYNjc3MkxJUjROVzg5QVFITVhXRy4u The results indicate that all the effort has been worth it.