Out school had three kinds of objectives for development. We wanted to implement student involvement that is central in the curriculum, find more meaningfulness in studying and create positive experiences for each student. We also wanted to link ‘ownership’ of learning firmly to the everyday work in the class. Our teachers’ wish was to gain more support to our school’s continuous development work. By means of teacher training we also wanted to develop further our general working culture, to be able enhance learning, involvement and well-being even more. We want the students to participate more actively in building our common school and the learning inside it. We also wanted to create stable structures inside the lessons to make these goals possible to reach. Thirdly, our staff wanted to further improve learning environments and methods. In our school, lots of learning takes place even outside the classroom – this we wanted to continue. The development of our school’s learning environment is going well but we wanted to see more practical ideas as well as more networking with other partners. At any rate, the main goal is to find a way to bring the teacher’s professional development into clear student activity.
We have a wide experience in international work. International projects have become an integral part of our work and they are seen as very valuable at our school. Our school is ready to find the resources (time, money) needed in international activities. Internationalism is seen as a common goal in our school. Everyone can participate on the level they choose. It is a central idea in our projects that all the gathered information and new ideas are brought forward in the school community as parts of the students’ activities. Our teachers have a very positive attitude towards education and they are eager to increase their professional skills at international courses. We are well-equipped to bring forward the results of the international projects inside our school as well as outside it. We are a popular visiting place for international guests and we often give presentations at educational events. As a school, we feel that the Erasmus activities give us a good way to observe certain areas of education more closely. With the project we can further develop our school. The project is a very efficient way to develop the work of the school, the teacher and the student!