By implementing the "Learning 4 Future" project, we intended to: promote the internationalization of AESA; enable the contact of teachers with educational realities, different from the Portuguese ones; improve the exercise of shared leadership; foster an innovative management; improve the quality of teaching and learning in the institution; boost motivation and staff satisfaction; promote language and cultural skills of staff; increase the digital skills of teachers; develop innovative, attractive and student-centered teaching practices; stimulate the use of methodologies that promote inclusion and diversity; foster student success based on 21st century skills; develop student digital literacy in content production; improve communication and collaboration skills; stimulate creativity and critical thinking; promote entrepreneurship; improve academic results; decrease drop-out rates and encourage continuation of studies; facilitate student integration in the European and global market; raise proactive European citizens.
We live in a Europeanised and global time, marked by change and socio-economic and technological unpredictability. Therefore, the school paradigm should be based on preparing students for a Europe where collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, digital literacy, emotional intelligence, flexibility, leadership and lifelong learning are required skills. By identifying difficulties in our institution regarding the promotion of such skills, such as the predominant practice of teacher-centred teaching, not innovative and inclusive enough, or a deficit of digital skills in teachers and, consequently, a limited use of digital educational resources, inhibiting the active collaboration of students and their involvement in learning, we decided to develop this project. With it, we intended to contribute to the effective response to the needs of our institution, looking for innovative tools in European mobility that would boost the change of teaching philosophy and the improvement of school results. We also intended to reduce the lack of English proficiency of a considerable part of the staff, not only to facilitate the participation in European courses, but also when hosting foreigners.