The goals set by our school were the following: a) creation of innovative educational methods to enhance knowledge and prevent - deal with student leakage b) training of its staff at the level of European seminars and integration - to the maximum extent possible - of the extracted learning results in the educational process. c) entering into cooperation with other schools for educational activities and for common educational issues d) maintaining the European dimension by continuing international programs (eTwinning, Erasmus+) e) expansion of the pedagogical group of European activities f) exploiting the ever-growing experience of the pedagogical team for: i. creating even more innovative designs ii. enhancing its proliferative action The ultimate goal was to make our organization a cell of a modern and fertile learning environment, which on the triptych: "innovation - motivation - education", takes diversity into account, strengthens acceptance and encourages multifaceted cognitive development.
Lappa High School is a school unit of 88 students and 16 teachers based in the village of the same name in the municipality of Western Achaia. It is the largest high school in terms of student numbers among the neighboring villages. The wider area is purely rural with the presence of several economic migrants. What is found is that the educational – and sometimes the social – level is relatively low, a fact that is reflected in our school, as the cognitive level of our students is constantly decreasing. This issue has been observed more intensively in the last three years, judging by the number of students entering the A grade. In fact, having the possibility to monitor the future development of our students from the neighboring GEL Lappa, we find that very few manage to be admitted to Higher Education. The Greek educational model also, - in contrast to European counterparts - still maintains an outdated teacher-centered character, far from the various stimuli of the modern digital age that touch today's student. The fact is that our - mainly weak - students try, but are unable - and sometimes refuse - to actively participate in a stereotyped process, as a result of which they are discouraged, fall behind cognitively and, unable to continue, are assimilated into mainly agricultural work - unfortunately - with the advice of their families. There is therefore a more general dysfunction in the acceptance of teaching and the achievement of the expected learning outcomes. The whole problem - compounded by the nature of the area - carries the risk of a wider drop-out due to school failure, which would be a major issue for a school like ours. The need for a different educational approach was therefore required, with the introduction and integration of innovative and more familiar teaching practices to the students, linked mainly to the nature of the student (age, culture), harmonized to the needs of the modern era with the use of electronic media and familiar devices towards the student and with main objectives a) to arouse his interest b) to stimulate his personality by creating positive self-esteem - especially for the weak and c) to create a climate of encouragement, reward and acceptance of knowledge. A common method of this kind is based on the gamification technique of the educational process and game based learning. The teachers of our school, on the other hand, were, to a certain extent, trained in the use of ICT tools at the domestic level, but a lag was found in the correct way of using them. This use was limited to simple online applications, in a way that does not remove the teacher-centered character of the educational process and does not cause active use by the student. The need for training at a level where they can derive good practices mainly regarding the correct use of ICT tools from their application in different educational models across Europe was therefore emphasized. An additional key goal of our school is its European perspective. Lappa High School successfully implemented its first European ERASMUS+ Program, KA1 (2018-1-EL01-KA101-046989) entitled "We are here. We are close. We are Europeans”. Having obtained the first good practices, our school aimed to continue its European extroversion and the continuous training of its staff at the European level. The purpose was to maintain this integration and development in the European educational community in order to reap the diverse benefits that flow from it.