Teachers should learn to - manage the special behavioral characteristics (problems) of every student, more effectively - improve and modernize student group (i.e. classroom) management methods - become familiar with the training and management of multicultural teams - create new techniques for motivating learning - create a friendlier environment for students - to feel satisfaction and creativity from their work again, given that the average teaching experience of the school's teachers is 17 years - to be updated in the use of modern technology and teaching methods In addition, changes are needed in the way the school is organized. That is, management needs - to organize daily school life in a more student-friendly way - adopt new communication practices with students' parents and local agencies - to apply more effective methods of promoting - advertising the project and its prospects of EPAL - to introduce a model of informing the school about the professional needs of the local community and - to improve career counseling actions for students.
The 1st EPAL of Eleftheroupolis is a regional, provincial Vocational High School, which gathers students from all over the Municipality of Pangaeo. It is a municipality that spreads over a large area that includes coastal tourist settlements on one side and small isolated mountain villages on Mount Pangaeo on the other. Our school stands out for its multicultural character with a large percentage of foreigners, expatriates and returnees. In the last six years there has been a significant increase in students with learning difficulties and students who do not complete their studies resulting in a decrease in the total number of students. In an effort to face these issues the administration and teachers of the school decided to implement the following actions: 1. Training in dealing with school drop out and early school leaving 2. Finding and introducing modern technological means in teaching 3. Training in teaching in multicultural groups 4. Development of new ways of informing the school about the needs of the local businesses and 5. Internationalization.