Our project aims to focus on students’ self-esteem and cultural understanding in order to enable them to successfully complete their school careers in diverse and heterogeneous environments. Students with multicultural backgrounds have insights into several cultures and speak various languages. However, often they feel alienated in the country they live in because they do not know its culture and traditions well. Students whose abilities in main subjects are below average often unlock unknown potential in creative tasks. Expressive arts are a great leveller and students from all walks of life can access arts of some kind. The main objective of the project is to strengthen students' self-esteem and intercultural awareness by undertaking (inter)cultural activities in order to be able to engage and actively participate in our multicultural societies. In particular, the following objectives will be included: 1: Social inclusion 2: social and educational value of European cultural heritage 3: supporting schools to tackle early school leavings and disadvantage. By presenting their own cultural background in arts, architecture, dance, drama and music students reflect on their own cultural and historical heritage. By learning about these aspects in other European countries they find how European countries and their histories are related. In creating products such as common art, fusion music and dance collaborately, the students get to know the high value of these arts themselves and of the great opportunities of working transnationally. By producing enriching art the students see how they can contribute successfully which will have a positive influence on their building of academic skills and on their performance at and interest in school in general. Thus, they experience school not only as a place of academic performance but as place to express themselves and build positive relationships with others. In the project we will use different NATIONAL and EUROPEAN TOOLS. One of the necessary European Tool in the project will be MOBILITY TOOL+. It will be used in the earliest phase of the project. Mobility Tool will provide us support in the management of activities related to mobility within Erasmus +. In the project, we intend to use the eTwinning website as it promotes cooperation and networking of schools in Europe through information and communication technologies (ICT), offering advice, ideas and tools that allow schools to easily develop partnerships and start cooperation projects in different areas. eTwinning is going to be fundamental in this project. We refer to 5 target groups: 1. Pupils in the project team aged 14-17 / 2. Teachers in the project team / 3. Teachers in the school and from other schools, who will be able to use project outcomes and resources / 4. Pupils in the school and from other schools, who will take part in local and follow-up activities during the time of the project and afterwards / 5. Local institutions at each meeting At the first meeting which is the joint staff event each partner will select a member for a “quality control group”, which will be responsible for monitoring quality throughout the project and, at all meetings, will summarize the results and suggest possible improvements / amendments whenever needed. The internal quality management will be based on a report that each partner will submit twice a year. Delivery and achievement will be checked against the work plan milestones as part of all project meetings / workshops. The content quality will be assessed by the end users in a sequence of peer-review assessment resulting in the final products at the end of the project funded period. The different stages of the development will be assessed during the meetings and training activities. The guideline for enriching classes through multiculturalism compiled at the very first meeting and reviewed at the last meeting will be used for development of all partner schools. The guideline will raise awareness of the need to positively enhance multiculturalism long-term at all schools. After the meeting the guideline will be presented to all staff at each school by a teacher involved in the project. It will be encouraged to make use of these guidelines to develop the respective school. The film produced can be used at schools in the future. It can be an inspiration for work in different arts classes. A multicultural activity conducted by the multicultural ambassadors trained at the last meeting will be implemented at all schools. Thus, all the communities at the partner schools will benefit from the project after its completion. We'll plan dissemination at all stages: the starting phase, during the flow of the project and at the end. Mostly we plan to focus on the products, methods, tools, good practices and experiences leading to messages on findings, recommendations and warnings.
Introduction The project entitled "A Multicultural Europe with Drama, Art, Music, Dance", has had as its main objective the cultural understanding mainly of pupils aged 14-17 in diverse and heterogeneous environments, although it should be noted that it has been a project that has also integrated many teachers and pupils of the participants. It involved partners from four schools in different countries: one in Burgos, Spain, one in Naples, Italy, one in Riga, Latvia and one in Antalya, Turkey. The project sought to promote values education, cooperation and intercultural learning among the students of the four participating schools. An enriching project that has allowed us to learn a lot about multiculturalism and how to work in education taking into account diversity and creativity as a fundamental element. In short, it can be summarised as an innovative project that has allowed and will continue to allow people to come together and develop intercultural awareness and self-esteem. Context and Objectives The project was carried out in a context in which education in values and intercultural education were of vital importance in European society. The main objective of the project was to promote values education, cooperation and intercultural learning among the students of the four participating schools. To achieve this goal, a series of intercultural and educational activities were carried out. This project had been accepted to start in September 2020 for a duration of two years (until 2022), however, the global pandemic of COVID 19 slowed down its implementation and had to be extended for another year (until 2023). These events have also had an impact on the project's objective, as it has been a way of reinventing itself and overcoming obstacles by accepting different opinions, ways of life and cultures among all the participants. The way of reinventing oneself on a global level has had very positive consequences in this project where we have been able to work online for a long period of time until the health authorities in the participating countries started to allow more personal contact. In relation to this, we have been able to work together, overcome difficulties and improve inclusion at all levels. A large number of (inter)cultural activities have allowed for reflection on the idea of participating in multicultural societies, teaching many pupils the importance of equality, social inclusion and the value of cultural heritage. On the other hand, these activities have provided participating schools with a very interesting way to prevent or improve early school leaving and to be able to reduce disadvantages among pupils. It has been a success to be able to present their own cultural background in the arts, architecture, dance, theatre and music. The pupils have been able to reflect on their own cultural and historical heritage and to learn more about their own country and to reflect on the many equalities that are sometimes difficult to perceive. The European Union and all the aspects that unite us have been understood in a very positive and enriching way, as all the schools have been able to get to know different ways of working and shared productions such as common art, fusion music and dance, which have brought great value to certain subjects that are often not highly valued in the educational world. In the same way, the theme of the project has allowed all participants to learn about the high value of these arts in their own right and the great opportunities to work transnationally. By producing art in an enriching way, pupils have been able to understand how they can contribute successfully, which has positively influenced the development of their academic skills and their performance and interest in school in general. This has allowed us to reflect on the importance of art and creativity in today's changing and volatile society. In addition, it has been possible to experience that school is not only a place where academic performance can be achieved, but also a place where relationships can be built and expression can take place. In short, the project has focused on products, methods, tools, good practices and experiences that lead to messages about conclusions, recommendations and warnings. Implementation The project was carried out in several stages, including planning, implementation and evaluation. During the planning phase, the objectives were set and the activities to be carried out in the four participating schools were defined. During the implementation phase, a series of intercultural and educational activities were carried out, such as art, music, theatre and dance workshops. In addition, student exchanges were organised between the participating schools, allowing students to experience life in a foreign country and to work in teams with students from other countries and cultures. The 5 mobilities that the project consisted of allowed some teachers and students to participate in person, but without a doubt, there was a great manifestation in all the schools to participate in all the activities and in an active way in this project. Many local institutions have had the pleasure to show us the ideas that were pursued in the project giving a totally realistic and capable vision: multiculturalism is possible and it is not just a nice idea to be repeated, it has been possible to find and know the meaning. Since the first meeting of this project, in Burgos, the teachers of the four participating entities have elaborated a multicultural guide that was completed and used throughout the project with the idea of unifying the activities and serving as a useful manual to work on multiculturalism. At the end of the project, it has been revised and completed with the idea of being able to continue to serve as a model to positively promote multiculturalism in schools in the long term. The use of the e-twinning platform, the creation of a website, the dissemination in local newspapers, social networks and the enthusiasm of all participants has allowed the dissemination at all stages from the initial phase to the end, thus making it possible to publicise the good practices that were being carried out. All of this has allowed for reflection and implementation of the practices of the project. During the implementation of this project, there have also been setbacks that have been solved, due to the fact that it has been carried out within the framework of a world pandemic, adapting to new technologies. Also, in the C4 project that took place in Latvia, the Turkish partner was unable to participate due to problems in the country after the earthquake, and close contact was maintained with its participants online in some of the learning activities. Regarding the participation of the different groups in the project activities, the pupils of the project team were actively involved in the planning and implementation of the activities, and also participated in the local and follow-up activities. The teachers of the project team led and supervised the activities and supported the local teachers in organising the meetings. Teachers and pupils from other schools also participated in the local and follow-up activities. Parents and other school staff also supported the project by providing resources and helping to organise local activities. The organisation of the project took into account the coronavirus crisis and the importance of keeping participants vaccinated and protected. Therefore, all participants were encouraged to follow the health measures recommended by the local authorities and to take additional precautions when necessary. In addition, efforts were made to include students with financial or scholastic difficulties in the project in order to motivate them and give them the opportunity to participate in meaningful educational and cultural activities. Support measures and resources were put in place for these students, including the assignment of tutors and mentors. All this contributed to the successful realisation of the project despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. Results The project also had a positive impact on the educational community of the four participating schools. Collaborative and friendly relationships were established between the participating schools, allowing teachers to share knowledge and experiences and to work together on future projects. In addition, the project had a positive impact on the local community, as it allowed students and teachers from the four participating schools to interact with the local community and learn more about the culture and traditions of each country. The final visible result indicating the positivity of this project has been the compilation film of all the practices that have been carried out during the three years of the project. This graphic document shows the benefits and the multicultural educational practices that we, the participants, are convinced that the project has brought to the local community.