As part of our project we set out to improve the foreign language competences of all our teachers because we felt this was vital for our school. Our foreign language teachers participated in methodology and cultural history courses in order to enhance their knowledge. With the development of the foreign language skills of faculty and staff, we wished to increase individual and institutional capacities as it was our goal to project our school onto the international scene and to establish international relationships. We planned projects that would involve the school as a whole. A sine qua non of internationalisation is the ability and willingness of students to participate in such international projects. In order to drive this change, we wished to enrich our methodological knowledge as well, so we would become capable of developing our students’ independence and cooperative skills at the same time. We were curious to know how the educational systems of other countries prepare their students to the constant pressure to adjust and to change, so we prepared jobshadowing trips to two Spanish and to a Greek high school. As the average age of our teachers is around 50, burn-out prevention was one of our objectives.
We work in one of the most renowned high schools in Szeged, famous for its foreign language instruction. There is a high demand for foreign languages so our school is popular not only in the city but also in the surrounding areas, making our catchment area reach over international borders. The constant improvement of the foreign language competence of our teachers is indispensable for professional success. This is not only true for those who teach foreign languages but for the rest of the faculty and the non-teaching staff. In our current Erasmus+ project we set out to improve our foreign language competences and our methodological knowledge. Even though in the national competence tests our school performs above average, we still believe it is becoming difficult to motivate our students to study and to encourage them to participate actively and independently. Burn out prevention and self-confidence boosting trainings were vital for our overworked colleagues. Our international relationships were lacking, especially on the school level and we could not really involve our students in these projects. The internationalisation of our school had become imminent. We needed new dimensions on all levels: institution, employees and students.