After conducting surveys and evaluation questionnaires in our school we got to the root of the problem of students lacking motivation to study and skipping regular classes. The results showed that parents were the key factor in the attendance of students to classes. That is why providing better communication with parents to help them get involved in the school life is one of the most relevant topic of our project. The self-evaluation process of the school pointed out another key problem in our school. Teenagers are prone to using new technologies into their everyday life, thus attending classes which are based on traditional approaches to studying does not motivate them to study and get involved in the educational process. This was the main reason for our teachers to develop their personal competences for the digital age. Improving teachers’ skills and competences in using information technology in teaching is the other most relevant topic addressed by our project. For this reason, our teachers had an excellent opportunity to fulfill part of these aims by participating in this kind of project, which was focused on improving the capacity of teachers through learning new skills and competences related to the integration of new technologies, as well as better communication with parents.
The secondary school of “Brakja Miladinovci” has a long history of successfully conducting the education process throughout the years of its existence. However, in recent years we have noticed a decline in the attendance and motivation of students due to the development of technology and its use in everyday life. After carrying out a self-evaluation questionnaires and surveys, we identified two major issues that needed to be addressed: improving the cooperation with the parents as a key factor in the attendance of the students in the school and increasing the students’ motivation during the lessons. We have created a Development plan focusing on increasing the skills and competences of our employees and we started focusing on international cooperation with other schools from the region and further, with companies and other organizations from countries which have modern technologies and better knowledge, skills and competences. Applying for this project enabled us with the chance to experience training programs in other countries in Europe. Being a school from a country in the process of entering the European Union, we felt the need to empower people with a new generation of technologies, to become fit for the digital age, thus promoting our European way of life.