The major aims in the Curriculum, LK20, states that “The school shall contribute to the students' reflection on own learning. The students should understand their own process of learning and learn to gain knowledge independently. When students understand their own process of learning and their progression in subjects, this leads to independent learning and a sense of accomplishment. The teaching shall promote the students’ motivation, attitude towards and strategies of learning, and make a foundation for learning for life”. Further, the Curriculum states that “the teaching shall give insight into cultural diversity”, and that “the students should experience that knowledge of languages is an asset”. We wanted our students to become responsible citizens who are well prepared to handle life in a multicultural society which is continuously changing. We have previously experienced that students who participate in Erasmus+ projects become more independent, feel a sense of accomplishment, are more motivated, and reflective. We wanted our students to learn something new within their vocational subjects. At the same time, it was a goal that both students and teachers increase their competence within communication, language and culture.
Steinkjer upper secondary school applied for this project because we wanted to continue our strong focus on internationalization, increase the number of international activities and mobilities, and at the same time improve the quality of our work within internationalization at the school. We already had good experience in international activities, and we wanted to extend our international network – get new partners and start new joint projects. The goal is to be able to offer a mobility activity at all programs of study at the school in the future. We chose to give this project the title Learning for Life because we wanted to incorporate the new major aims of the new Curriculum, LK20, in a distinct way. At the same time, we wanted our employees to learn more about and get more experience within international activities. By including more employees in the mobility activities, our international projects will be less vulnerable, and we can more easily maintain the high international activity at the school.