Our project had four goals: 1) to develop global education, 2) to reduce inequality, 3) to increase well-being and 4) to develop the language skills of our staff. The first three objectives were also partly linked. We wanted to give a more diverse group of pupils the opportunity to participate in the voluntary student groups and international activities . The coronavirus pandemic left its mark on both students and school staff, which is why there is even more demand for well-being skills. The increase in multicultural families and pupils places new demands on the language skills of the staff, as more and more families do not speak fluent Finnish. At the same time,starting the A1 language already on the first grade has also made English teachers out of many class teachers. For this reason, we wanted to offer our staff the opportunity to develop their language skills and gain confidence as speakers of English.
Ymmersta school is a primary school in Espoo, Finland. We have ca. 400 pupils aged 7-13 and 35 members of staff. Our school has five special education classes but we also have pupils with special needs integrated in other classes. All our pupils study English as the first foreign language, and the have the opportunity to study French starting from the fourth grade. Our school has long traditions in teaching literature and developing school libraries. Encouraging pupils' active participation, emotional awareness, and intercultural education are also among our focal points. Our school is situated in an area with significant socio-economic differences, and the number of multicultural pupils has increased in recent years. 25 % of our pupils study Finnish as a second language.