With this project we aimed to achieve a number of objectives: - to increase the capacity of each school to provide high quality education - to strengthen the status of teachers inside and outside participating schools - to increase the European dimension and preserve European values in school communities - to develop collaborative teaching and learning styles - implement whole-school action as a method of collaborative work - develop transversal competences of pupils and teachers: knowledge, skills, work habits, critical thinking, problem solving, openness to innovation, self-expression, perseverance, planning, self-discipline, adaptability, initiative and others; - Build on the knowledge and experience gained in previous projects (share examples of good practice). - To understand other education systems in Europe and to promote innovation among participating schools.
The project was requested for several reasons. Firstly, at national level: to survive the changes of reform by providing high quality education. Secondly, at European level: research suggests that Europe needs inclusive societies and that this could be achieved by moving from individualistic teaching and learning to a European dimension in the local community; from individualistic teaching and learning to collaboration. We wanted to see if our schools were able to implement whole-school approaches to promote collaborative working methods. In addition, there is also a need to address underachievement and motivation in mathematics and science subjects. For this we have applied methods and techniques that are motivating for pupils. Schools need to be modern and attractive to allow pupils to express their opinions to teachers, in order to offer more motivating lessons. The cooperation will be strengthened by the synergy effect when the participants (both teachers and pupils) come from different countries representing different approaches to teaching and learning and different cultures.