The two main goals we had set when designing the project were the following: a. Getting to know the educational system of other European countries, b. Training and specialization of the staff on the values and priorities of the European Union in order to integrate them into the school reality. Our ultimate and long-term goal has always been the contribution to the creation of democratic citizens with a strong sense of social responsibility, empathy, justice, acceptance of diversity, ecological consciousness and cooperation skills. There is a need to contribute to the creation of citizens with critical thinking and intercultural skills who will embrace the common European values. We believe that our interaction with colleagues and students from other European schools as well as getting to know their educational system, their teaching practices and the way they integrate the European values will contribute positively to the goals we have set and will be a first step towards our school's improvement and towards further collaborations with European institutions.
The 1st Geniko Lykeio Thessalonikis is a public general high school that is attended by children of the surrounding area. The student body is diverse as the school has a fair proportion of students who belong to or come from different cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The school aims at the general and overall education of students following the curriculum of the Ministry of Education and Religion but at the same time focuses on creating citizens with empathy, with social, cultural and ecological awareness, as well as a sense of justice and cooperation. Based on these goals, the 1st Geniko Lykeio Thessalonikis implemented the erasmus+ KA122 project "Building a European school" which included job shadowing activities and participation in training courses by the school teachers. The program aims at the extroversion of our school, at an "opening" towards European values and events. In this context, we included the need for staff training and professional development, the aquaintance with the educational systems of other European countries, the exchange of good practices, the improvement of digital skills (students' and staff's) and finally the creation of bonds with schools in other schools for future cooperations.