With the implementation of the project, our goal was to enable our students to develop their intercultural competence as well as their key competencies and soft skills in a sustainable way. At the center was the personal exchange with peers from Finland to promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and openness. Through direct collaboration and the comparison of each other's living environments, cultural differences were to be experienced not as barriers but as enrichment. Another central concern was to strengthen foreign language skills, especially in English. Additionally, we wanted to increase the motivation of our students from a rural background to embrace new experiences and reflect on their own prejudices. In the long term, the project aimed to establish a regular student exchange that would enrich the school community beyond the project period. Experiencing international understanding hands-on should empower the young people to actively contribute to a peaceful and diverse Europe.
I applied for the Erasmus+ project to enable the reactivation of the student exchange between Mittelschule Salzachtal and Korpilahden yhtenäiskoulu in Finland and to strengthen international partnerships in the long term. The central motivation was to open up new perspectives for our students from a rural region: Many had little previous contact with other cultures and lacked intrinsic motivation and family support for stays abroad. Often, the purpose and necessity of international encounters were questioned by parents, especially for financial reasons. Therefore, the project addresses the following needs: promotion of intercultural competencies, reduction of prejudices, improvement of foreign language skills, and the development of soft skills such as empathy, communication abilities, and self-confidence. Through personal encounters with peers abroad, we aim to strengthen tolerance, openness, and awareness of a peaceful Europe. Erasmus+ provides the necessary financial and organizational support for this.