PROJECT PARTNERS
Instituto de Ensenanza Secundaria Nicolas Estevez Borges, Icod de los Vinos, Spain
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http://www.iesnicolasestevez.org/?fbclid=IwAR3QH-ib1z8yoUiAl96AfbTy4cQYbKWAzMTjmzBZlhI6FDUOxwp9lcYuRE8
The Secondary School Nicolás Estévez Borges is in Icod de los Vinos, a town located in the northwest part of Tenerife. Icod has a population of 25.000 inhabitants dedicated mainly to agriculture and to the service sector. It is a public Secondary school which has 35 teachers, 3 members of the administrative staff and 336 pupils aged 11-16. The four compulsory secondary education courses are taught.
The school was built in 1976 and housed a primary school until 1996 where it was renconverted into a secondary school.
Many of the students come from different neighbourhoods in the town, but there are also some from rural areas. Likewise, there are some pupils whose families have moved to the island from countries such as Romania, Venezuela, Cuba, Poland, Colombia, Nigeria, Sweden, Morocco, Italy, China, Russia, Netherlands or Germany. After school, students are able to have lunch at the school canteen.
The school also offers education for highly disabled students in what we call an 'Aula Enclave' where they learn about their future transition to adult life, and gardening courses for mentally handicapped students. In both groups we have started to organize workshops where they have small responsibilities to develop.
Our school is always open to new projects and frontiers. At this moment, several innovative programmes and projects are being carried out related to topics like environmental and health education, solidarity, educative values, reading skills, traditions, mediation, etc. We have also had other three Comenius projects, always as coordinators, on environment, traditions and healthy habits, that have made a profound impression on the life of our school. We’re also participating in a student's exchange national project with schools from the Spanish mainland. At the moment, we are carrying out an Erasmus+ KA2 project titled "Young Europeans in Action: Helping you, helping me out (YEAH)". Little by little we have given the student prominence in the life of the center with projects where they are the main actors.
In addition, there is a CLIL project at the school running for nine years now in which pupils have specific subjects taught in English. Apart from that, they have to choose a second foreign language which can be either German or French.
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Alytaus Dzūkijos Pagrindinė Mokykla, Alytus, Lithuania
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Alytus Dzukija Basic School is located in the center of Alytus, the sixth largest town in Lithuania. In 2019 the school will celebrate its100th anniversary. The school is comprised of primary and lower secondary schools. It is an average-sized school with 652 students aged between 6 and 16. The school welcomes approximately 100 students with special educational needs. 50 of SEN students arepartly integrated and the rest of them are fully integrated into regular classroom education. We have students of all kinds of abilities and socio-economic backgrounds. Differences in ethnicity, family background as well as differences in ability/performance are not dismissed in the school and we attempt to meet all children's individual needs while still maintaining high standards and a cohesive classroom community. Around 70 teachers and 30 other staff members work at the school.
Our school has always taken active part in national and international projects. The school was one of the first schools in Lithuania to start carrying out the CLIL project (French). CLIL is currently applied in two school subjects – geography and music. Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence program is implemented in the school. This prevention program focuses on life skills and social and emotional competencies. The school is a member of the UNESCO's Associated Schools Project Network.
We have carried out some Comenius and Erasmus+ projects which helped our school with a career education system, raising our students’ awareness of the rich cultural and linguistic diversity within Europe, promotion of healthy lifestyles in our community, integration of theatre elements into our teaching methods, meaningful use of ICT in the classroom, etc. We are currently involved in an Erasmus+ KA2 project which fosters a better coexistence in our school. Our students are active leaders: they organize break activities and are trying to mediate in peer conflicts. It is worth mentioning that we are proud to continue our partnerships and some of our previous project partners become our partners again.
Project work is usually an ideal means of involving disadvantaged students in active school life and extracurricular activities, encouraging students to work together and reduce social stigmas. It also helps to build our students' self-confidence, develop school spirit and connect with the rest of the community in a positive manner creating a good situation for all.
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Lauritsalan Koulu, Lappeenranta, Finland
Lauritsala School is situated in one of the major eastern suburbs in the town of Lappeenranta. Lappeenranta is a smallish town in the southeast of Finland with around 70 000 inhabitants. The town is located close to the Russian border, which is not only a geographical fact but it also has had a significant effect on our cultural values as well as on our economy, especially due to Russian shopping tourism in the past decades.
Our school consists of pre-school grade along with grades 1-9. Our youngest pre-school students are six years old and sixteen-yearold 9th graders are the oldest. With approximately 750 students it is among the biggest single-structure comprehensive schools in Finland. The secondary school (grades 7-9) alone has around 400 students. At the moment our school functions in three separate buildings; the pre-school classes are integrated in the neighbouring kindergarten, classes 1- 2 in a separate module building and the rest of the classes in the main building. We have around 90 teachers as well as 20 other staff members, such as a school secretary and special needs assistants, in our school. The secondary level of Lauritsala school is planning to participate in this cooperation, meaning classes 7-9 with students that are from 13 to 16 years old.
On average, there are more students with special needs in Lappeenranta than in other parts of Finland. And inside the town of Lappeenranta we have an even bigger number of students than the town average who need special education. This year around 20% of our students have received special support at least in some subjects. These students are mainly integrated in regular classes but we also have three special classes in the secondary school with around 10 students in each of them. We also have inclusion classes, mostly in the primary school, but also in the secondary when needed. Students have different kinds of problems, some have lack of motivation and others have neurological disorders or similar problems. Immigrant and refugee students are integrated in regular classes, too. Obviously, the biggest ethnic group consists of students with either one Russian parent or both parents of Russian origin.
We are always trying to find ways to teach students with special needs in regular classes. On one hand, we want them to socialize with their peers, and on the other hand, we want to give a positive boost to their self-esteem, which happens when they realize they can progress at their own pace just like any other student.
We are also looking for innovative ways to implement the new national curricula, which encourages schools to offer multidisciplinary modules (of which projects like Erasmus+ are good examples), to promote transversal competences such as learning-to-learn, interaction and expression skills etc. in all subjects. Furthermore, multiliteracy (i.e. the ability to produce and interpret diverse texts), learning outside classrooms and learning by using technology are of great importance in Finnish schools today. International project work is, and has been, a great practise to enhance the above mentioned aspects of our curriculum.
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Mehmet Akif Ortaokulu, Kocaeli, Turkey
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http://daricamehmetakif.meb.k12.tr/
Mehmet Akif Secondary school is relatively small and there are 710 students, 40 teachers, 3 managers in the school. The school islocated in Marmara region and as the region is an appealing place with job opportunites. It is a popular spot for people and highlypopulated. This affects student profile which is mostly immigrants from every part of Turkey, thus, the school has a multicultural aspect.
As the student profile consists of different subcultures, this creates a diversity at school and multiculture is a key competence we try to get in our school. Also in each classroom, we have one or two inclusive student and they are integrated normal education process with their special education programme that is arranged for each student by considering their individual needs.
In our school we aim to bring happy, respectful, safe, and sharing individuals together who are confident in each other, open to cooperation, hosted in a team spirit as well as working to upgrade with the principle of continuous development and innovation. Also our mission is to absorb Atatürk's principles and revolutions, aimed at modernity, respectful of social democratic rights, the purpose of using knowledge, identifying problems and produce solutions...
As an educational institution, we aim to widen the perspective of both students and teachers. So with cooperation among teachers,we take part in cultural and social activities around the city. In addition to this, we aim to take part in global activities so this year two teachers are in charge of eTwinning and EU Projects club and the club takes active role in educational process. In each project, members participate actively in the process of use and dissemination of information obtained from the project and
execution. However, we have never taken part in any Erasmus+ project and we are inexperienced in this field. This project is the first step towards our goal in the path of European Union. Thus, we are currently involved in Erasmus+ strategic partnership project which aims to create a better atmosphere for inclusive students as well as the other students in our school. It is important to know how to deal with the oral and written expression among students because the problems may lead to a deeper impact than we think.
Project is a good way for better opportunities for a better learning environment and leads a wider perspective than we can imagine. So for the students, projects open a window to the world and lead to further projects with cooperations
