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Coming to school with a SMILE: reducing dropout i..
Coming to school with a SMILE: reducing dropout in school
Start date: Dec 16, 2015,
End date: Dec 15, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
The role of Today´s School is not easy and very different from what it was just few decades ago. The school finds itself facing the challenge of responding to the demands of the complex society we live in: a globalized highly competitive, constantly changing and increasingly complex world that demands professionals capable of innovating and managing innovation and flexible to adapt to the changing environment.
Individual´s future opportunities increasingly depend on skills, human capital and the capacity to obtain, maintain and interpret information and to employ and acquire knowledge. But what happens if every sixth young person in EU27 leaves school with no more than lower education and does not participate in learning after that point?
In 2013, 11,9% of EU population aged 18 to 24 was early school leavers from education and training. In some countries the situation in alarming: Spain tops the EU list in terms of school dropouts with 23,5%, Italy with 17% and Turkey, EU candidate member, with 41,9%. There are many reasons that lead to school failure; social, cultural and religious origins, parent´s and students attitude, cultural levels and competences, family situation but also school´s indifference to difference and inflexible and boring teaching and learning.
The overall aim of this proposal is to reduce early school leaving by identifying the most effective prevention strategies, with special focus on alternative and motivating paths for “in-risk” students to engage with school, continue their education and empower them for life and participate in the progress of their community.
To do so, the partnership will exchange and collect best practices with other European institutions that have experience on ESL and deign and test experimental activities that will be tested with at least 10 students from each participating school. The aim of this activity is to motivate and empower students and increase the attractiveness of education.
Thus, SMILE aims:
• To compile a Handbook containing the most effective strategies to reduce early school leaving and containing prevention & early intervention measures that can be used in schools
• To design, test and implement an “alternative educational path” – e.g. set of activities that will develop students competences and motivate “in risks” to engage with school and actively involve the school, families and community in their learning process
• Increase the attractiveness of education and training by using newest ICT in learning, motivating learners, empowering them with competences and thus, ease their transition from school to work
• To promote European networking between schools with holistic collaborative approaches to teaching, develop methods and create conditions for personalized teaching and learning for pupils, thus increase their individual opportunities for the future