European classroom
Start date: Sep 1, 2014,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
European Classroom came into existence because of a desire to include as wide a number of staff and pupils as possible in an exchange of ideas and experiences. The aim of our project is to link classrooms from seven European countries in everyday lessons and to share examples of good practice between teachers and students. Although our national curricula differ extensively there are common general aspects in all of them and we believe that we can cooperate on and study this common ground. The seven participating schools come from eastern and western Europe reflecting the diversity of European cultures. Moreover they are different types of school; state schools and private schools, primary and secondary, from as small as 600 students to as big as 2000 pupils.
We aim to enhance the quality and relevance of the learning offered in education by developing new and innovative approaches, to foster the provision and the assessment of key-competences like entrepreneurship, languages and digital skills, to encourage collaborative learning in order to create open educational resources, to promote critical thinking and structured inter-regional and cross-border cooperation. Schools need to be open to internationalization, increasing the European dimension of the education they provide. This project could help each of the schools involved to be more visible, to show their expertise and exchange good practices with EU schools.We are planning different types of crossborder mobilities. Teachers will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and compare curricula. Students will teach other students, organize workshops, present outcomes and finalize project work. There will also be individual long mobilities between the participating schools during which students will attend lessons at a partner school.
All the proposed activities have been selected as a result of consultation with colleagues who have an interest in sharing their methods with others and learning from the approach of their European counterparts. For each project a common theme and modus operandi have been established through communication by the interested parties. The means of communication between staff, pupils and staff and pupils have been agreed and the eventual outcomes anticipated. Work on each project will be a combination of work in national and international groups using all forms of digital communication. Lessons plans will be created and shared. Project progress will be assessed and evaluated on a regular basis.We will enhance the professional development of school staff through planning and evaluating lessons together with their European colleagues
The results from the project will include a website which is to be the vehicle to disseminate the results of each individual project. Materials such as lesson plans, pedagogical materials, resources and the end results of our collaborations will be made available on this website. Our results will be made available not just to the participating schools but also to all schools in Europe. As such the impact of the project will be to raise awareness of the possibilty and success of cooperation and collaboration between European schools. Moreover the benefits for all the participants, but particularly for the pupils, will be increased self-confidence, better key skills such as language and ICT skills and greater awareness of European culture and diversity which will improve their lives, their relationships and the life-long learning process. The successful relationships between the all the teachers involved will lead to future collaboration as a direct result of this project and the links created will encourage and foster the creation of new projects together in the future.