European classroom

"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 was 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, despite the difference in the subjects teaching, the language used, the age of the students...From common themes in curricula, 19 different sub projects have been developed during these 3 years to create an ""European classroom"" experience, linking different subjects. 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. The following schools took part in this project:Jac. P. Thijsse College - NLRealschule Eberbach - DESaint Jacques de Compostelle - FRIES Fransisco Figueras Pacheco - ESAlderley Edge School for Girls - UKZespól Szkól Ogólnoksztalcacych nr 7 - PLŞcoala Gimnazială „Mihai Viteazul” Pucioasa - ROWe aimed 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. Therefore we planned different types of crossborder mobilities. Teachers had the opportunity to exchange ideas and compare curricula. Students taught other students, organized workshops, presented outcomes and finalized their project work. There were also individual long mobilities between two participating schools during which students attended lessons at a partner school.All the proposed activities were selected as a result of consultation with colleagues who have an interest in sharing their methods of teaching with others and learning from the approach of their European counterparts. For each sub project a common theme and modus operandi were established through communication by the interested parties. The means of communication between staff, pupils and staff and pupils have were agreed upon and the eventual outcomes were anticipated. Work on each sub project was a combination of work in national and international groups using all forms of digital communication. Project progress was assessed and evaluated on a regular basis using the online IT-tool ""surveymonkey"". We enhanced the professional development of school staff through planning and evaluating lessons together with our European colleagues The results from the project 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 are made available on this website. Our results are 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, have been 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 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. All activities and materials are made available on our website : http://www.europeanclassroom.eu/ ."