Straigthening winding routes to active citizenship

The topics we chose for the project were INCLUSION-EQUITY and NEW INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL METHODS DEVELOPMENT. We thought that it was a priority for us to support those students whose motivation was low or who did not feel fully included in school. This was caused by different reasons: low socioeconomic status, low self-esteem and poor academic results.One of our goals was to foster a work environment through our project, where students showed themselves with confidence and felt important. This participative and active methodology favoured the development of their critical attitude. Results achieved by students strengthened the motivation and brought them empowerment.We did four short term exchanges (Poland, Latvia, Finland and Spain), each of them worked their own topic, but all of them related to specific strategies. All the topics were obviously interrelated. Based on detected needs (engagement, increasing self-esteem and responsibility, fostering active role and creativity among students and social inclusion) our goal was the achievement of this by the students: social inclusion, self-confidence, autonomy and responsibility.Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and teachers took place twice a year in order to gain first-hand knowledge of other schools and strategies in Europe and to show the results of previous work. Each exchange was conducted in the following order:The first step consisted of a theoretical research related to each of the strategies (social emotional learning, critical thinking, peer to peer, public speeches, collaborative learning, creativity, students’ research and multiple intelligences).The second step was a practical application of the theory in the classroom. During the exchange, all the partners could put all the results together and draw the conclusions.Last step was summarising the ideas and planning the implementation of new methods and strategies back home.In order to implement the project, several activities were carried out. Meetings with teachers at everyone's school, meetings with municipal authorities and two transnational project meetings. Questionnaires and surveys were carried out in order to know how students felt at school and how they saw their role. Theoretical research, seminars, conferences, workshops with students (participants and no participants) was carried out after each mobility. Specific didactic materials and pedagogic guides were prepared. In addition, a volunteering program of help and support, with 16 year old students in charge of the younger students, was created.Regarding communication strategy among partners, we defined a clear one, in order to have everyone informed as quickly as possible. So, a project cloud platform and social apps were settled where we shared documents, schedules and tasks.We also established project teams in each school in order to be in permanent contact. There was even an international project team. The students participating in this project were in permanent contact, using eTwinning, Twinspace, Skype, Drive and Instagram, in order to develop their work in a coordinated way.Rubrics to evaluate the achievement of objectives were created, and a Gantt diagram to monitor completion of tasks within deadlines. We also had different types ofsurveys (students’ self-esteem), rubrics (students’ degree of responsibilities) and timelines.We expected and we really were able to get a wide DEEP IMPACT on different people and institutions close or around the school: a change of teachers’ attitudes towards students’ autonomy; an involvement of municipal authorities, parents' associations and other primary schools.Concerning the dissemination plan, this project was widely spread: the school and educational community (through meetings, workshops and the school magazines), local level (relationship with local authorities, regional and local press and regional television), national and European level (Erasmus+ Project Results Platform, European Shared Treasure, Project Blog, Twinspace, school websites of the partners, Facebook page).Monitoring and evaluation of the activities of dissemination strategy was undertaken in line with the periodic reporting to the coordinating school. The results were gathered in the Didactical Guide collecting pedagogical material and educational methods (available printed and online).Thanks to dissemination materials the project was sustainable. We had cooperation from different sources as part of learning teaching routines. We also raised awareness among teachers and parents of the necessity of an inclusive school full with empowered and autonomous students.