The art of Economics, the economy of Arts

Our project group aimed to use the project to set up a long-term partnership between the schools and towns and we undertook it while building on our previous experience in terms of international enterprises, i.e. Comenius (2011-13) or the tradition of National Economics Tournament (Pińczów 2001-15). Also, we included artistic approach (Arts, music, literature) to appeal to students' eagerness to express themselves and use creativity. The main two objectvies were an open, innovative education and addressing underachievement in the main school skills (esp. Maths)There were five middle-schools in the project: Gimnazjum nr 2 in Pińczów (Poland), Colegiul National N. Stanescu in Ploiesti (Romania), Malazgirt Imam Hatip Ortaokulu in Sincan (Turkey), Istituto Comprensivo Resta in Turi (Italy), and Talsu Pamatskola (Latvia). The Polish school coordinated the project.We provided an open and innovative education by focusing on Economics and Maths using the CLIL method and complemented it all with artistic activities. We tested, developed and held four editions of our flagship Economics Contest in English in four project schools during student exchanges. We created our own teaching materials, conducted CLIL classes in Economics, business English and Maths that were open to students and local community. We conducted practical activities related to these subjects (e.g. job shadowing, auctions, keeping statistics and budget management) and worked in international groups to foster teamwork and practise foreign languages.The Arts element was addressed through cross- and extra-curricular activities: creating and staging mini-plays in English, designing board games and gamebooks, performing together, building musical instruments, learning handicraft and so on. At the same time, we took advantage of students' artistic talents and creativity and What's more, we promoted educational freeware (e.g. flashcards), free operating systems (Edubuntu, Android) and recorded/edited classes, debates and performances (Audacity), created entries about towns (txt editors), etc.We had one transnational meeting, four student exchanges and one training meeting for teachers. During exchanges, students took part in numerous international activities: job shadowing, open classes, performances, debates, presentations, and competed in Economics contests in English. They worked on project results and got to know each other, the project schools and educational systems. Moreover, we had made a point of breaking cultural barriers by learning about other countries, their inhabitants and life, culture, traditions and religion through direct contact. We also tried hard to have a real understanding of the present refugees' and migration crisis and to be able to challenge stereotypes.We cooperated with local institutions and authorities. Local banks and other financial institution helped us learn more about banking and finance and they assisted us in holding contests. We had business-oriented job-shadowing activities in our schools (i.e. accounting department and school kitchen) and local companies (wine factory, olive oil plant, fruit sorting plant). We encouraged local authorities to twin our project towns and establish ties between the towns. We invited parents to actively engage in school life.We compiled our project teaching materials to be used in CLIL Economics/Maths classes and to prepare students for the contests. We published our 200-page long “Project Book 2016-2018” with a detailed chronicle (600 copies) and a 150-page long booklet containing all the contest papers (250 copies). We created a collection of flashcards on Economics, built up a collection of lesson plans, theatrical scripts, presentations, debate scripts, works of art and handicrafts. All of us developed a number of skills (linguistic, mathematical, organisational, etc.) to work better in a cross-curricular environment. Our students took advantage of peer-teaching and can now work unsupervised to develop their skills. The overall aim of the project was to improve the quality of the education our schools provide and make them an inseparable part of the local community by reaching out to other parties. Our school are now better able to organise large-scale events like contests involving numerous European schools (i.e. online). We have developed our CLIL approach and can now teach more subjects in English (esp Science) during regular classes/after-school activities in years to come, We now know how to include Arts in our school activities, tap students creativity and talents as well use a range of educational freeware in class and at home. We are much more experienced in helping our towns ensure cooperation between them, hopefully with a view to twinning.Finally, we are going to continue cooperation between all the five project schools to make the most of our experience and collective expertise and gain as much as we can from European projects such as Erasmus+.