Story Valley

CONTEXT The STORY VALLEY project uses oral history as a driver for preserving cultural heritage and enrich it with oral history and heritage of other cultures. We want local students, students with migrant backgrounds and students abroad to learn (each other’s) oral history, language and literacy in an engaging and creative way.STOREY VALLEY addresses 3 EU VET priorities: 1.Raising awareness of the social and educational value of European Cultural HeritageTelling, writing and reading stories has been a common tradition all over Europe for centuries. The stories are told and passed on from generation to generation. This oral history is valuable because it shaped our communities: our intangible cultural heritage. 2.Strengthening key competences in VETBasic skills of literacy have a major impact on life chances, being positively associated with a range of important economic and social outcomes both for individuals and countries. They are very important in vocational education and training, as jobs require basic, transferable skills as well as occupation-specific skills. 3.Social inclusion: supporting integration of people with migrant backgroundsSTORY VALLEY includes students and other people with migrant backgrounds and their oral history, to stimulate intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding. We believe that inclusion and integration starts with understanding each other and the belief of having things (stories) in common. OBJECTIVES STORY VALLEY lets oral history meet with innovative and creative techniques of literacy to interpret the stories using visual, sound/audio and digital materials across disciplines. The programme is developed in a way that students strengthen their key competences literacy and language in an engaging way of learning:*Students learn about their oral history, the oral history of peer Europeans and people with migrant backgrounds to stimulate inclusion and integration. They are stimulated to read, write and speak in different languages resulting in stronger social, language and literacy skills. They research their oral history by using different types of sources to turn it into a creative production.*Teachers learn how to integrate language, literacy and oral history in an engaging way in their curricula and to better deal with other cultures. *Colleges are sustainably linked to the local knowledge network in the field of literacy and language.PARTICIPANTS & METHODOLOGYWith school partners, UNESCO City of Literature organisations, knowledge partners and specialist in literacy and the creative industry on board we transnationally join forces to come to innovative and universal support tools for VET schools to use across European regions and beyond. STORY VALLEY will be launched by and with our project partners in the UNESCO Cities of Literature network. The ideal breeding ground for our project as their top-priority is beating illiteracy and opening up heritage. They will ensure a broad uptake and a sustainable link between VET and the UNESCO City of Literature organisations worldwide. The partnersP1, Friesland College NL (lead)P2, Learning Hub Friesland Foundation NLP3, New Noardic Wave NLP4, Edinburgh City Council SCTP5, Edinburgh College SCTP6, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature UKP7, The National Literacy Trust UKP8, Ljubljana UNESCO City of Literature SIP9, Srednja Medijska in Graficna Sola Ljubljana - SIACTIVITIES & RESULTSThe project involves 3 intellectual outputs (IOs) as well as the horizontal activities required for successful project execution: management, impact evaluation, dissemination. IO1 – STORY VALLEY Student Programme and Teacher Pack will provide teachers and students with all that is needed to reach the objectives. It’s the training programme for school teachers including the methodology, lesson plan and evaluation plan, loaded with practical tools. IO2 – STORY VALLEY Online Community and Platform will provide a teaching, learning and collaborative network for students, teachers and specialist in the field of literature, literacy and the creative industry. It is the (virtual) place where everything comes together and is also the main legacy of the project.IO 3 – STORY VALLEY Policy Advice will ensure that VET is at the forefront of development in the language & literacy sector, specifically targeted at the 39 UNESCO Cities of Literature organisations worldwide. It will give VET institutions better access to these networks they can reach out to in order to improve their curriculum in the fields of literacy, multilingualism and cultural heritage (oral history). IMPACT & LONG TERM BENEFITSWith STORY VALLEY, we shape an inclusive culture for better mutual understanding and global citizenship while preserving our communities’ cultural heritage. Young adults will start their working lives more professional, with stronger social, language and literacy skills and an open mind towards other cultures and people.