This Erasmus+ KA2 project on cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices is a strategic partnership for schools only. It involves 7 schools from Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Wales (UK), Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic. The main priority of the partnership was to support schools to address all students from the lowest to the highest end of academic spectrum, to maximize the learning and teaching potential in each of our schools and to deal with issues of underachievement in basic skills. The teachers, in close collaboration with the educational community (researchers, parents, students and other members)have learnt and developed new teaching methods: Visual Literacy (VL) and/in Differentiated instruction (DI). In the media age, children face reading literacy and VL challenges even at their early primary school age. The children began developing broad literacy skills, which go far beyond a purely text-based approach (e.g. critical and competent use of visual material, coding and decoding of pictures), This project primarily addressed our needs as teachers to adopt and share innovative methods. As a consequence this enhanced and developed our teaching work in societies where cultural changes (multiculturalism, financial crises, immigrants) happen so fast that formal traditional educational systems fails to follow. This project was developed to encourage diverse teaching contexts and environments so we were able to discover some positive lines of investigation and new ways of adapting education. Our innovative project was guided by the general principles of differentiation, which included tasks, differentiated lessons, flexible grouping and ongoing assessment. The methodology that we applied to work incorporated a lot of the characteristics inherent in language teaching and looked at the potential of the Visual Literacy approach as a viable practice. Our aims were: - To utilise the pedagogical teaching methods behind the theories of DI and VL in order to customise learning experiences, to adapt and differentiate teaching procedures and tasks according to the unique needs and learning styles of the students - Raise awareness among children and adults of the cultural elements around them and how these relate to their daily lives - Sensitise children to collective processes necessary for decision-making and to foster the spirit of collective work and trust in the product of group work - Use tasks as “research tools” for cultural comparisons on a longitudinal basis and between communities of a different cultural, economic, social profile - to address our students’ individual needs in terms of better understanding the learning process, the curriculum topics and contribute to the improvement of their school attainment and inclusion Our intention was to include VL and DI in the project and to integrate them school subject and combined the outcomes of educational activities which incorporated other areas of knowledge (e.g languages, art, music, drama, ICT, social studies etc) As a result of the project the final productions of activities along with the digital book on our twinspace showing all Project activities in different languages, the resources received from teachers.The project had an impact on the whole school as it was embedded in students, teachers, parents, local community by supporting the overall improvement and the quality of the school. We disseminated the project practices and results (using various tools) to target multiple groups (local, regional, national, transnational level).Finally, the sustainability in this project was ensured as all partners were committed to building a network of stable relationships that will lead to future expansion and development of the project.

"The partnership consisted of schools from seven countries (Romania, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Italy and Czech Republic) with a rich contribution to European spiritual and cultural heritage. The “Unesco Heritage” Project brought together our desire as teachers to teach our students how to be taught by the past and recognize the importance of sustaining, preserving and appreciating it. We are all part of a whole; we should cherish what unites us.Cultural heritage is under severe economical and social pressure. It was imperative that we campaign for its defense and preservation as something unique and unrepeatable. It was a social and political urgency since contemplating about our past can only lead to better educated decisions about our future.We aimed to raise awareness so that governments, pressured by public opinion, change their misleading politics concerning heritage. We considered that it was the school’s duty, as a teaching and educational institution, to instill in the youth and in the school community, the values of defending and preserving our cultural heritage thus creating active and interventional citizens. We believed it was urgent to awake consciences, educate to change mentalities and create a new generation of concerned citizens who can relate to their roots, heritage and realize the need to preserve it. This project intended to stimulate the pursuit and consolidation of knowledge in our youth. In a playful and innovative way, we tried to motivate the students for a lifelong learning and instill in them the importance of school in this process.Our work proposal also aimed to develop good practices leading to the consolidation of concrete objectives in the Social Entrepreneurship, since the main purpose of it was to change mentalities and attitudes to historical heritage, helping to enhance conservation ethic. It was intended to provide the conditions so that the younger generations could educate themselves on the importance of the preservation of our cultural and natural heritage, which, moreover, constitute our collective memory. We proposed to develop creative and innovative ideas that seek to minimize the social problem of forgetfulness and lack of sensitivity towards historical values.Cultural heritage is not to be taken for granted. We needed feed it , preserve and cherish it as a true life form.We accomplishrd the activities planned by our partnership:1. A common web page for communication (forum for teachers, school presentations, photos and a forum for students) and dissemination.2. Workshops on new educational tools and strategies .3. An intercultural festival in one of the country.4. A final international symposium with articles published in printed and electronic format.5. Development of new “European cultural identity” curricula by engaging the students in motivating and educational activities that resulted to accrued, cooperative knowledge:- created a mini-puzzle with UNESCO national monuments and national symbols, as a board game, and in virtual format.-created an on- line competition for a European map with students’ painting, (Unesco tangible heritage).-created a photo-hunting European electronic-map, using photos of Unesco tangible heritage monuments.-used an e-twinning camera for improving this new curricula and develop common evaluation tools to measure the satisfaction grade of the students.-developed electronic lessons using IT tools.Our goals were mainly student focused as we aimed to:-Instill ""good practices"" in heritage preservation.- Provide the younger with a sense of belonging, to a European community with strong cultural identity and continuity through the knowledge of the Unesco World Heritage-Provide the conditions for multicultural experiences that promote respect for social, linguistic and cultural diversity. -Consolidate a sense of European citizenship through cultural and linguistic exchange.- Exemplify the principle of communicating vessels between the Local, Regional, National and European History.- Based on the historical research, develop communication skills, ICT and foreign language skills.- Develop data processing and linguistic skills by giving the students hands-on experience on planning and organizing a common project. -Implement projects within social entrepreneurship -Development of transversal skills for European students.- Prove our willingness to integrate good practices and new methods into daily teaching activities and thus enhance the professional profile of a dynamic and committed European teacher. We proposed that every intellectual output to be openly accessible to the general public through the internet and in printed form. Also a lot of dissemination activities were organized in each country through digital presentations, crafts fair, festivals, interviews, blogs, e-magazine, articles, media coverage. Now the project and web page can be open to other cities in Europe."