Culture against School Failure is a three-year Strategic Partnership for Schools Only. It involved eight secondary schools from Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. These schools educate and instruct pupils of diverse ethnic and cultural origins. Most of these learners came from underprivileged families with low opportunities for learning, traveling, and self-educating. They often lacked motivation, ignored the importance of foreign languages and ICT in the labor market. Many of these learners usually gave up when they faced difficulties in their learning. Therefore, our partnership primarily focused on these learners. On the one hand, we first intended to enhance these learners’ motivation and personal investment in learning thanks to a collaborative challenge, offered them an opportunity to acquire new skills in ICT and foreign languages. On the other hand, we wanted to offer them an opportunity to meet other European learners of their age, to discover European cultures in native place and to put forward their own culture, to develop intercultural skills, and thus, to build their European citizenship. To implement our partnership and hit our objectives we had shared tasks amongst us according to each other’s experience and expertise. We exchanged our know-how. Besides, a five-day ICT workshop was organized for teachers in November 2017. Participants learned how to use a variety of ICT tools, and how to share all created materials on a dynamic project website. Moreover, four Transnational Project Meetings were organized. These meetings offered teachers the possibility to observe classes in the hosting countries and to give ICT-based lessons themselves. Finally, they practiced foreign languages, got familiar with European cultural diversity, and acquired intercultural skills. As regards our learners, we first made preliminary assessments and rated their comfort/ability level on a number of skills. Based on the results we purposefully created small groups that blended abilities and backgrounds and incorporated team-building activities carefully adapted to their abilities and possibilities. Besides, we had them complete tasks that involved using ICT and oral communication skills that they would likely need in their future professional life. Finally, they participated in a twelve-day cultural language camp which was organized in Poland. This camp put them in authentic communication situations amongst other European learners of their age and gave them good opportunities to develop cooperation skills and team spirit. They gained a sense of responsibility, high up their self-confidence and self-esteem, enlarged their cultural horizons, made new friends, and fostered tolerance. To ensure the efficiency of our strategy, various evaluation tools were developed and used. Communication between partners via video conferencing took place every month to ensure the best follow up of the partnership activities. To disseminate our results as widely as possible we created a dynamic website, a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel. To sustain our partnership and its results we have agreed to continue our cooperation beyond the three years of the project via the Twinspace Portal. As a result, this partnership has not only helped our learners, about four hundred, acquire new skills in ICT, foreign languages, intercultural skills and to build their European citizenship, but has raised their future social inclusion opportunities as well. Teachers involved, around fifty, were given the opportunity to develop their language and intercultural skills, and learned how to incorporate innovative digital teaching tools and project-based pedagogy in their teaching and have made their classes more engaging and more challenging for their pupils.

CONTEXT/BACKGROUNDOur project is built around exchanges of best practices between a CZ and a HU school of music, to liven up music education, and thus to lessen early school leaving, our basic problem here.It affects 80-90% of the HU school’s pupils, and to a lesser extent, but it is also present at the CZ school.Both Kraslice (CZ) and Miskolc (HU) are in countries of the former socialist block. They both faced economic difficulties during the economic transition (from the 1990s). Miskolc is a former centre of heavy industry, Kraslice’s area was “the” manufacturer of music instruments for the COMECON. With the collapse of the socialist market, both cities suffered severe economic setback, with unemployment rates soaring – and the production is still struggling to find a new equilibrium and productivity.Naturally, this affects pupils as well – there are many living in economically disadvantaged circumstances/poverty.We met through informal channels (via a renowned clarinet artist), and during discussions we found that we are both working towards the same aim (to further our pupils’ interests through motivating them), by different methods. We decided to find a way to compare and exchange our best practices.OBJECTIVESOur main priority is CONTRIBUTION TO THE LOWERING OF EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING %, and the secondary objective is STRENGTHENING THE PROFILES OF THE TEACHING PROFESSIONS.We also took on the topics Disadvantaged children and Creativity and culture.Through the exchange of best practices we can offer our teachers knowledge about music education as a tool to make school more attractive, and to make pupils stay in the system till the end of their elementary studies –lowering the early school leaving %.By the new techniques/methods and knowledge about ways of combating early school leaving we also contribute to the strengthening of the teaching professions’ profiles.Creativity and culture are naturally linked with music education; and the majority of our participating pupils will be of disadvantaged circumstances – the project can serve both as a direct stimulus to them, towards staying on board with their studies, but through the combined best practices we can act in the interests of further disadvantaged pupils as well.PARTICIPANTSOur direct participants will be staff and pupils from both schools, taking part in the project events.We plan to include 2*5 staff members in the short-term staff learning activities as travelling staff, and about 20-25 more per school as receiving staff.2*13 pupils will travel through short-term pupil exchanges, with 2*5 staff members accompanying them. We’ll encourage as many of the “local” pupils as possible to participate as well (the school’s population taken into account in this project are 500 and 600 respectively).Indirect participants include parents, friends and the wider public, at the pupil concerts – and the professional staff of further schools reached through dissemination.ACTIVITIESWe plan 2 short-term staff trainings and 2 short-term pupil exchanges, concerning 2*5 staff, 2*13 pupils and 2*5 accompanying staff.We also plan 14 other project activities throughout the period, with entry/exit/in between measuring; preparation for the exchanges, relying the experience to colleagues, fusing the best practices, evaluations, dissemination, and of course the managing of the whole.METHODOLOGYWe’ll get acquainted with each other’s best practice in a preparation period and through training occasions in person.We’ll offer our staff to widen their knowledge, strengthen their methodology base, gain insight into the two countries’ music education systems.Better prepared teachers can better implement the best practices acquired, they can also contribute towards the fusion of these, to form a new incentive tool that can help lowering the early school leaving %.The pupils will go through a preparation period too, to get cultural, social and linguistic knowledge that can make their exchange more successful. By performing at 2 concerts during the exchanges, they will also enhance the cultural aspect of the project, and help raising awareness.Their participation in the project will also be a motivation for them, to study.RESULTS/IMPACTExpected outputs:- 2 short-term pupil exchanges (with 1 joint concert each)- 2 short-term staff exchanges (with 1 best practice each, plus a joint course)As a short-term result, we expect to amplify our teachers’ knowledge.On a mid- to long term timescale we expect all these to contribute to the lowering of early school leaving % in both our schools.We expect a change of attitude from the participants.LONG-TERM BENEFITSOn the longer term we want to BUILD INTO OUR SCHOOLS’ WORK PLANS the new tools/best practices (after elaboration and fine-tuning).We also wish to continue working on the FUSION OF THE TWO BEST PRACTICES into a nation-level system of incentives through music education.

The Music and Dance school of Vienne and the 11 to 16 secondary school Ponsard, are proposing a project « Europe of Art, Muses and Movement » with their year 8 & 9 classes who have a tailored/ adapted timetable to fit with their musical practice. The aim of the project is to unite pupils identified by their practice of a musical instrument according to three criteria: students playing an instrument with a tailored timetable, students playing an instrument following a normal timetable and singers. By exchanging on the rich musical and artistic heritage (architecture, contemporary art, gastronomy, baroque music and jazz for Vienne) as well as the teaching traditions of partner countries, the objective is to open up new perspectives to young students that they can use in terms of how they practice by examining how musicians move. Until the 18th century in all European courts, Dance and Music were narrowly linked not only in the form and shape of pieces of work such as opera and comedy-ballet but also in the aim of pieces of music composed for dance. In the 20th century, Jazz gave a new impetus to this association. By revisiting this European heritage and the contribution from the new world, we aim to revitalise, motivate and enlighten the vocal and instrumental practice of the students by looking at the body in motion. Within a three year project, students will benefit from musical guidance by receiving some training in chamber, orchestral or choral music as well as choreographic guidance aimed to reinforce the links between the movement of sound and the movement of the body. It would be wonderful if at the end of the project, we could come up with a show in which everybody would be musician, singer and dancer in one. We could also count on students who have a background in choreography to enrich the artistic content. This search for a multi-skilled approach develops an open mind towards Europe and the capacity to evolve in a diverse cultural environment. The mobility between students takes another level of meaning: the students physically travelling across and to European countries, thus moving around and experiencing the different environments, will help to move or shift their cognitive processes.