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.

"Global environmental issues have become some of the most worrying problems in this decade. The issue has worsened in recent years with a visible effect on our daily lives. Therefore, in order to mitigate the problem, the European Union, through the Environment Council, has adopted a ambitious environmental plan that protects natural habitats, keeps air and water clean, ensures proper waste disposal, improves knowledge about toxic chemicals and helps businesses move towards a sustainable economy. The School constitute a crucial group which can help to achieve the goals of this incentive. With this in mind, the idea for this project consist of creating a plan of action, which helps to raise awareness within the communities around our schools in order to preserve the environment in different ways:(i) Promote recycling at home and in students' communities.(ii) Consume food products that require less energy to produce.(iii) Use means of transport that don't need fossil fuels.(iv) Make an appropriate use of electrical appliances and water.(v) Learn more about house insulation.(vi) Do a resforestation project on campus or in a surrounding area.There are five participating organisations involved in the project:Základní škola, Uherský Brod, Na Výsluní 2047, okres Uherské Hradiště (Czech Republic). The school is fully organised from primary to lower secondary level. There are 220 pupils from 5-15 years old.Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych nr 4 im. H. C. Hoovera (Poland). Public school with 300 pupils aged 14-19. They offer the general education.Varvakeio Model Gymnasium (Greece). Lower Secondary School. There are 288 students from 12 to 15 years old. They provide a high standard education.Hagalidskolan (Sweden). Secondary school. There are 450 pupils of age 13-16 years. They offer from 7th to 9th grade. They are very proud of their sports profile.IESO Gabriel García Márquez (Spain). Small community of 164 students from 12 to 16 years old. It offers Compulsory Secondary Education and Basic Vocational Training.We have chosen a series of varied activities to accomplish the objectives proposed. They will be developed in the schools, in the surrounding area and in our meetings abroad. Key activities include a reforestation in the school or in a surrounding area, the challenge to reduce the school's water and electricity bills, the organization of a “Day without cars"" and a vertical vegetable garden made of recycled materials. Another highlight will be a car boot sale or a swap shop for unwanted ítems (clothes, books, etc) that will be open to the whole community.The methodology to be used in carrying out the Project will be based on student investigation, inquiry-based learning and practical projects. The strategy during the activities will be to work in small groups to develop cooperative skills. The teacher will be a supportive figure who provides guidance and support for students throughout their learning process. For those students who require extra help, we will designate a pupil's assitant.The project have a broad range of results like adquiring essential skills for succeeding in tomorrow’s world, the production of leaflets in different languages to show the various actions we can undertake to reduce-reuse-recycle, the recovery of a natural environmet, the improvement of behavior on the road and the experience of getting to know a new culture. Additionally, we will produce tangible products like the compost bin, the vertical vegetable garden and the bike rack.We think that participation in this project will have a positive impact and lasting effect on the whole school community. Our students will improve their academic achievement with engaging lessons about the natural world that can be applied to all subject areas and grades. They will get several skills essential for succeeding in tomorrow’s world, such as questioning, investigating, defining problems, analyzing, interpreting, reasoning, developing conclusions, and solving problems. As for the teachers, they will have opportunities to integrate key competence goals into project and classroom content. They will improve their teaching skills and reinforce their relationships with colleagues through team work. And they will improve language competences and reinforce ITC skills.Concerning the parents, they will improve their relationships with their children and with the teachers and too, will get new life skills. They will learn the importance of preserving the environement and use the knowledge gained to save electricity and water, and carry out proper waste management in their homes. Finally, everybody will acquire a feeling of belonging to the European identity. The schools involved have several potential longer term benefits such as continuing the reduce-reuse- recycle programme, the compost bin, the vertical orchard and the bike rack. The policy to save water and electricity as well as the trees from the reforestation project will also remain."

<< Background >>Once upon a time, in the early twentieth century, 5 secondary schools situated all across Europe decided to Broaden their Horizons (2016-1-FR01-KA219-024249_5). They got supported by European funding and made a star project out of it. During these 3 years of collaboration, they found out that there was way more to discover about each other’s background and pedagogical approaches. So, based on a SWOT analysis (Impact+Tool), they worked out a new partnership “Behind the Walls”, a blended exchange project between partners in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Poland and Spain. Every country had strengths that could improve weaknesses in the pedagogical approaches of their partner schools. Austria teaches through storytelling, Belgium is a price-winning eTwinning school, in Finland teachers manage their students through mission based learning, Poland is a master in debating and the pedagogical project of the Spanish school is developed implementing gamification. These different expertises / methodologies are used to stimulate motivational teaching and learning in close relationship to daily life and the local community. It goes without saying that sharing these methodologies can only boost and enrich those motivational approaches.At the same time, when working on the former project, we were confronted to a lack of pedagocical resources for our age group (15-18 years) whenever visits were prepared, items were to be studied. It appeared that teachers in general had the same experiences but also that providers were struggling in creating materials for this age group. The Impact+Tool showed us how we could address this need by implementing our different expertises / methodologies.The choice of the main topic, Cultural Heritage through digital storytelling and gamification, was influenced by various elements:- the participation of the coordinating school in the 2018 Annual eTwinning Conference ( as a prize winner) on Cultural Heritage. - the participation of the coordinator in another European project (https://www.raversyde.be/en/projects/creative-europe-youth-project-wall) and the needs participants to the related conference (https://www.raversyde.be/fr/node/167) expressed -> make Europe and especially its (hidden) cultural heritage more attractive for youngsters.- the identity crisis of Europe: the tension in modern society between being proud of your own ( European) identity, your roots and the manipulation of the same values to tear the Union apart. How can we make our students critical but informed European citizens.- the attractiveness of Cultural Heritage Reuse: if sustainability was often reserved to environmental issues in the past, lately the idea of recycling was enlarged to upcycling, no more waste creation and circular economy instead of reinforcing production whilst exhausting mother earth.Let’s say, plenty of reasons to start “Behind the walls”.<< Objectives >>Their mission? Raise the awareness of Europe’s population for the inspiring and endless richness it hides. To be proud of it and realise this is the result of ages of history, cultural and natural interaction, survival and education. In times when walls are thrown up, they invite everyone to look behind the walls, to listen to their stories and plan their joint future. In order to make this more appealing all partners involved will share motivational practices in which they are experienced and excel. Proof: in every shared methodology they are prize winning or serve as an example on (inter)national level. More specifically: we aim to form active and proud European citizens by raising awareness for European Cultural Heritage (CH). Having experienced a lack of interest amongst youngsters and a shortage of useful pedagogical material for 15-18 year olds, we decided to join efforts on the field. A variety of methods, each one representing an expertise of one school, will be deployed. Each partner will train the other partners in its expertise in order to accomplish the joint mission. Austria: the art of telling stories, discover hidden treasures and share them with the (online) world; Belgium: inspire and help every partner to become an eTwinning school, one of the dissemination tools. Finland: flip the classroom, increase learning effect by giving students the responsibility for their learning process, driven through missions; Poland: develop debating skills so the “missionaries” can reflect in a critical but constructive way on their CH, and also confront fellows with it/open productive discussions; Spain: initiate partners in appealing ways of sharing information and uniting them in a joint mission, through digital game based learning (DGBL). This shared expertise will not only serve the project but will be re-used by all partners in a cross-curricular and multidisciplinary way.Besides this reinforcing European identity and motivated participation to its cultural heritage, what’s to be achieved with potential stakeholders (students, teachers, schools, CH-providers and visitors, local communities)?- adaptable templates for educational use in diverse sectors (museums, schools, tourism) will be elaborated.- lasting partnerships with other schools in EU-member countries, based on high-quality work and cooperation will be build- language-learning for students and teachers will be stimulated; confront and refine working concepts, methods and material used in language-teaching, especially in English- computer literacy by screening and implementing digital tools into European CH storytelling will be increased- eTwinning will be embedded in daily school practice and make it more sustainable thus improving motivational teaching and non-formal learning in general- non formal learning and soft skills will be valorised / rewarded, by making them visible using international standards so staff and students can take advantage of it during a life-long-learning process and on the labour market- all participants become active EU-citizensFinally, student and teacher mobility is crucial to the success and the quality of this project. Exchanges will increase the value of transversal multi- and inter-disciplinary work. Moreover, students, parents, school as a community, stakeholders will get opportunities to develop soft skills often considered as hard to train and evaluate but essential on the labour market.<< Implementation >>Their strategy? Learn from one another’s expertise and thus fill a gap in their own functioning so they would be more powerful to spread their message and to become respected and active European citizens.Planned learning activitiesYear 1: Treasure or burden-Blended student mobilities•The use of eTwinning as introduction/evaluation of the project •Students of eTwinning-project “Memory matters” (Belgium + Poland) are ambassadors: they teach students of the project what CH is.•Visit of a CH-site (“controversial” heritage) •Students develop pedagogical material (digital + game-based) for use in the classroom to prepare the visit of the site.•Students develop digital pedagogical games about CH of the region•Dissemination: website CH-site, website city, School Education Gateway, Historiek.netTo prepare this, teachers will have a teachers training in Tielt: how to•use eTwinning efficiently, not only during an exchange project but also during daily teaching•use tools for digital pedagogical games•organise mission-based projectweeks : how to prepare students, how to get everybody involved, ... •use the Erasmus+ impact tool•use Cultural Gems and other channels for disseminationYear 2: Walls have ears, listen to them: Blended student mobilities•The use of eTwinning as introduction + evaluation of the project Ambassadors: students who took part in the project the year before prepare this year’s participants to the visit of the partner CH-site, using the materials they developed during year 1•Visit of CH-site (same site as year before)•Workshop storytelling:oStudents create stories that will be used on site. The stories will be integrated in a game to visit the site. Students also develop the game (digital if possible – on “paper” if no digital possibilities on site) oStudents create digital stories about places/monuments/ … in their own town. They wrap the monuments and ask passers-by what is wrapped. They film this for use next year •Dissemination: publication of stories and games on CH-site (educational pack), city-website, Europeana, Historiek.net and Cultural GemsTo prepare this, teachers will have a teachers training in Lienz: “the art of storytelling”Year 3: Looking back is going forward: Blended student mobilities: •Students get more autonomy (mission-based working process) They have to look themselves for potential CH and put it in the picture. Students will be encouraged to discover the value of CH in their own region and give it a sustainable destination•We focus more on eTwinning. After the rather small use of eTwinning in the project during year 1+2, every school now has to prove that eTwinning is getting more integrated in their school. oIn every school students of 1 class will have an eTwinning-project on CH (this is extra – for the exchange project there will be also an eTwinningproject as introduction + evaluation, like year 1+2)oStudents of the project of year 2 are now digital ambassadors. The videos they made (wrapped monuments) are the starting point for an extra eTwinning-projectoThe students of the extra eTwinningproject will be ambassadors for the exchange week. They will teach students of the project what is CH and how you can promote it•Students create a digital escape game for their own chosen CHoStudents make stories by their own about their chosen item and they create a game of it  storytelling and gamification become an automated learning process•Students choose which item should really be saved. Therefore they have to promote their CH and debate why they want to keep it•Dissemination:oEuropeana, Historiek.net, Klascement and Cultural GemsoExhibition of pictures taken by students of C.H. sites in the 5 countries, in every country (townhall, cultural house, school, …), picture contest in the cityTo prepare this, teachers will have a teachers training in Krakow about the role of debates in contemporary teaching, as well as in modern society.<< Results >>Expected results? Students and educators gain insights by active participation and tools are offered to consolidate and validate interest in CH in a life-long learning process. Local partners get templates and tools to increase an attractive offer for public interaction with CH. Results should also correspond to the objective we mentioned under “Objectives: What do you want to achieve by implementing the project?”The project intendeds to have impact in the near and further future through several dissemination channels and thanks to collaboration with local partners. To enlarge the public and the number of CH-providers involved, we focus on a specific topic every year. Moreover, during the last running year of the project, flipping the ‘classroom’, students take responsibility of their own learning process and look for untold cultural heritage themselves and stimulate cultural heritage reuse through game based digital storytelling. Based on blended mobilities (including eTwinning) and decided on what to be preserved for future generation through solid debates.Outcomes are spread through eTwinning (also new start-ups after 2023), publications in local and domain specific press and websites, life-long learning events and websites (e.g. Europeana, School Education Gateway, Historiek.net, culturalgems.jrc.ec.europa.eu). Students will also take part in international contests (https://medium.com/digital-storytelling-festival/stories-connect-people-we-think-cultural-heritage-does-too-898ff9bb908e) and create (virtual) contests themselves. Developed pedagogical material will be used by local partners. Cooperation agreements have been signed and can be found in the Annexes Impact is measured by Erasmus+ Impact Tool and tools provided by Europass Mobility in collaboration with VDAB. To monitor evolution in the CH participation/awareness of the participants, we’ll get support from www.faro.be. We'll also develop our own surveys for all participants: students, teachers, school, parents, local stakeholders and virtual partners. All partners handle the same basic forms, adapted if necessary to their own needs, to facilitate comparing results.To increase the impact, we will organise student mobilities . Every school will visit every other school at least once. Every year, other students are trained in a specific topic and become European ambassadors for the next generation of participants (and we hope for everyone they meet in the future). This ambassadorship is implemented in our working process (see Implementation: What activities are you going to implement?) and increases the responsibility of all stakeholders involved. Once the project finished, hosting schools will have trained all participants in its expertise. In order to manage practically and financially, and assure results are made and impact is created, key persons of every school meet in May every year during Transnational Project Meetings. To train the educators of the partner schools, every year in October a Short Term Staff Training Event is planned. To prepare those enriching live events, eTwinning will serve as a platform for interaction. eTwinning will also be a showcase for the results of the project and to spread the outcomes and serve as a base for new eTwinning partnerships.Project management is stored on Google Drive which guarantees transparency, accessibility and re-use of all materials for every partner. This should also increase the impact of the project.

We are a group of 5 schools which either have students from multicultural backgrounds (France, Spain, Finland) or students who are keen to discover other cultures (Belgium, Austria). All of the establishments agree that students need to be open towards other cultures not only to help them adapt to their local environment (minorities, migration) and /or to help them adapt to the culturally different populations present in their schools, but also to be apt for future mobility as part of their studies or work placements. The project aims to develop students’ communication skills, autonomy, organisational skills and open-mindedness while removing the cultural obstacles which often hinder meetings between individuals from other backgrounds and any other cultural obstacles which might hinder European or even international mobility. To meet these objectives students worked on the following activities:STM Short Term Mobilities: exchange weeks often involving three schools and three objectives:Cultural awareness (family life, visits,presentations)Language skills ( English language immersion during the project week)Theme-based knowledge ( activities related to a specific theme, organized as much as possible by students themselves)B) LTM Long Term Mobilities: 2 month exchanges between schools with 3 objectivesCultural Awareness (family life, schooling in the host country)Language Skills (language of the host country)Dissemination ( activities within the host school organized by the guest student or promotion of exchanges at home)These exchanges qualify students for EuropassesAn Erasmus student remains an Erasmus student for as long as he/she remains in his/her school and becomes an ambassador for the projectThere were 4 types of teacher activities in the project:Preparation of STM exchange weeks, encouraging as much student responsibility as possible. Preparation of the trip and its cultural experience.Selection of LTM students and tutorials for students with tutors in both the host and guest countriesParticipation in bi-annual transnational meetings to share experiences, plan, organize, troubleshoot, manage and train)Project Management for the coordinatorSTMs mobilised several hundred students (travelling or not) their parents, dozens of teachers, administration and management teams of the different schools as well as local partners. A dozen students took part in the LTMs which involved all of our partners.Transnational meetings were hosted by each partner school which favoured the dissemination of the project in each school.Feedback on the different mobilities was collected at every stage in the project and communicated to the partners during transnational meetings.The group’s initial line of thought broadened to encompass inclusive education in its widest sense which led to two partners (Tielt and Lyon) taking part in a KA1 training course in Lisbon during the second year of the project. Feedback about the mobilities from students and families was very enthusiastic; there were a couple of minor crises but these were dealt with smoothly. We believe our students developed personal skills such as independence and taking initiatives. They also improved their language skills, particularly during LTMs.Students who took part in the project now appear to be more motivated for their school studies and are showing a keener interest in intercultural experiences. The number of teachers involved in the project has grown in each school and the visibility of the project is much stronger. The teachers involved have become more skilled in project management, developed their cultural awareness, especially concerning the different school systems and teaching methods. They have also modified their own teaching style. Both the students and the teachers who have been part of this project have improved their use of English as a means of communication. Sometimes the workload, whether for project management or for the organization of STMs and LTMs, has weighed heavily on the shoulders of the resource persons. Budget control has been managed smoothly thanks to mobility tool. Schools’ local influence has increased through dissemination activities (press, Erasmus anniversary, posters, open days) and because of the participation of local institutions in training and in student activities. The long term effects of this project are firstly the productions available on the eTwinning website and on Learning Designer: ready-to-do classroom activities and a colourful project brochure and secondly the fact that the partners are ready to write a brand new project together.