Growing Together

Growing Together is an Erasmus+ 229 project Co-Funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

 

Today's society is demanding certain skills which, after implementing a genuine need analysis through different tools in the three participating schools, we noticed our students are struggling with.
These include autonomy, entrepreneurship, collaboration, communication, creative and critical thinking, effective decission making, digital skills and awareness of the importance and promotion of social inclussion.

 

The objectives of this project aim at increasing the quality of the teaching practice by implementing innovative teaching methods in order to develop those XXI Century Skills in the students.

The project will also develop in our students an attitude of respect for people with different characteristics and needs, fostering the development of social, civic and intercultural competences, as proposed in the priority "social inclusion", one of the most important European priorities in our national context. It will provide students with opportuntities to reflect on their own characteristics and
needs, learning to identify their capacities and areas of struggle in order to make the most of them and also help others discover their own and value them.

Three schools from two different countries, Spain and Belgium, will participate in this project. Two of them are Infant and Primary Education Public schools which have already worked together in Erasmus+ projects which, after carrying out a detailed need analysis, determined that the best way to promote the development of key competences and inclusiveness in their students would be implementing this project together. This will allow to establish common methodological guidelines through assissting each other and learning together. The third participant is a Special Education Needs Public school from Spain, also with experience in Erasmus+ programmes. They will participate in the mobilities with students as well, elevating social inclusion to its maximum level by getting their students with special needs to work with students of Primary Education from regular schools.

 

The project has been designed by teachers from the three participating schools through on- line collaboration and also holding several meetings in Spain to which even the partners from Belgium attended. The activities have been designed by teachers from the three participating schools in order to carefully introduce and work with those tools and strategies that will allow students develop those
competences we are aiming at in a collaborative way.

We will combine virtual exchanges through eTwinning with Learning Teaching Training activities in both countries. In Learning Teaching Training Activities, students will put into practice the skills acquired during the previous months to the mobility, serving also as powerful tools to assess the progress of the students in acquiring those skills
and the level of success of the project.

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They will also include training activities for the teachers so they are able to introduce and use the next tools selected properly. Different training and dissemination activities will be also implemented by teachers involved in the project from the three participating schools in order to share the resources created and the results of their use with other teachers from University and also teacher training centers. These will be also shared through different platforms, including eTwinning, the Erasmus+ Results Platform, the website, Facebook and Twitter page we will create for the project and also the different social media managed by the three participating schools.

 

The methodology to be used is a selection of tools, strategies and procedures taken from different current educational methodological tendencies to promote the development of Key Competences: Project-Based Learning, Learner-Centered Approach, Assessment for Learning, Cooperative Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Thinking Based Learning, TechEd and Gamification.

The use of these tools will be adapted to our students' different ages and characteristics in order to develop our new school guidelines, which will result on a new methodology that will improve the capacities of our students.

Students will improve their capacity for operating at transnational level, promoting the development of the European dimension also in families and teachers. The resources created and results will be shared through different media so they can be used in other schools, improving the quality of education and allowing students from all around the world develop the abilities the new society is requiring, giving more oportunities to those with special needs. The participating schools will create a collaboration network in order to keep working together and GROWING TOGETHER in the future.