„CULTURE IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF A VIBRANT SOCIETY”

’Culture is the lifeblood of a vibrant society, expressed in the many ways we tell our stories, celebrate,remember the past, entertain ourselves, and imagine the future. 'So, building a ‘bridge’ between the abstract and concrete, the Eastern and Western, and the ancient and modern is very important for a peaceful world.

We know that we alone cannot change the world, but we also know that ’ We can change one thought at a time, one child at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time, one city, one
state and one country at a time’.

The School Development Team determined a deadline and evaluated the applicants: Firstly, we have chosen the project partners among the schools whose students’ ages range from 14 to 18 and the schools which have students with different cultural backgrounds.

Secondly, we have chosen the project partners among the on-going ones according to whether they answered the questions in a short time or not because supporting the project and evolving it moving forward is very important for us.

Thirdly, we have chosen the project partners both among the experienced and inexperienced schools or both among the experienced and inexperienced teachers in Erasmus projects in their previous schools; that is, while the partner schools from Portugal and Romania have participated in a Strategic Partnership before, the partner schools from Italy, Poland and Turkey have never participated in a Strategic Partnership because while the experienced project partners help the inexperienced partners, the inexperienced ones will gain experience in such an important platform.

So, after the project, they will go on walking on the way of Erasmus with other schools from other countries and help them.

In short, we are five partner schools and have a contact with each other all the time through our E-twinning project and What’s app group. Thus, while we are filling in this form, we help each other, and this will be the same during the project if we face any kind of problems.

Recognising the number of problems caused by different backgrounds (bullying, intolerance, hate speech) and aiming to overcome these dangers, we decided to take part in the project whose name is 'RECOGNİZE YOURSELF IN HE OR SHE, WHO ARE NOT LIKE YOU AND ME ’. The project focuses on changing the attitude towards difference and diversity by means of getting to know, comparing and understanding various cultures.

There are two main reasons for us to join it:

Our first aim is to fight against any kind of discrimination affecting our students negatively. When we have a genuine appreciation for one another’s culture, we can bridge the gap that separates us from each other.

Our second aim is to increase our students’ success at school because youth participation in culture helps develop thinking skills, builds self-confidence, and improves flexibility, all of which enhance education outcomes. Students who have different cultural backgrounds and take part in cultural activities at school are more likely to get a degree than those who do not.

Schools that integrate culture into the curriculum have shown consistently higher average reading and mathematics scores compared with similar schools that do not. There is a strong link between culture and academic performance. Participation in the project will not only have an impact on public education, but on the development of valuable workforce skills as well. What is more, cultural heritage broadens opportunities for education and lifelong learning, including a better understanding of history, etc.

Additionally, we would like our students to be open-minded and responsible citizens of the modern world, aware of the importance of diversity and willing to embrace other cultures.
In order to achieve these main goals, we will take advantage of games, foods, drinks, folk dances, folk songs, handicrafts, ornamenting arts, historical places, places of natural beauty,
idioms/proverbs, legends/myths, languages, religions, superstitions, traditions/customs and traditional costumes which are all part of the culture of the the partner schools.

The outcomes of the project, to be used and disseminated, will be as follows: booklets, bookmarks, calendars, Cds, Erasmus corners, dictionaries, E-twinning, Facebook, hats, local clubs, news in the local media, local televisions, magazines, models, posters, photograph albums, power point presentations, questionnaires, short films, t-shirts. Thanks to all of the above mentioned products and the project web-site we will reach pupils, teachers, local communities and general public.

Our project will contribute to better mutual understanding between people from different cultural, educational and social backgrounds. in this way, we can love and respect each other without becoming one another…for a better school life…for a better social life…for a better world.

Coordinating school

I Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Gorzow Wlkp is a comprehensive secondary school that provides education to about 700 students aged 16-19 and employs about 50 teachers, including 12 teachers of foreign languages. We would like to give our students a chance for further development of their cultural awareness, language skills and tolerance providing them with the opportunity to cooperate with students from other countries.

Our school offers high level of education to ambitious and diligent youth who are willing to get engaged in a number of national and international events. Sometimes, however, their participation in such events is impossible due to financial or social background. Listed below, you will find some of the events we are involved in: We hold our own MUN called PuszMUN – simulation of the UN session that gives students the ability to play the roles of representatives of different countries together with peers from Italy, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Belarus, Ukraine, working together to decide on the future of the world. • „Jugend debattiert international” competition.

The subject of the competition is debate in German about topics related to school, human rights, history and Europe. By dealing with relevant socio-political questions in a critical manner, Jugend debattiert international contributes to political education in the targeted Region. • Oxford Debate Tournament. The initiative aims to raise young people’s legal awareness and to develop their argumentative skills. Representatives of our school have repeatedly taken a top place in the tournament. • Annual UNESCO week. It’s a nearly forty-year- old tradition of artistic expression in a variety of fields.

UNESCO Days consist of a foreign song contest, foreign culinary competition,
Nations Ball and Science Day. We are convinced that participation of our students in the project will be beneficial both to our students and to the Project itself. The Headmaster (Ewa Szmit), and two English teachers (Iryna Polikowska, Anna Korytowska) will be the key people in charge of runnıng the
project in the school. If they leave their post in the future, the people who will take their position will go on being the key people in charge of running the project.

Our experience in the events mentioned before will definitely be useful. High level of foreign languages is a strong asset of our school. With12
teachers of foreign languages (English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian), supported by other ambitious and willing to cooperate members of staff, we are a strong and reliable team, ready to meet the challenges of the project.

Faik Şahenk Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi

School is located in Niğde, which is a city in the middle of Turkey. It was built in 1997 as a Vocational and Technical High School .The headmaster of theschool is Süleyman Sırrı Delice and the head assistants are Mahmut Koyuncu, Murat Sayğı, Yunus Çekiç and Yunus Kızıl. Students’ ages range from 14 to 18, and it consists of three departments. In the Construction Department, there are 4 teachers and 98 students.

In the Electrical-Electronics Department , there are 7 teachers and 120 students. In the ICT department, there are four teachers and 104 students. Besides that, there are Compulsory/Optional Subject teachers and 167 students who to the 9th grade and haven’t chosen their departments. Most of the students come from the rural areas and stay at the dormitory of the school. Faik Şahenk Vocational and Technical High School has created a School Development and Management Team, and it is formed of 20 teachers.

In the project team, there are the headmaster, the head assistants, the counsellor, the chef of the Construction Department, the chef of the Electrical-Electronics Department, the chef of the ICT Department, the head of the foreign languages and 10 other teachers. The succes rate of our school has been decreasing deeply; only 7 students could go to the faculties because of some problems.

The most important reason is that there are students from different countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, etc…, and they face some social problems. Also, majority of our students come from the rural areas of our city, and they are economically, emotionally and socially deprived students. So, we have decided to take part in an Erasmus Project whose subject is culture and whose aim is cultural tolerance. In this way, we can replace the culture of war with a culture of peace. As a result of it , they can feel themselves to be a part of a comprehensible and harmonious school and social life.

The headmaster- Süleyman Sırrı Delice, the chef of Electrical-Electronics Department -Ramazan Alıcı, the chef of ICT department-Mahmut Eren, the drama teacher-Pınar Arslan, The chef of the Foreign Languages-Naibe Funda Dost will be the key people in charge of running the project in our school.In case these people leave their post in the future, their assistants will take over our roles. As the chief of the Electricial-Electronics Department -Ramazan Alıcı and the head of the foreign languages – Naibe Funda Dost are experienced in Comenius and Erasmus projects in their previous schools and most of the teachers did their postgraduate , they can contribute a lot to the project activities.

„Aurel Vlaicu” Technological High School of Lugoj

Our high school is a VET school unit: „Aurel Vlaicu” Technological High School of Lugoj, out of the 767 students, more than half come from rural areas around Lugoj. The school is fully equipped for the areas it offers with laboratories where students aged 14-19 in all areas of the school receive appropriate training through VET training- Economic, Mechanical / Automotive, Commerce, Electrotechnics / Electronics so that after graduation they will be able to practice the profession their success, integrate into society and be productive to help boost the local economy. The qualifications of our school are accredited by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education, the school is oriented towards achieving the results in relation to the objectives of the educational quality according to the European standards.

Our school is the birthplace of future craftsmen, the current generations of students, specializing in the crafts trained on the industrial platform of the city with many multinational enterprises. Local companies and communities offer quality VET training, development and consulting services that take into account the confessional multitude of the city. Our pupils’ needs revolve sooner or later towards the development of VET professional skills, knowledge and aspirations. The dynamics of our school’s development reflects a medium and long-term strategy and is illustrated by the development of modern and modern school laboratories and workshops from the local and European community funds to cover the specializations offered by the school to future entrepreneurs. With the help of the local community, our school benefited from modern facilities for the mechanical and electrical engineering workshops.

Our school takes care of the future of our students, and in this respect students prepare themselves on the industrial platform of the city, at the economic agents in partnership with the school, and give students access to direct knowledge in their jobs. The best of our students, with good learning outcomes and practice, are then hired to these businesses and bring added value to the school and local community.

Our school has 60 teachers, of whom 30% are engineers, foremen economist and instructor, most teachers with professional experience, with numerous courses completed, degrees in pedagogy and teaching in their core profession. – „Erasmus +” experience, – „Youth in Action” experience, – „Comenius” experience -project manager educational projects -Committee for Quality Assurance in school -member Board of Directors of the school, – Member of the internal management control, Responsible teachers with pedagogical training debutante – Member of the committee drafting PAS, PRAI, Rules of procedure of the school unit -expert in German educational model, – provider of online courses in English, -experience inspector human resources.So, we can contribute a lot to the project.

I.I.S. “A. Meucci” is an Upper Secondary Public School

I.I.S. “A. Meucci” is an Upper Secondary Public School with a long-established tradition in the territory. The school is made up of two articulations: Technical and “Liceo delle scienze applicate”. The technical branch has got the following courses: electronics and electrotechnics, mechanics and mechatronics, informatics and telecommunications, planning and environment, finance administration and marketing. Our Liceo focuses on the study of biology, chemistry and physics. Both the articulations provide the students with a good general knowledge. The school takes part in both local and national projects on the environment, recycling, and human rights. Our staff is made up of dynamic and creative people who firmly believe in cultural diversity and respecting nature. The people involved in the project have a strong European educational background and are willing to embark on a cross cultural journey. We have got a good command of the English language, some of us also speak a second language, such as french, spanish and german. We have good technology skills. Our Students’ age ranges from 14 to 19. We strongly believe in the importance of European citizenship, diversity, inclusion and sharing! We would like our students to be real European citizens able to welcome different cultures, ways of life, traditions, religions. We are firmly convinced that this ErasmusPlus project is a concrete opportunity to broaden students’ minds, to make them experience real exchanges. The Headmaster of the school and the English teacher-Alessandra Mazzi will be in charge of running the project in our school. In case these people leave their post in the future, the new headmaster and the English teacher-Maurizia Padolecchiawill take over their roles. Our school has never experienced any ErasmusPlus projects, neither has Miss Padolecchia. On the other hand, Mrs. Mazzi has worked with another school on an ErasmusPlus project on culture. So, we will learn more about the Erasmus projects.

The mission of Agrupamento de Escolas Augusto Cabrita is to focus in learning of all students from different grades from our schools.We are a group of schools comprising schools, from kindergarden to high school. We involve pupils in European projects, especially high school or vocational education and pupils in the last years of primary school, usually the ninth year. Our school aims at the good school results of the students that come from very diverse households, in terms of socio-economic, socio-cultural origin. In recent years we had got students from the eastern countries, from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea, Brazil), India, China and others. Our concern is to be able to work towards the success of our students regardless of their origins, avoiding dropping out of school.

Our school is a public school integrated in the district of Setubal, Barreiro county, on the left bank of the river Tagus. The town has fast connection to the city of Lisbon using the ferry. Our headquarters are located at the Secondary School Augusto Cabrita. Our concern is to train students in all dimensions not only giving them a solid academic background to be responsible future citizens. Our school has courses in the areas of management, marketing and advertising, computer science and programming, electronics and robotics, tourism and sports management.

We have had good results in the different courses in participating in national competitions and in sports competitions. The group of schools as a whole has about 200 teachers and 2100 students at different levels of education. We are a regular and professional school that seeks to meet the training needs of students in the place where we are inserted. Our school is one in our municipality that accepts students with problems of mobility and some with cognitive problems.

The support of this students to develop them skills preparing them to the work market. ESAC school has some experience about national and international project work and it has run some international projects successfully. The students come from a low social family context (often with economic problems due to unemployment) and they are not always motivated to study. They would like to work out often they lack of motivation in learning. This project is important to open minds and contact with other cultures, learning to be more tolerant with others, to motivate them for study. The staff has been taking part in European projects like Comenius, Leonardo and Erasmus+ for 11 years. They are are good at applying technologies to the classes in any subject using ICT, we can use magic boards for some classes. We have experts in ICT and electronics for example that are pioneers and some specific areas. We have also good labs and good staff in biology, chemistry and also in economics, management, languages like Spanish, English and French and in computer sciences in networking and programming languages.

Agrupamento de Escolas Augusto Cabrita

The mission of Agrupamento de Escolas Augusto Cabrita is to focus in learning of all students from different grades from our schools.We are a group of schools comprising schools, from kindergarden to high school. We involve pupils in European projects, especially high school or vocational education and pupils in the last years of primary school, usually the ninth year. Our school aims at the good school results of the students that come from very diverse households, in terms of socio-economic, socio-cultural origin. In recent years we had got students from the eastern countries, from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea, Brazil), India, China and others. Our concern is to be able to work towards the success of our students regardless of their origins, avoiding dropping out of school.

Our school is a public school integrated in the district of Setubal, Barreiro county, on the left bank of the river Tagus. The town has fast connection to the city of Lisbon using the ferry. Our headquarters are located at the Secondary School Augusto Cabrita. Our concern is to train students in all dimensions not only giving them a solid academic background to be responsible future citizens. Our school has courses in the areas of management, markting and advertising, computer science and programming, electronics and robotics, tourism and sports management.

We have had good results in the different courses in participating in national competitions and in sports competitions. The group of schools as a whole has about 200 teachers and 2100 students at different levels of education. We are a regular and professional school that seeks to meet the training needs of students in the place where we are inserted. Our school is one in our municipality that accepts students with problems of mobility and some with cognitive problems.

The support of this students to develop them skills preparing them to the work market. ESAC school has some experience about national and international project work and it has run some international projects successfully. The students come from a low social family context (often with economic problems due to unemployment) and they are not always motivated to study. They would like to work out often they lack of motivation in learning. This project is important to open minds and contact with other cultures, learning to be more tolerant with others, to motivate them for study. The staff has been taking part in European projects like Comenius, Leonardo and Erasmus+ for 11 years. They are are good at applying technologies to the classes in any subject using ICT, we can use magic boards for some classes. We have experts in ICT and electronics for example that are pioneers and some specific areas. We have also good labs and good staff in biology, chemistry and also in economics, management, languages like Spanish, English and French and in computer sciences in networking and programming languages.