Germany: Gertrud-Koch-Gesamtschule
Gertrud-Koch-Gesamtschule is a secondary school situated in Troisdorf. At this point in time, we have 90 teachers and 937 students. Given that students can achieve different graduations, we are focused on self-determined and individual forms of learning such as learning plans that allow our students not only to get more and more independent learners but also to work on the level depending on the competences and needs.
We are a all-day school that understands itself as a living space for all participants. So we are offering a variety of working groups like „school without racism, school with courage“ (a group looking into the subject of equality), „rainbow“ (against homophobia), „garden“ (sustainibility), „DELF“ and „DELE“ (french and spanish language certificates), etc. Foreign languages taught at our school are English, French and Spanish.
Hungary: BGeSZC
BGeSZC Öveges József Secondary Technical Grammar and Vocational School teaches and trains technical VET trainings, remedial education and adult trainings. This school year we have got 90 teachers and VET trainers for 806 students. Our VET programs are electrician, mechanic on lathe/grinder, mechanic on steam/air conditioning supplies and motorcycle mechanic with European standards for the claims of the labour market and on the long term view of lifelong learning, keeping contact between education and labour market, offering strong training and career guidance. One part of our students has learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia etc.), and a huge part of them is socially disadventaged.
Our VET programs are electrician, mechanic on lathe/grinder, mechanic on steam/air conditioning supplies and motorcycle mechanic with European standards for the claims of the labour market and on the long term view of lifelong learning, keeping contact between education and labour market offering strong training, career guidance and counseling system.
We are interested in participating at the Erasmus+ programmes. We are looking for schools that would be partner with us on a project whose objective is the prevention of students’ dropping out of school due to lack of motivation and low self-esteem. Our aim is to make students feel better and more rewarded through the acquisition of strategies which would help them deal with everyday life events inside and outside the secondary school or VET training.
In addition to the cross-border native Hungarian-language schools we develop partnerships with other European education, vocational training and labour market partners, educational, non-profit and for-profit organizations and companies in various countries and language areas of the European Union. Our teachers and trainers have participated at international methodological training courses attended in Leonardo I, Leonardo II, CEDEFOP Study Visit, CalDys2 programs by individual and institutional applications. During shorter and longer study visits and exchanges of experiences and teaching and learning methodologies, guidance of good practices in using of new educational equipments (IT, Internet, etc.) we have gained theoretical and practical knowledges. These are very useful for us in life-long learning and VET methods in our daily work.
Our guidance activity help our special students during lessons and factory visits contribute to issues of their further education, higher education or secondary and higher vocational training opportunities.
We have plenty of partnerships of VET institutions in international and national producer companies during career guidance as trips at Győr Audi, Kecskemét Mercedes, Százhalombatta MOL, Paks Nuclear Power Plant, MÁV, BKV, PEMÜ, ELMÜ, ÉMÁSZ etc. Our plan under Erasmus+ program is to involve our project partners for this network.
Developing a strong interest for the new European approach of learning and teaching/training represents for our Vocational Centre. We have tought and trained students with learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and memory deficit disorder etc.) for more than 20 years. Our teachers and trainers supported by European projects have developed methods for their special needs: verbal based language learning especially in VET professional vocabulary, practical methodological presentations and peer-demonstrator programs. These represent general enrichings of the implied cultural and social values which support our students’ special needs. Our teaching methods mean innovative European educational systems which we are ready to share in Erasmus+ project with our partners.
Portugal: Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves
Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves is a secondary school, situated in Vila Nova de Gaia municipality, in the Southern suburbs of Porto. It’s attended by 1722 students, aged between 12 and 18. There are 141 teachers, most of them (83%) having at least ten years of teaching practice in the school. The school offers a variety of courses, from general secondary studies, aimed to prepare for higher education, to vocational/professional courses in partnership with local and regional economic tissue, aimed to offer suitable training and qualifications for the job market.
The school works hard to maintain a healthy and collaborative social environment among students, staff, parents, and stakeholders. There is a scheme, involving students, for older students who volunteer to help their younger schoolmates to achieve a better learning. Continuous improvement and integration are the key to match the diversity and promote equal opportunities for all students. The school work is continuously evaluated through its Quality Observatory (an all-school evaluation project). All the team members have the necessary knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to meet the requirements of the projects, its management and implementation. Most of the teachers have been working with Erasmus+ and eTwinning within the last few years.
Getting involved in European projects is really important for us, because it encourages our students to study and use a foreign language and new technologies in order to be able to cope with what our society will request them in the future.
The school has many European projects Erasmus+ and eTwinning. We are also an eTwinning School and we received the label school for the project „Every day is earth day“, which aim is make students aware of the importance of saving the planet.
Spain:
The school is situated in the southern Spain in a touristic and historical city of 350 000 inhabitants: Granada.
GRANADA
Granada is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and the Beiro. Ascribed to the Vega de Granada comarca, the city sits at an average elevation of 738 m (2,421 ft) above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held.
THE ALHAMBRA
The Alhambra, an Arab citadel and palace, is located in Granada. It is the most renowned building of the Islamic historical legacy with its many cultural attractions and architectural elements that make Granada a popular destination among the tourist cities of Spain. The Almohad influence on architecture is also preserved in the Granada neighborhood called the Albaicín with its fine examples of Moorish and Morisco construction
THE SCHOOL
The majority of th students belong to middle class, most of the parents work in the service sector. It is a private catholic school which receives a state subsidy, belonging to the regional government. The school provides nursery, primary and secondary education to our students. It has got two lines of each level with approximately 50 students at each level. In total there are 750 students and 50 teachers. The pupils start school at the age of three and finish it at 16. Most of them are Spanish although there are some immigrants too. The school has other classrooms where children with special needs attend regularly. Parents are quite involved in school life and they take part in all important decisions and celebrations at school.
Turkey (Çorum):
Mehmetçik Anadolu Lisesi
Mehmetçik Anadolu Lisesi was founded in 2001 in Çorum,Turkey.It is located in the city center. It is an urban school that focuses on increasing students’ academic achievement.The school is staffed by 70 teachers and 8 cleaning staff. There are almost 1300 students aged from 14 to 18.The school provides a good learning and teaching environment which helps all the students to achieve their goals for their future and develop a positive attitude towards society.We value:
*showing respect for cultural and personal diversities,
*developing responsibility for our own knowledge and achievement,
*creativity,critical thinking and a lifelong passion for learning,
*the acts of compassion and generosity of spirit to create a better world in terms of peace in the world and environmental issues.
As a school,our main purpose is to prepare students for admission to highly competitive colleges for a wide range of careers in the fields of art,science and foreign languages.We have different kinds of students regarding their social backgrounds and characters.Most students demonstrate inadequate educational backgrounds and lower social classes derived from a parental occupation.We have courses entitled “Education for Citizenship and Human Rights”,where students can reflect on subjects such as human rights,the emancipation of women and democracy.They work in groups,do researches about the topics and create intellectual outputs;We have some immigrant students especially girls in the school and try to involve them in all sorts of activities to make them discover different cultures and ways of thinking.Taking part in our Erasmus+ cultural projects is a great opportunity for them to cooperate with students from different countries.We also try to involve these students in our extra-curricular activities to give them responsibility and teach them living in harmony and peace.
Our school (mehmetçik Anadolu Lisesi) has always tried to make students be aware of the importance of gender equality at school and in their personal life. As students do not only learn at school, every teacher usually encourages students to understand that equality is not a matter of adult people, but teenagers must be concerned about it. In our team, some teachers give courses titled “Ethical and Civic Education”. The contents are usually connected with history, sociology or philosophy. The lessons are usually designed to make students reflect on subjects such as: Human Rights, the emancipation of women, global problems, democracy…etc. Furthermore, these courses consist of lessons aimed at working in groups, research on the topics, and create intellectual outputs.
On the other hand, day by day our educative community encourages positive attitudes towards this subject: every lesson, extracurricular activity, celebration… is focused on all students who are considered to be different from each other, but all of them have the same rights and obligations. As I said earlier, we have a multicultural project, and gender equality is one of our main concerns. Nowadays there is a controversial situation in Turkey, because governors, institutions and citizens are giving important steps towards the improvement our society and consolidate gender equality while statistics show that deaths of women due to gender violence are increasing. This is why our Orientation Department is always paying attention to any gender violence attempt together with teachers, parents and all our educative community.
Moreover, For the last years our country has integrated students who are migrants mostly from Balcan countries. We have many migrant students in the school. Our school is trying to involve the students in all sorts of activities that could motivate them and give them the chance to know different cultures and ways of thinking. Erasmus projects are a great opportunity for these students to cooperate with students from different countries and learn by doing. The school is involved in different cultural and environmental projects every year.
As a school,we also cooperate with ART Bridges which is a volunteer, not profit organization offering a creative,intercultural platform for refugee children and young adults through music and art. Our theatre club of the school provides students the opportunity to experience live theatre and participate in drama.Especially , we chose immigrant or problem students for our plays to give them responsibility and teach them living in a harmony and peace.
In our school there is a theatre festivals icluding dances and orchestra running every year. We have teachers who teach students in extra curricular time (afternoon). At the end of the year our students perform a classical drama. Our school has been running 1 Comenius and 28 Erasmus + projects so far.Our initiative of taking part in Erasmus+ project is fed by our past social projects we actively participated because our students are now more experienced and enthusiastic about projects.
We try to increase students’ interest and motivation to learn technical subjects, by giving the opportunity to take part in workshops and by visiting technical museums. Most of our school trip and excursions are aimed at discovering the historical and cultural heritage of our region.We are delighted at the opportunity to work on the theme of European values in partnership with schools and NGOs.
Turkey (Kocaeli): DARICA NEŞET YALÇIN ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL
Neşet Yalçın Antolian High School (NYAL) was established in a small town, Darıca, Kocaeli in 1993. It is a state school which has 763 students aged 14-18, 40 teachers and 3 school managers. NYAL has different departments such as science, mathematics, literature, language, art and sport.
The area that the school is located is one of the most industrialized in the country. For that reason, it’s getting immigration from different parts of Turkey. That makes NYAL and nearby schools have students with low socio-economic families as most of them work in factories.
Erasmus + Projects:
Our school completed an Erasmus+ project about Cyber bullying. Thanks to this project, we are able to minimize a big problem that our students face due to their frequent and unconsciousness usage of internet. Also, the interests of students have increased for language and European culture.
NYAL is running two projects at the moment. One of them is Virtual Classroom which will be carried out between 2019-2022. Working on a new project about ICT tools creating a virtual classroom is helping us motivate students and teachers for the use of good practices of ICT tools in education. Thanks to this project, we will be able to increase awareness about ICT tools, benefit from technology in education, have interactive courses with European partners simultaneously, learn different cultures, improve language skills and minimize the threats of internet turning it into a very strong education tool.
The newest project of our school is about Active Citizenship. This project will last till September, 2022. It aims to help especially students to become active, responsible individuals in their communities. Democracy consciousness of students will increase thanks to this project.
Website:
http://neset.meb.k12.tr/
Address:
Emek Mah. Ahmet Rasim Cad. Kemal Sk. Nu.3 41700 Darıca-Kocaeli/Turkey
Telephone:
+902626559787