PROJECT

There has been a long debate about the vital role of a tight connection of non-formal and formal education in Life Long Learning. Most specialists emphasize the importance of such a strong link for the development of the students’ expertise competencies and abilities. Moreover, it is not enough to support such an evolution but we need to encourage the development of social, method and individual competences, in order to enable the students to achieve leadership skills for them to be successful on a European level. In this respect a tight link of formal and non-formal education should become an important complementary part of each school’s educational offer. Therefore it is our aim to offer a well-structured frame of national and European cooperation, which could become a model for other European schools. At present many European schools are confronted with problems such as students losing interest in education, students’ low self-esteem and isolation and a lack of motivation to attend school, all in parts due to consequences of the economic recession. We assume that including such students in curricular and extracurricular activities, along with motivated ones, will bring about positive changes in their attitude and in their motivation. This will be achieved by including aspects of non-formal and formal education in both curricular and extracurricular activities. The latter will be especially supported by the project’s structure (see below: “school / students clubs”). At the same time, as many of the partner schools in our project are vocational, the planned activities will bring about a broadening of options in job orientation and more flexibility on the job market and their private life.

We also have our students’ growing awareness in mind that they belong to a certain community in terms of values, environment, traditions, etc. but, at the same time, to a broader European community, as European citizens. So, ‘getting to know each other’, finding common interests, discovering various other backgrounds, both through electronic and direct communication, can bring about beneficial changes in the students’ personal development. The European cooperation in the project as an extra-curricular activity as well as being integrated in the regular lessons as a new methodology and didactic model will motivate students and support them in developing skills and abilities. The idea of our project comes from the necessity of offering our students curricular activities complementary extracurricular activities, with a special emphasis on developing their various skills, on also giving chances to ‘underprivileged’ students and diminishing exclusion, drop-out rates and lack of school appetite and give them the chance to discover and unfold their diverse intercultural skills.

Activities will be conducted through International Students Clubs