Secondary School Angel Karaliychev, Strazhitsa, Bulgaria
Secondary School Angel Karaliychev is the largest school in Municipality of Strazhitsa. It hosts students aged 7-19 not only from the town but also from the surrounding villages. The number of students is around 520 and the staff is 82. The school focuses on delivering lessons in general subjects thus allowing its students to prepare for applying to Bulgarian universities. It has introduced a couple of new profiles in its curriculum- Social studies and Entrepreneurship with enhanced learning of English and a vocational one - Bakery. It offers well-equipped classrooms as well as 6 computer labs with Internet connection. There is a large sports hall hosting different competitions and tournament on local, regional and national level. Secondary school Angel Karaliychev has experience in Comenius and Erasmus+ projects both as a coordinator and partner. It has been working on several national programmes of the Ministry of Education focused on supporting talented students and underachieving students. It has also been working with an NGO aiming to support Roma students (students from ethnical minorities) to pass the final exams successfully and to be integrated in the school life. In addition, the school has a working student council which takes an active part in decision making process related to the school life.
Joining the project will help the school build key competencies, and provide students with practical skills in creating a student run company and online shop, principles of holistic management and organic farming thus allowing them to experience the real-world life. Students need to enhance the development of their transversal skills necessary for a successful career start. Working in an international environment will have a positive impact on their self-esteem and will create useful links between participating organizations.
Being experienced in entrepreneurship education and bakery, Secondary school Angel Karaliychev will offer practical workshops on leadership and teambuilding as well as traditional Bulgarian cuisine.
People who will be actively involved in the project belong to the management department, Accountancy department, IT department and Foreign languages department. The key people involved will be: 1. Zdravka Kostova- English teacher and coordinator of the project 2. Tsvetanka Zaharieva- Deputy Director, responsible for the logistics and financial control 3. Petya Kalcheva Deputy Director and Geography teacher and Pepa Trashlieva Geography teacher experienced in the entrepreneurial education 4. Ivanka Vasileva- vocational teacher 5. Milena Petrova- English teacher, experienced in Comenius and Erasmus+ projects 6. Milko Kolev-IT teacher, experienced in creating supporting websites. In case these people leave, their places will be taken over by their substitutes after a period of training.
Ogres Tehnikums, Ogre, Latvia
Ogre Technical school (hereinafter—OT) is located in Ogre, Latvia, 40 km from the capital city, Riga. As of 1st September 2013, OT has obtained the status of a Vocational Education Competence Centre. OT offers nineteen secondary vocational education programmes in such areas as forestry, wood technology, electronics, tourism and leisure organization, food technology, textile production, art (creative industries), computer science, administrative work, catering services. Currently, OT has 1118 students (16—20 years old) and there are 104 teachers and 49 support staff.
OT is putting in a lot of effort in internationalisation of the school. To achieve this, a new Internationalisation Strategy has been developed. To expand the international experience, OT has involved itself very actively in the EU project implementation: overall, more than 40 projects have been carried out so far (Erasmus+, ESF, ERDF, and the climate change financial instrument, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig, and International Programmes for Youth). With Lifelong learning programmes, OT is working in two directions. First, it provides learners the chance to practice and second, it offers the teachers from OT and other Latvian vocational schools to gain experience outside Latvia, thus improving the content of curriculum, developing guidance material, creating an advanced learning environment and raising the prestige of vocational education. Since 2011, more than 400 international mobilities have been implemented.
OT supports innovations related to the improvement of the study process, promotes mutually beneficial rapport between students and teachers in their cooperation, and actively seeks opportunities to develop a great cooperation between students and entrepreneurs.
OT implements work-based learning in 8 educational programmes; up until now, 300 students and 110 companies have been involved in work-based learning.
In 2017 Career Education Centre has been established for the implementation of career events in OT, which organize various activities, provide career education to OT students and inform about the opportunities in OT to others, covering the whole Latvia. Also, in 2020, OT is accredited to implement the International Baccalaureate Carrere Related programme in line with its Internationalisation Strategy.
OT on December 28, 2015 certified according to ISO standard 9001: 2015 in scope - development and implementation of vocational secondary education and lifelong learning programmes, vocational education competence centre function assurance.
Tamsalu Gymnasium, Tamsalu, Estonia
Tamsalu Gymnasium is a comprehensive secondary school in North Estonia. At present there are 356 students (aged 7-19) and 38 members of staff. The school is situated in a small-town and surrounded by a rural area.
The curriculum of our school focuses on subjects such as foreign languages (English, Russian, and German ), Art, Music, History, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Physical Education, Maths, the Estonian language and literature, Psychology( Human Studies, Family Studies), Technical Drawing, Civics and Citizenship Education, Career Education, Economic and Business Studies, National Defence, Global Education. In grade 11 the students have to do a research project. In preparation of this project in grade 10 all students follow a course fixed in our curriculum called Bases of Inquiry.
After graduating, a lot of our students have successfully continued their studies at different universities in Estonia.
The school has started to improve the use of ICT by purchasing tablets and laptops for classroom use and upgrading the wi-fi coverage. The teachers have been attending courses on ICT and the use of computers in teaching. The teachers are open to new ideas and try to apply the ideas learnt in their teaching.
A number of students in the school catchment area are bilingual, which means they speak Russian as their mother tongue and use Estonian as the language of communication and instruction at school. There are about 12 students with special educational needs at our school and they are given instruction based on their needs and abilities.
The previous projects have had a huge impact on such areas as students' self-esteem, attendance, academic progress and motivation. It has been a valuable learning experience. Contacts, especially with students all over Europe are very important to broaden their horizons not only by television or the Internet but by personal contact and raise their awareness of European citizenship. That's the reason Tamsalu Gymnasium considers participation in international European projects like this highly relevant.
The key people will be teachers of English, Estonian, music, art, home economics, health education, maths, physics, ICT and history. In case the coordinator leaves, the team will reconsider the roles and there will be enough teachers to take over the role. For example, the teacher of maths or English, who have been attending courses and projects concerning the different topics. The teachers are all ready to participate in the project and have done that during the previous international projects.
Tamsalu Gymnasium has participated in Erasmus+ projects “Young Entrepreneurs – Learning by Experience”, “Integration of New Technologies into Classroom”. At present we are involved in KA2 and 1 KA1 projects. We have a project core team of 10 teachers who are the leaders and run the project activities. The school secretary also has an active role in organisational work.
Namik Kemal Anadolu Lisesi, Samsun, Turkey
Namık Kemal Anadolu Lisesi is a general secondary school which was founded in 1956. It has 70 teachers and 920 students (aged 14-18). It teaches English and German along with other subjects such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, History, ITC, PE. Each classroom has an interactive board and an internet connection. Teachers and students mainly use EBA portal (Education Information Network), interactive educational materials, social media tools during the lessons.
As the world continues to change the face of business change as well. But our education system can’t keep up with the way the world and business are progressing and innovating. What we taught in our school is still an old way of thinking. We have to promote our students to try new things. Many people spend ever-increasing amounts of time on the internet. They offer their products and services online. With the help of the project, our students can learn how to run their own company using social media. They will also try to produce materials to sell. So, they can realize their talents, potentials, passions and the entrepreneurial spirits they have inside them. There are five partner school from different countries in the project. It means that our students can learn about new cultures, new knowledge and new ideas. They can expand their perspectives. They will take the first step to become young entrepreneurs.
During the project we are planning to grow organic vegetables in our school garden, to make souvenirs during our Visual Arts lessons and to do handmade items and sell them through a web site designed by students themselves. At this point our school has lots of facilities such as a workroom for visual art, a big garden surrounding our school and some teachers and students with various skills, eagerness to be able to deal with such a project. Moreover, we have an ITC teacher and some students who are good at using technology which will help us make the most of the Net. We have strong connections with the local university that will help us in executing the project at a scientific level.
Our Foreign Language teachers İbrahim Altuntaş (he is also deputy manager), Visual Art teacher and ICT teacher will be the key people in charge of running the project in our school.
In case these persons leave their post in the future Our Foreign Language teacher and Erasmus project coordinator Selin Ak Tezgören and our maths teachers who are also good at ICT will be the key people.
Our project coordinator İbrahim ALTUNTAŞ is experienced in eTwinning and Erasmus plus projects (KA229 and KA101). Our Visual art teachers took part in many eTwinning projects. Our Maths teachers and IT teacher have expertise in coding, creating web sites. Also, our director Cengiz ÇETİNKAYA has been involved in many Erasmus plus projects.
Liceul Teoretic Mircea Eliade - Scoala Gimnaziala Nr 2 Lupeni, Lupeni, Romania
Lupeni is a municipality in the county of Hunedoara, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 23,390 inhabitants and it is a disadvantaged area with a high level of unemployment, economically and socially isolated. Theoretical High School “Mircea Eliade” – Junior High School Number 2 Lupeni is an institution of primary and secondary education with recognition at local, county and even higher level. The number of students is 550 aged between 6 and 15 with a total of 40 teachers and 10 nonteaching and support staff. Our goal is to improve the communication skills of our students, to share and learn many things together with our partners from the countries of Europe. Our school has been involved in several eTwinning, Comenius and Erasmus+ projects in the past. We are currently involved in an Erasmus+ project that started in September 2017. The students and the teachers in our school have gained a lot of experience and want to be involved in different projects. Our school is proud of international projects with partner schools from Spain, Poland, Latvia, Turkey, England, Italy, Wales, Germany, France. The key persons involved in this project are experienced and trained in European Project Management and are part of the management team: 1. Mrs. Mester Diana, the
deputy headmistress of our school, is experienced in European projects and supports the internationalization of the school and this project as well. 2. The contact person and the coordinator of this project in our school, Mrs. Stefanescu Diana is a language teacher responsible for the commission of international projects in our school and methodologist in European projects of the County School Inspectorate. 3. Mrs. Bozea Violeta, English teacher and coordinator of an on-going
Erasmus project in our school, is also the president of the commission for educational projects and programmes in our school. 4. Mr. Stefanescu Codrin, Geography teacher, has practical experience both in project writing and in implementation of Erasmus projects. 5. Mrs. Harangus Violeta, primary school teacher, has experience in European projects, especially in e-Twinning projects. There are more teachers in the project team who will help implement this project: Traicu Gheorghita (Mathematics and Informatics teacher), Nicolaescu Alina (Mathematics and Informatics teacher), Kasza Maria (Technology and Informatics teacher), Ponyori Nicolae (Religion teacher), Negura Stela (English teacher), Miclea Lidia (primary school teacher), Mihaiasa Maria (school counselor). It is very important for our school to share experience with schools from different countries, because we can learn from each other and share European values, which make us better people and European citizens.
