Development and Implementation of Innovative Methods of Teaching Math, Science and languages in the Multicultural European Classroom to Increase Student Literacy and Prevent Early School Leaving 

2015 - 1 - LV01 - KA219 - 013422_1

Project Report

Project Title:

Development and Implementation of Innovative Methods of Teaching Maths, Science and languages in the Multicultural European Classroom to Increase Student Literacy and Prevent Early School Leaving.

The aim

Of the project was: Exploration of teaching tools and social innovations that will support low achievers,immigrants and multiculturalism in the European classroom and prevent early school leaving.

Objectives of the project:

• To investigate the ethnic composition, students learning success of partner schools in Portugal, Cyprus,Germany, Iceland, Croatia and Latvia and the problems/difficulties that lead immigrants, Roma and other low achievers to early school leaving

• To develop, implement and share innovative methods

• To encourage students to view language literacy as being useful to all citizens and thus enhance literacy and increase the number of students who acquire compulsory education successfully.

• To elaborate ICT learning and teaching tools : CD - ROMs with virtual excursions, GPRS maps, mobile phone applications for Maths, Science and language lessons

The teachers from six participating countries Portugal, Croatia, Iceland, Germany, Cyprus and Latvia participated in the project. The participating schools were represented by teachers of Maths,Science and languages (Germany, Cyprus),Science, History (Iceland,Croatia,Portugal), foreign and schooling languages (Latvia) .Through this project participants  motivated students to finish school successfully,  enhanced  their motivation,tolerance and inter - cultural competences.

The reason why schools decided to participate in this project is that the staff of the schools every day deals with the issue of integration of children from immigrants' and Roma families into school society and their low achievements. The project deals with the common problem : a lack of motivation, low achievements and as a result early school leaving.

We started this project with the question why it happened.First, the Project participants held studies at their schools, which helped to understand the reasons of such  situations and their concequences .They did researches on their country’s history -  and learnt why and where from the migrants came . Also the ethnical composition of schools was studied and student problems were definided and the ways to overcome them were tried to be found.

Using the innovative teaching strategies helped to increase the number of students who successfully finished school and continued education at tertiary level.Finally all participant schools did not have any early leaving or unsuccessful student from target groups.

Short description of the results :

The outputs -

 -  real examples of lessons, other activities plans, adaptable to different learning environments, tailored to the needs of different target audiences (teachers,parents, decision makers, learners)

 -  key findings from five researches/studies

 -  Video presentations

 -  Multicultural activities( history and culture of participating immigrant students through dances, music and food and language awareness of the spoken languages through quizzes and role plays)

 -  ICT tools -  virtual excursions, learning applications for mobile phones and other

Important outcomes expected in this project include the availability of lesson plans and resources for other teachers and increasing teachers professional competences.

The pedagogical staff of participating schools implemented, improved the resources in their everyday practice, disseminated among the colleagues. We believe it is crucially important to work in that direction because it encourages improvement of personal,professional and social competences of all participants.

During the project schools developed  and introduced new  learning methods that facilitated the students' ability to demonstrate their skills and knowledge,  promoted learning motivation improvement and helped students successfully complete school.

Project provided such activities as teacher exchanges and seminars, developing and approbation of lesson plans, studies, videoconferences, web cam on - line brodcasts from training to deseminate the tesults,short term trainings and creation of ICT tools. 

• Project Website: www.erasmus.pdps.lv   (at the moment more than 2050 unique visitors), where everyone can find all outputs of the project, such as:

• New methodologies/techniques (including in the ICT area)

• Training materials

• Reports/Newsletters from  training sessions

• Photos and videos

• Studies /reseaches

• Press articles

• Training programme

 The main outcomes of the project:

•   Exchange of ideas and good practices

•   Experience gained by individuals

•   Establishment of networks/ partnerships

•   Knowledge of teaching migrant students was shared and in all participant countries teachers know how to deal  with it

•   New better  ICT, English language and teaching skills were aquired by the participants

•   Cross - cultural dialogue and discussions about

Speaking about sustainbility of the Project, we can claim that through research and observation of different syllabus from different participating countries, one can get idejas and experience for designing better curricula for his country.

Therefore, firstly,we are going to keep in touch with the project participants in future. Secondly, we are going to add the priority of the project to the school vision and change our teachers' syllabuses including new approaches, project resources  and outputs aiming to bring multiculturalism in the classrooms and supporting low achievers and of course to implement them in everyday teaching practice . The pedagogical staff of participating schools intends to implement, improve the resources in their everyday practice, disseminate among the colleagues. For this purose a web cam translation of  the workshops for teachers and authorities of the city of Riga was held on the basis of Riga Pardaugava school devoted to the outcomes of the project.

 We believe it is crucially important to work in that direction because it encourages improvement of personal,professional and social competences of all participants . Furthermore, we believe that in future the society will be morevethnically diverted and we have to be ready to face and deal with new problems.

Furthermore, eTwinning platform was used to support the sustainability of the project : the information about the project, project portfolio.

Project Management

How satisfactorily is the ensemble of project partners contributing to the realisation of the project? Have the distribution of tasks been adjusted since the application?

Has any change in the composition of partners been deemed necessary (as already communicated to the NA), or is any change planned at this stage?

Besides the project management activities already described, what other activities have you carried out using the budget awarded for Project Management and Implementation?

We consider that Strategic Partnerships should involve the most appropriate and diverse range of partners in order to benefit from their different experiences, profiles and specific expertise and to produce relevant and high quality project results.

The participating schools of the project were:

Riga Pardaugava School (Latvia)

StädtischeAdolf - Reichwein - Gesamtschule (Germany);

Gymnasio Palouriotisisas (Cyprus);

Agrupamento Escola de Gala Nascente (Portugal);

Osnovna škola Marjan (Croatia);

Grunnskólinn á Îsafirði (Iceland)

The Project had the unique composition of participants  -  three participant schools are located in the political/cultural centers of their countries - Riga, Nicosia and Split. The other three schools represent the unique small town /villages environments .The schools in Portugal and

Iceland are located in the remote corners of Europe, therefore, the participating in the international projects is especially important for them in the sense of the European dimension.

 - Two organisations have never been involved in a similar project, furthermore, the only one has participated in Erasmus+,therefore, most of schools are newcomers and  gained the valuable experience of international cooperation.

 - The selected partners had similar problems in their schools and were searching for the best ways to solve them. All partners are active, willing to work and have common areas of interest simultaneously having a variety of approaches to teaching. The common areas of interest are multilingualism, multiculturalism, low achievement and early school leaving.

 - Latvia was the coordinator country. The coordinator  provided ready documents' flow to the partners. The Latvian partner was responsible for the designing, broadcasting and updating of the web site of the project.

During the project all participants had definite tasks. Some tasks were obligatory for each participant country : research on ethnic composition of schools, the research and input into the countries history and presenting education system of countries.

The second  part of tasks was the choice of participants. They  chose and methods according to their interests and possibilities,considering the aim and objectives of the project.

During the two years Project team strictly fullfilled the plan and did following activities:

Each partner was responsible for evaluating of the questionnaire results on their own .

Portugal  prepared the initial questionnaire that was applied to find out the ethnic composition and problems of the immigrants in the participant countries

All countries did Research/study on ethnic composition of schools and problems of immigrant

Different learner  -  centred, research and problem solving techniques were undertaken and evaluated - all countries did that

  Once the lessons and other activities were planned, they were conducted in the participating countries, (if it was possible,they were videotaped ),and evaluated for their instructional effectiveness - all countries

  Networking with educational specialists from universities, public organisations in Latvia and other participant countries were also being encouraged for intellectual support of the project gate  -  Latvia, Germany,Cyprus, Iceland did that.

  Feedback was exchanged between participating schools to improve the quality of the output. They informed the school about their findings by presenting brief descriptions using school magazine, web page and the notice boards.

  The German partner was responsible for preparation of the follow - up questionnaire.

  All participant countries took part in the Project "Chemistry through music".

Thus, a multilingval almanach of poems about chemical elements was created

  One of the outputs of the project was a newsletter. A standardized format, which partners from Cyprus  developed for all participants, was   used for the newsletter .Each school had a duty to write the articles for the newsletters and give the feedback.

  Each school was responsible for organizing the meetings and cultural activities, helping the partners find suitable accommodations and transportation within the local area and giving the other partners a chance to learn about the country and culture they are visiting. Partners, who hosted the project participants, prepared a reception with a great sense of responsibility, and exchange of experience takes place in a friendly atmosphere.

Thus, each partner was responsible for contribution and had equal responsibility in planning, initiating and implementation of the

The project group was characterized by such qualities as high degree of professionalism, initiative, sense of responsibility and friendly relations. There were not any changes among the Project partners and there were no any reason to introduce them.  

In general, the two years of the project took place in a friendly and creative atmosphere.

We believe that cooperation was successful  -  the tasks of the project   had been completed creatively and according to the plan.

Which activities and indicators of achievement (quantitative and qualitative) did you put in place in order to assess whether and to what extent did the project reach its objectives and results? How did you measure the level of success?   

The students' scores and assessment achievement were checked for each country by doing pre - tests, post - tests, analyses of learning results at the beginning and the end of the project. The  pupils involving in the project were asked to fill in an initial  -  questionnaire through which their motivation was monitored. During the project period there  a follow - up questionnaire as well. Some schools (Latvia) participated in PISA evaluation,where also students from target group (romas) participated.

The results  showed us that the aims of the partnership had been met and the expected impact had been achieved.

 -  Quantity analyses -  how many people participated, how active they were - the statistics of the project -  contact people are responsible

The quantative results of the Project:

How were the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the project monitored and evaluated (include budget control and time management)? Please mention the involved staff profiles and frequency of such activities

The quality of the project was assessed:

 - by analyses of the questionnaires for participants, which were  implemented after each transnational meeting and in the end of the project

 - by analyses of the questionnaires for students, before and after each implemented activity

 -  all the results were discussed e during transnational meeting

During transnational  meetings discussions were done to find out whether there are any halting points or not.

During each meeting participants of the project were reminded the objectives and tasks and were addressed to the project activities in the plan and the implementation of the tasks and progress according to plan was  monitored.

Futhermore the discussions ater each country’s presentation were held -  participants expressed their opinion about the usefullnes of the methods, possibibility to implement in their country

After each meeting, the evaluation took place  -  after Portugal and Germany visits the participants filled in a questionnaire online, but after Croatia,Cyprus, Iceland – in a free form expressed their views with the help of e - mails.

From the information obtained, we can conclude that the project went according to plan, the tasks were regularly carried out with enthusiasm at a high level.

All our finances were under control of the independent financial structure, we  wrote our reports on the completed activities.On the place, school heads take all funds under control. Headmasters/mistresses in most cases had the overall economic responsibility for implementation of the project.

If relevant, please describe any difficulties you have encountered in managing the implementation of the project and how you and your partners handled them. What measures were used to handle project risks (e.g. conflict resolution processes, etc.)?

Actually we prevented such situations at the preparatory stage - all participants have presented themselves and good relationships were established through common work on the project ideas. The preparation stage showed that the participants were very punctual and hardworking people and we  had no any conflict situations during the two years

5. Implementation

this section asks for information about all the stages of the project: implementation of main activities including practical arrangements, participants' profile, impact, dissemination of the results and future plans;

Please describe the activities organised by your project and elaborate on the methodology you applied. Please provide detailed information in particular about the project activities that were supported by the grant for Project Management and Implementation

How did the project partners contribute to the project? Please detail specific competences brought in by the partner organisations.

The participation of different organisations from six countries provides genuine added value to the project due their specificē skills.

 - For example, the Cyprus school teachers have special programmes for the newcomers where they offer support in Greek and Maths and use different approaches and extra curricular activities for students such as competitions, music events, theatre, art,voluntarism, visits to museums and other places of interest, therefore encourage immigrant s'students to be active members of their school community

 - The Portuguese school brings multilingualism and multiculturalism in their school through the European Club activities and using ICT.

 - The German school has got the following experience: lessons in a new subject called “language”, where the teachers try to enhance the linguistic competence in the German language of younger German and multicultural students, who often have difficulties in understanding texts/producing texts

The other participating countries also have their unique experience, which they shared.

 - The school from Iceland has a method to decrease early school leaving by working with the community. Students in danger of dropout get to work one day a week for a company they find interesting, for example: building society, play schools and grocery stores. They have changed teaching methods and use IT programs giving more opportunity to work with schools around Europe in diverse ways.

 - The teachers from Latvia school raise students tolerance, motivation and literacy through the special kinds of reading activities and literary tourism and using information technologies to increase students' motivation.

We think that the synergy of different experience and methods  enriched each participating school staff and promoted the European dimension.

This project combined Maths, Science and languages and deals not only with lessons but with outclass activities, social innovations and ICT as well. In particular, through this project we  fostered multidisciplinary and inter - disciplinary approaches;integrate the teaching of basic skills (Maths, Science and literacy); promote problem - based learning and fostered innovative approaches to teaching technology, aiming to prevent low achievements and early school leaving .

The uniqueness of the project is  that it includes 5 surveys, which will give the participants a possibility better understand the reasons and roots of the problems their scientific justification and the way where to go.

Everything our big team did, was much more that it was written in the application. All project participants turned the written words of it into interesting, useful activities, that changed the lives of many students, teachers and their schools.

What is your qualitative appreciation about the cooperation and communication between the partners and with other relevant stakeholders during the implementation of this project? What are the positive and negative elements of this cooperation process? What are the elements you would improve if you were to carry out a similar project in the future?

Connecting with the partners during the project  contributed to social cohesion.

Coming together with different cultures both abroad and at home  improved intercultural dialogue and active citizenship.

We realised that active citizenship,overcomed prejudices by cultural dialogue and awareness of equality contributed to personal fulfillment.

During the process of the project six meetings  fulfilled a face to face communication.

Several meetings with stakeholders: Parents Council, Student Council and methodic section leaders were undertaken.

What target groups were addressed in your activities plan? Were the target groups changed in comparison to the ones identified in the application form?

The main project beneficiaries are teachers, students of the participating schools, participant organisations, the education systems of the countries

  Teachers:

We consider this project was a kind of a teacher training for them, thus teachers improved their competences, gained new methods, know - how tools for everyday work

 - with the help of our project we improved the speaking skills of our staff in a foreign language and many of them got the motivation for learning a foreign language

  Our institutions :

 -  provide the education on higher level and in better quality

  Students:

 - We believe that broadmindedness of the educational staff against difference directly affects the broadmindedness of young people,the multiculturalism and multilingualism  became everyday practice in the classrooms .

Our schools needs  incorporated better European qualities in all aspects of our lives. We strongly

believe that by this project students and teachers will be much more motivated to learn foreign languages and increase their knowledge about other cultures

 - The learning motivation, achievements  increased, but number of those students who dropped out off school decrease

The communication with target groups was via:

•   attending workshops, seminars, sharing experience

•   familiarization with project resources via leaflets, newsletters

•   answering questionnaires, participating in researches

•   familiarization with the project resources, videos, photos via the Internet

•   giving expertise of the Project

•   being trainers for express in - service training

•   help in preparing videos, ICT tools and other resources, translations

5.2. Transnational Project Meetings

Please describe the Transnational Project Meetings organised within your project. What was the purpose and frequency of the transnational project meetings and who participated? Please elaborate how these meetings served the purpose of project coordination and implementation and in case there is a difference between what was planned and what was implemented, please explain why.

All transnational meetings were held according to the initial plan: in 2015./2016. three transnational meetings were held  -  in Portugal, Germany and Croatia.

In 2016/2017 school year we had two transnational meetings in Cyprus and Iceland and one short - term training event in Riga (Latvia)

Overall, speaking about the meetings, it is worth to highlight, that their aim was not only to coordinate the gate of the project.Actually, each project meeting was like a short - term learning - teaching event with wide sharing of experience, a lot of presentations of  completed work and discussions.A big part of school society in each country - teachers, students, parents, were involved in organisation of the meetings and participated in them.  In all countries participants were acquainted with the practical work which is carried out with refugees and migrants at schools, how the integration of pupils is carried out at school, in the community.

In Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Latvia and Iceland the project participants were met at municipality level by the Mayors of the cities, which proved the importance of the project for the community.

However the travelling of only two people from each country was funded by, the schools often found the opportunity to send  from three to five teachers to each meeting -  they were coordinators, headmasters, ITspecialists and teachers who actively participated in studies, elaborating of teaching tools.

Stage 1  -  September - October 2015.

Aim: To get acquainted with the educational system in Germany, Iceland, Portugal, Croatia, Cyprus and Latvia, to compare the curricula and standards of subjects.

Project participants prepared presentations. At the transnational meeting in October (22.10 - 24.10.15)  they were presented (national education standards, pupils' learning organization, school environment), it was obtained information on education systems in partner countries, discussed the differences and similarities of national education systems . Topic and the terms on which will continue to be worked on, were designed. The meeting also defined future strategies and terms. All partner schools have been given the task  -  to make study on students' national composition of students and migrant problem studies (up to February) and to conduct creative projects on the history of their country. Project participants had  also to set up profiles of e - Twinning and Google.

During the meeting the project participants closer acquainted with Agrupamento Escola de Gala Nascente, Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal), classrooms, laboratories, libraries, educational work at school, with teachers and support staff

The results of the visit:

  A big sharing of experience and Exchange of practices on the international platform was held

  New teaching tools were developed, piloted wit pupils from target group

  The staff was acquinted with the work with migrants in real  situation

  The multicultural idejas and feeling of belonging to Europe family were strenghened

  Teachers noted the interesting approach to working with pupils from socially disadvantaged families and children with special needs,

  The staff were acqainted with the Portuguese history, culture and traditions, expanding their horizons;

  set up contacts with foreign teachers and improved their English language skills.

Participants of  the project were invited to Vila Nova de Gaia town hall, where the mayor noted the importance of the project both at the city and state level.

It was established an on - line  questionnaire for participants of the meeting  to assess its progress and results.

Latvian team has created a site where are placed the working materials, meetings, presentations and other information:

http://erasmus.pdps.lv

Stage 2. November 2015 - March 2016.

The aim:

  During this period, the school were studying their school ethnic composition, as well as being conscious of migrant families, the number of children, are compared and analyzed the progress in comparison with the rest of the class students progress in the identified learning problems.

  During this period Project partner school teachers also worked with children  on research, "My country's history sad and glorious pages."

The results of the visit:

  A big sharing of experience and Exchange of practices on the international platform was held

  The staff was acquainted with the work with migrants in real  situation

  The multicultural idejas and feeling of belonging to Europe family were strenghened

  The analyses of the results  "School ethnic composition", "Pupils – migrants: learning, progress and challenges", "My country's history sad and glorious pages."were  presented at the transnational meeting in Germany 14.03. - 18.03.2016.

  German teachers shared their rich experience in the integration of migrants  -  the school has developed a system  -  two special classes for migrant children In Germany

  The project participants were invited  to the Lüdenscheid town hall.The mayor of the town proved the importance of the project topic for the community

Stage 3  - from April to May.

Aims:

  During this time, participants of the project conducted research and presented results on the topics: "What is happening in my country right now  -  the reasons for emigration and immigration. How is the integration of migrant pupils held? "

  Project participants also prepared  methodological tools for the work with children  -  migrants.

During the meeting, Croatia 18. - 20.05.2016. Participants presented practically applied  -  lessons, social innovations and approaches as well as innovative technologies, which are used in schools to facilitate the ability of students  -  migrants to acquire knowledge and skills, promote learning and motivation to build a positive attitude towards a multicultural environment in European schools.

Riga Pardaugava Elementary School presented the computer science program "Diverse Riga" (Many Faces of Riga)  -  in Latvian, Russian, German, English

Program, Presentation

The results of the visit:

  A big sharing of experience and Exchange of practices on the international platform was held

  New teaching tools were developed, piloted with pupils from target group

  The multicultural idejas and feeling of belonging to Europe family were strenghened 

Stage 4.In October 24 - 26 the fourth meeting in Cyprus was held.

The aim:

The two major topics of the presentations of all the participating partners were:

1. Presenting of a teaching tool aimed to achieve the goals of the project

2.Results of piloting of the project Chemistry Through Music

The participants took part in active discussions after each presentation and a written feedback from all partners was also given to each team.

We visited Palouriotissa Gymnasium  -  the Lower Secondary School in the center of Nicosia.

We attended a lesson where immigrants and refugees were taught, there were two Russian - speaking boys: one -  from Russia, another one -  from Ukraine. They liked their school very much, but the Greek Language is quite difficult for them to learn, despite of the teachers’ support

We noticed that the authority of the school and the main staff encourage students to become the active members of Europe - an Society having a pride of being persons of Greek origin

All the presentations can be found on http://erasmus.pdps.lv/_private/text/cyprus4.htm

Cyprus presented ” Innovating Method of teaching Greek Literature” .A drama method was used by poet Eleni Vakalo . The goals of the presented lesson were to give students the opportunity to:

  Achieve drama skills through literature.

  Familiarize with social problems and how to approach universal values.

  Express their feelings and connect them through the literary text they will read.

  Express their feelings, reactions and interpretations before, during and after the reading of the poem

The participants from Iceland showed us part of their work on Icelandic literature and literary tourism.

The goal of the work is to introduce various kinds of Icelandic literature to other kids of the same age.

  Where are they originated, in which situation do they happen.

  What affects Icelandic litertature: weather, landscape, geographical situation, economy

Latvia presented a multimedia guide in mathematics for pupils in grades 1 - 4 “Vadim is learning mathematics at elementary school". The tool has been developed for drilling and testing the mathematical skills and the development of logical thinking for children who have problems in understanding and assimilation of the material, children with low level of development or students taught in a foreign language.

“Vadim is learning mathematics at elementary school" - computer progr., present.

 (T. Moisejeva, Y. Chernakova, L. Bizune, L. Lazareva)

Germany presented the approach ”Teaching language” which means the teaching the German langauge plus the fundamentals of organising a student’s basic working skills  to all students in a two - years course. The years five and six take part in it, so a language oand oranisational  base is set for the years to come. All other subjects are to profit from it.

Croatia prepared two presentations: ”The project of making traditional cap of people of Split”

and another project “The dowry of our grandmothers”. The objectives of the projects were to develop awareness about preservation of cultural heritage, to encourage entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. These both cross curricula projects involved integration of many subjects and skills: Croatian language, history, literature, mathematics, physical education, handicraft.

Portugal held the research “Have the new technologies an impact on mobility and integration?“.The survey on usefullness of GPS in everyday life was held among twenty - nine 11 - 13 year students from the Europran Club, including those with migrant background .These students were involved in practical activity with the task to find different 3 different objects with the GPS help.

The project participants also took part in piloting of the Portuguese Project "Chemistry for

Music".

 This cross curricula project has such objectives as:

  Teach chemistry through music as an innovating teaching method.

  Motivate students to complete their education successfully.

  Develop cooperative and collaborative practices and this way is related to the topic of our main project.

That is why our team decided to undertake a piloting of it. Four countries presented the re - sults:Latvia, Portugal, Iceland and Cyprus. It is worth to mention that at each school the initial procedure, offered by Portugal was adopted according to students abilities and more teachers’ help was provided

The results of the visit:

  A big sharing of experience and Exchange of practices on the international platform was held

  New teaching tools were developed, piloted wit pupils from target group

  The staff was acquainted with the work with migrants in real  situation

  The multicultural idejas and feeling of belonging to Europe family were strenghened

Stage5.In April 2017th the planned five - day training for teachers took place in in Riga.

Stage6.The aim:

  to prepare articles for the final report.

  to analyse the gate of the project

The last meeting in Iceland in May 16 - 18 was devoted to the analyses of the the results of the project and final reports.All participants described their participation and the way of achieving project goals in their schools.

The Icelandic school has a method to decrease early school leaving by working with the community. Students in danger of dropout get to work one day a week for a company they find interesting, for example: building society, play schools and grocery stores.

The change in teaching methods and more use of IT programs give them more opportunity to work with schools around Europe in diverse ways. Using an App we made a quiz about all the countries of the project and some particularities we‘ve leant during the meetings.

The guests were acquinted with a fab lab (fabrication laboratory)  -  a small - scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication. A fab lab is generally equipped with an array of flexible computer - controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim to make "almost anything". 

5.5. Learning/Teaching/Training Activities

Please describe the short - term learning, teaching or training activities included in your project and explain how they have contributed to the project's objectives. In case there is a difference between what was planned and what was implemented, please explain why

In 2017 Erasmus + project participants, 14 teachers and directors from five countries visited Riga from April 2 to 8, and took part in a 5 - day training program organized at Riga Pardaugava Elementary School. The training was organized in accordance with the theme of the project "Development and Implementation of Innovative Methods of Teaching in the Multicultural European Classroom to Increase Student Literacy and Prevent Early School Leaving". The project involves Germany, Portugal, Iceland, Croatia, Cyprus and Latvia.
This short - term joint staff training event was aimed:

•   to strengthen the cooperation between the participants involved in the project

•   to gain new perspectives regarding to the theme of the project

•   to give the staff the opportunity to exchange views on teaching content, to share their experience,the results of researches, piloting activities

•   to disseminate the participants innovations in face - to - face situation

•   to provide training in using new ICT tools and innovative methods, aiming to develop students' interest and motivation

•   to enable teachers to work together in multinational and multidisciplinary groups and so benefit from special learning and teaching conditions not available in a single institution

There were some changes in the program,comparing with the initial program in the application, because some topics such as “Presentations of the results of research of participant countries: What is happening in my country nowadays? -  Who is coming to my country? / Who is going to live to other countries? -  Are the

communities seriously integrated? / How is it achieved?”

were  undertaken, discussed during the transnational meeting in Croatia. Another change -  the research “Input into the history and ethnic composition of the participant countries and how the

integration of the society was achieved” was held in Germany

The lecture of Professor of the University of Latvia: Enhancing students' tolerance via

literary tourism – this topic was discovered by presentation of Riga Pardaugava school, but the invited lecturer was representative specialist from the Agency of Latvian Language Erika Pichukane - we considered that for participants it would very useful to know how we deal with teaching refugees from the person who has real experience.

The training program was extensive, it included training, exchange of experience, visits to various institutions, study tours, open lessons and workshops.
For three days, teachers learned new skills in ICT -  to develop training applications for a mobile phone.

Express in - service training: During the week participants had three lessons from a ICT -  specialist from Bishumuizha Technical Center. First, he held a small lecture about mobile phones and the possibilities that arose when the smartphones arrived on the market and the difference between applications (apps) and web site. Then the staff learned about the Siberian that is a platform for building apps. Participants got hands on experience in uploading files, pictures and quizzes on the app. Each country got a special task to work on in the tour around the city. All instructions were printed out in special program book so participants  could follow them when  get home and want to keep on experimenting. In the last class every team got access to an app that had been prepared for us and registered it on google play so now everyone has an app up and running.

Project participants were also invited to the Bišumuiža New Engineering Center where the excursion was conducted and sharing experience about involving students in out school activities was held, and the participants had an opportunity to participate in the ceramics and glass painting workshop
 On the first  day Riga Pardaugava Elementary School teachers together with students conducted more than 10 open mini - lessons,and on Wednesday three big open masterclasses were given to guests, showing the  work system in live mode.

On our third day in Riga participants had a visit from a representative of the Agency of Latvian Language Erica Pichukane who works with refugees and she told  about how the city plans their coming to the country and guides them into the community
A great exchange of experience took place on April 6 in the Happy Art Museum  -  there was a direct web broadcasting of the webcams and anyone was able to appreciate the presentations of participants from all countries. The main theme of presentations was working methods with pupils with learning difficulties.
Each country prepared a 60 - minute workshop for the participants. After each workshop a wide discussion was held about pluses and minuses of the method and the ways of implemetation it in other countries.

Icelandic team showed the group few of the applications they use the most in school. The applications are Nearpod, Keynote, Showbie, Google classroom, Kahoot, Math and cheese and some more. The school uses only free application.They also talked about the way they use the application Bitsboard for teaching icelandic as a second language. Iceland  showed a video where a young student is practising his first words in icelandic through the application and how useful the application is when a student does´nt know how to read and write in the latin alphabet 

Germany team explained how and their school has been dealing with a increased number of students which are refugees. Some of those students come to Germany all by themselves and without parents and live in an SOS children village. Many of these kids are traumatized and have some heavy experience in their past.

In the second part Germany talked about the development of German as a second language and how differently students use is through the daily routine. The language has many fields and children have to learn what language is appropriate in each activity. The ideas of  “scaffolding” the language based challenges in all subjects was introduced.

Portuguese team held a lecture where she showed the group how they have been working with modern technology in their school. They introduced a project about the human body their students worked on using ICT tools, the project was very successful.After working with this new computer technology Maria and Nair made a small survey where they used to program Webquest. The students were asked how they felt about this new approach. A majority of the students really enjoyed it and wanted to use this technique more often. It approved to them that the project was a nice success.

The Cyprus team told that the number of immigrants in Cyprus has increased rapidly and teachers there, like in much of Europe, must adjust to meet the needs of children of various nationalities. The aim of the Project, the had ellaborated, is to give the students a chance to learn Greek, increase their Greek vocabulary and use the language and culture of their nation. The students who took part in the project come from 8 different countries. They were divided into groups according to nationality and then they chose fairy tales, folk tales, poems in their mother tongue and translated it, first into English and then into Greek with the help of their teacher. The students acted, sang and then dubbed their acts. The acts were then recorded and shown to each group‘s class. The students were excited to be able to present fairy tales from their own country and felt that what they were doing mattered because they had a chance to use their own language and learn the language of others. With this sort of project, immigrant students can learn Greek in an enjoyable way and their Greek vocabulary and proficiency is increasing.

Croatian team spoke about Integration via Science lessons (national heritage, tourism, nature).

In Split and Salona there are a lot of historical artifacts and ruins, up to 2000 years old and the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The project aims to combine natural and cultural heritage. Students were taught about religion, religious symbols and sites in Salona and stories about Christian martyrs, Roman gods and culture.

The students went on a field trip to Salona and explored the area and the artifacts that can be seen there. They received a visit to the school, went to museums and worked on various projects. Finally the students utilized all they had learned to create social games.

The Latvian team told us about a Project on literary tourism they made about famous Latvian poet Janis Rainis. The students visited his house and read poems at his favorite places and filmed it. This is a part of a bigger project about historical and cultural education and breaking up the pace of everyday classroom.

Guests were received by the Riga City Council, visited the Riga Cathedral concert and were surprised by the beauty of Riga and Jurmala during excursions.

The program of the training:

Day 1

• Welcome ceremony

• Introduction to school.

• Concert program (118 dalībn.)

• Express in - service training: ICT tools to promote students' learning motivation (virtual excursions, learning applications for mobiles to increase students interest and motivation  - ICT specialist from Latvia - Filipps Sudanov.

• Guided tour in the Old Riga aimed to collect photos and materiāls for creation of applications. Practical work on Literary Tourism “Legends of  the Old Riga”

 Day 2 

•   School Chess club. Master class - Tomas Kalniņš

•   Express training on creation of learning applications for mobile phones - Filipp Sudanov

•   Chemistry through Music - results of piloting the activities - Germany - Carsten Lampe

•   Chemistry through Music - results of piloting the activities - Croatia

  Study Visit to Bishumuizha Technical Centre - Ramona Šmitiņa

  Guided tour around the institution. Workshop (glass, ceramics) - Liena Bizūne

Day 3

Open lessons:

Science lesson -    Form 1A - The animal world of Latvia - Lidija Lazareva

Physiotherapy - Form 9B and project members - Tatjana Zashchirinskaja

English/Social studies/Geography –Form 8a - Cross curricula lesson - Migration - Ludmila Renge

Sharing experience. Teaching methods and approaches to work with refugees

(Erika Pičukane, I.Shinkareva)

3.Concert Piccolo and Guided tour around Riga Cathedral

4. Reception at Riga Town Hall .

Welcome words. Introduction to Education, Culture and Sports Department of Riga City Council .Guided tour around the Town Hall ( Mayor of Riga N. Ushakovs, City Council deputy A.Vladova)

5.The Virtual Flights above Riga and Porto - 5D movie watching  and meeting with the film director .

Day4. Dissemination of project results and ttraining  event: on - line web cam broadcast

1.      How the school is using the latest technologies to develop teaching methods and decrease early school leaving – Iceland ( Bryndis Bjarnason, Guðbjörg Halla Magnadóttir,

 Helga Björt Möller, Sveinfríður Olga Veturliðadóttir)

2.      The German experience in dealing with immigrants’ and low achievers’ problems. Germany Integration via language training Germany -  (Astrid Ebnicher,Carsten Lampe,Ralph David)

3.      Integration via science lessons( tourism, nature, national heritage) - Croatia

(Zdenka Barović,Zvonimir Vuković,Vesela Visić)

4.      Academic support for immigrants in Greek and Math, lessons aiming to develop students’ motivation, intercultural skills and prevent their early school leaving. Multiculturalal activities: history and culture of participating immigrant students through dances, music and food and language awareness of the spoken languages through quizzes and role plays

 Cyprus (Christina Chimaridou,Eva Adamou)

5.      Creation and implementation of innovative ICT tools in Science lessons aiming to develop students’ motivation and prevent early school leaving(Virtual maps, presentations, videos, addressing low achievement in basic skills through more effective teaching math. ) 2.The outcomes of the research in the Portuguese school : If new technologies have an impact(negative or positive) on a mobility and integration. - Portugal, (Maria Nair Fontes,Maria João Rios)

6.  Enhancing students' tolerance via literary tourism.

Riga Pardaugava School shares its experience in using literary tourism (I. Shinkareva, T. Moisejeva, Y. Chernakova, L.Renge)

7.      Conclusion, panel discussions

Day 5

1.Express in - service training: ICT tools to promote students' learning motivation(virtual excursions, learning applications for mobiles to increase students interest and motivation)

2. Feedback, evaluation of the outputs and outcomes of the meeting

3. Bus to Jūrmala Guided tour of Jūrmala city, the museum of Jūrmala city, walk along Jomas street and the Riga Gulf seashore, street markets

The results of the training:

•    the cooperation between the participants involved in the Project was strengthened through the collaboration and common activities, group work

•   new perspectives regarding to the theme of the Project were gained by each participant, the vision how to deal with learning of migrant student and how to create learning application for mobile phones was acquired by each participant

•   the staff exchanged views on teaching content,  shared their experience, the results of researches, piloting activities

•   the participants innovations were dessiminated in face - to - face situation and on - line

•   the  training in using new ICT tools and innovative methods, aiming to develop students' interest and motivation was successfully provided

•    teachers work together in multinational and multidisciplinary groups and so benefited from special learning and teaching conditions not available in a single institution

•   The staff learnt about history and traditions of Latvia

Please describe the arrangements for recognition or validation of the learning outcomes of the participants in the learning, teaching or training activities you organised. Did your project made use of European instruments like Europass, ECVET, Youthpass, ECTS etc. or any national instruments/certificates?

All participants received Europass certificates

Additional information about the dessimination of the project results:

With the aim to promote the project and to reflect its activities:

• The project web site was created with the information and presentations from the meetings and to reflect the progress of the project: http://erasmus.pdps.lv

  All participant schools reflected the Project events on their schools websites

• articles were published in local newspapers (Latvia, Croatia, Germany, Cyprus, Portugaland Iceland) on the project:

 http://erasmus.pdps.lv/_private/text/germanija8.htm

• radio programs  were made on the Latvian radio4

  Also, school parents and students were informed about the progress of the project both on the school website and E - class and at special meetings.

  On the 30/08/2016 and 30.08.2017.  the experience exchange seminars for teachers were held at  Riga Pardaugava  school.The same were held in all partner schools

  The TV programme was shown on Latvian First Baltic channel about the visit  of the project team to Bishumuizha Technical centre and exchange with international experience in organising of student free time after school

  Five editions of project Newsletters give the overall impression about project team work and  evaluation of activities

  A web cam on - line broadcast disseminated the project results from training event on 06.04.2017