The upper secondary school at Laugar has the privilege of being a small boarding school in the countryside in the vicinity of many of Iceland's most important natural wonders. Many school teachers are keenly interested in outdoor activities and physical activity, and we wanted to create a project related to it and nature. We attended a Erasmus+ Conference in Tenerife last october, where we set out our interest in working with elements such as public health, nature and all kinds of physical activities. And get in touch with a school in the Czech Republic that was interested in participating in this. From this it came the idea of the project Hiking in Europe. The preparation and the planning of the project will be in the hands of FL (us), and GFMP will be participating in the project. Participating students will be eight to ten from each school along with two to three teachers from each school. Framhaldskólinn á Laugum (FL) is a small boarding school at Iceland about 450 km from the capital Reykjavík. We have about 90 students from the age 16 to 22. The school have tree courses of study for final exams of upper secondary school: Physical educations and sport science, natural science ad social science. Gymnázium F. M. Pelcla (GFMP) is located in Rychnov, a small town about 150 km from Prague. Currently, thera are about 290 students at the age of 15-19 at the school and they are primarily prepared for their university studies. There are all general subjects taught at GFMP: Czech, Maths, History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Social Science, ICT, Physical Education, Music and Art. Concerning foreign languages, English is compulsory for all students. Students of the last two years of their studies have a choice to enroll in voluntary classes to widen their knowledge of the subjects of their interest and to be well prepared for their university studies. The idea is that in the beginning the project leaders of both schools will visit each other and travel around the local areas of the schools, getting to know the travelling culture of the countries, looking at the biggest tourist attractions and share knowledge about different hiking routes, marking and situations (weather and other conditions). In Iceland we will be focusing on the right equipment for mountain and wilderness hiking in Icelandic nature, as well as exploring the spectacular Icelandic nature and introducing the powerful volunteer work of the ICE-Rescue team. We will be in close cooperation with ICE-Rescue where the FL students will go through their 96 hours course „Björgunarsveitarmaður 1“ (Rescue 1) where they will learn the fundamentals of rescue work in the wilderness. They will take courses like Mountain Travelling, First Aid and Search Technique along with others courses. In the Czech Republic we will be exploring the Eagle Mountains (Orlické hory) from various points of view: geography (including weather and markings), history and legends. We’ll invite specialists to give our students extra lessons on specificities of that particular area. Our students will also take a course on mountain travelling, first aid and search technique organised by the Mountain Rescue Team in the Eagle Mountains.

The Erasmus+ project motivation2+ talent = success comprised 4 completely different schools, with a specific profile looking for ways to enhance motivation ànd detect talents in order to reach higher success levels in the ever changing environment of education. There were 3 focus fields in which an increased motivation was much desirable: lessons, activities within the curriculum ànd extra-curricular activities. Scientific research taught us that talent detection was the way to go. The objective was to use the talents that students have and look for transfers into the 3 areas mentioned. To achieve this objective not only empowerment of students to use their talents in a school environment was necessary. Also and especially empowerment of school staff to develop and implement methods, approaches and tools for talent detection/development was needed. This required more detailed goals which lead to a collection of motivational methods, activities, technology and good practices based on the 3 focal areas. A collection of all these methods, activities and tools couldn’t have come to existence if it wasn’t for the many partners who shared their expertise. 25 participating organisations did so, amongst which of course the 4 partner schools: Guldensporencollege in Belgium, IMS Private school in Cyprus, Gymnazium FM Pelcla in the Czech Republic and VII Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Poland. The other 21 organisations can be divided into 3 main groups. The 1st groups comprises schools with different profiles. Besides cooperation also field visits during were helpful to see how motivation worked for their students (with different profiles).Associations, agencies, companies ... form a 2nd group. They shared points of view, specific methods, scientific research, findings on how motivation works in different kinds of schools, …The 3rd group consists of associations that functioned as consultants. They can be considered external 'critical friends' or evaluators who helped to keep focus and brought on new ideas, methods, ... to try out. Tomas Hruda, e.g., from educationrepublic.cz taught us on 'motivation in different schools'. Don’t become a different school, aim at becoming the best possible version of the school with all its limitations and possibilities that make it unique. This advice resulted in a rollout of all sorts of activities. First the main focus of each of the partners had been detected through filming lessons, curricular and extra-curricular activities. A thorough evaluation and tracking the field was done through questioning our target groups. After the data selection had been done it was time to try out methods, activities and evaluation methods to come to clear goals. Key to it all is making choices. Decide what is feasible, reaches most pupils and staff... Go for a widescale effect that is “doable”. It actually comes down to narrowing down changes in four fields, which became the 4 pillars of our project: technology, infrastructure, teaching styles and clear goals. Specific workshops, forms and activities have been set up which found a culmination point in the final project meeting. The learning process will be shared further during workshops organised by Eekhout Academy.The impact on our target groups is real. Students e.g. have a better view on their talents and take more responsibility for their learning process, which is a proof of them growing as ‘people’. Teachers became more confident again because useful and evidence-based methods or tools and good practices for several subjects are now available. They got and still get that little nudge needed to take steps towards innovative teaching tweaks. Schools have a more open-minded vision towards 'intervision' (looking at each other's lessons, co-teaching etc...). An open door-policy is less threatening. Outside the lessons there are more activities to create a 'connecting' school environment (over lunch time, after school time, ...). The schools became broad learning environments where pupils can learn during and outside the lessons, and in collaboration with local partners. Even parents and to a larger extent the community profited from this project. There is a more connecting atmosphere. Parents feel welcome, more listened to and as a consequence are more involved. This has a positive influence on how the community perceives the schools. This translates in the community asking to use the school premises for non-school related activities as well, that in their turn also creates a positive buzz in and around the school. Mutual affection, doubles the effect. The more detailed results of the project can be found on the website (mtseducation.eu), which will still be maintained and updated, and the in-service training workshops with Eekhout Academy as a partner. Thé lesson that we have learnt and will keep sharing is: it doesn’t always require a giant leap. A first small step might do the trick and start a process of motivational education.

"In The Declaration of Paris, published in April 2018, a group of intellectuals and university professors studied the political and social state of Europe, and what it means to be European. Their conclusion was that we are facing a collapse of the cultural heritage due to deception, guilty feelings and fear of self affirmation.The members of this project, High school teachers from the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Romania aim at allowing students to discover the different faces of Europe.The project : ""Discovering Europe - yours, mine and ours"" will show that Europe is a melting pot but at the same time each member should thrive on their diversity.Our schools cater to students of different horizons, so this project will be a great opportunity to promote social inclusion as well as cultural diversity and exchanges. Social economic factors will be studied and we will reflect on gender equality in the different territories, culture, the history of Men and places. Thus, all the schools get a better awarenesses of European Cultural Patrimony .Our students will develop transversal skills, language fluency, ITC and art skills that will make them become the best they can be in one or more of those fields.About one hundred students will exchange their productions in French (in English if need be); These will be based on pair work, personal work or group activities. The aim will be to help partner students discovering one another territory and tell about their experiences as young Europeans.These activities will allow less dropouts and reduce social inequalities and promote European Exchanges, because partners will be interested in building more connections outside their countries. The very fact, that they are talking with native speakers will trigger their desire to learn more and better.This project aims at :- Promoting French use in Europe- increasing students's fluency in French (and English when used as a vehicular language)- Developing tolerance, fight discriminations and xenophobia - Discovering the patrimony of one's own culture and other places in Europe, including overseas territories - Curving school dropouts and fight against illiteracies - Learning to learn with technology and learning to use information- Allowing young Europeans to meet their peers in different parts of Europe, sharing their experiences whether similar or not- Developing artistic, computer, and cultural skills for a better employability This project will increase our potential to perform efficient team building activities within our schools, local authorities and partnerships with local and international companies. It will enable us to take up new challenges in our teaching methods. .Students will benefit from this exposure to become European leaders, since it's been proven that participationg in an Eramus+ projject, increase employabilty."

All participating schools are interested in spreading the idea of Europe at the time of tumult and change, and we all want to contribute to the increase of European awareness, as well as language and intercultural skills among our students. The objectives are to make students more aware of what different faces of Europe look like, how the EU offers them a multitude of opportunities to live and study abroad, to offer them chances to practice and improve their skills in many different European languages and to gain personal growth by spending time abroad in a two-month student exchange. The different activities included are 1) the training of school staff in the use of digital tools that make it possible to have international cooperation at school without leaving the classroom, so that a maximum number of students can participate in and benefit from it. The teachers will then incorporate different activities into their lessons in which students from different corners of Europe in the participating schools will get to interact with each other through the sharing of videos, slide presentations and in video conferences. 2) Long-term student mobilities in another country, so that the students will live in host families and attend the local participating school, learning about another culture and getting to use and improve their language skills. 3) Short term teacher exchanges when teachers accompany the students on their long-term mobilities and when they have a chance to perform a job shadowing activity and to discuss with colleagues from another European institution. 4) A short term study visit to Strasbourg, to the heart of Europe, to learn more about the working of the different European institutions situated there.In activity 1) the number of participating teachers is 2 from each participating school. The idea is for the individual teachers to become more confident in the use of different digital tools (eTwinning included) and also for them to spread what they have learned in their own institutions and encourage other teachers in their use. When the teachers are able to use these digital tools, they will then be able to incorporate Me as a European themed activities into the lessons so that as many students can participate in the project as possible, even if they don't participate in the student mobilities abroad.In activity 2) the long-term mobilities, 1-2 students from each school will participate in it a a time and spend a two-month period in another school, preferably in a country whose language they have studied at school. If they haven't studied the local language (for example Finnish or Czech), then they preferably will have studied one of the languages taught in the receiving school so they will gain the maximum benefit from their exchange. The host families, as well as all the students and teachers who come into contact with these exchange students will all gain from the experience by increasing their own intercultural awareness and learning about different countries and cultures.In activity 3) one teacher will accompany the students on their way to the long-term exchange and will also participate in a job-shadowing experience. In activity 4) two teachers and two students from each participating country will attend a short term exchange to Strasbourg.The methodologies used will include sharing work done on videos or slides or in discussions in live video conferences in the classroom, language and culture immersion in the case of long-term mobilities, job shadowing in the case of teachers and a study visit to European institutions in the case of the final short term exchange.As a result of this project we hope to have made our students more aware of their identity not only as Austrians, Czechs, Finns, French or Spaniards, but also as Europeans who are able to better understand and appreciate the differences and similarities between countries and nationalities across Europe. This will make them better equipped to enter the European labour market as they will have gained skills that are needed in intercultural communication and co-operation. We also want to offer our students a chance to improve and deepen their language skills not only in English, but also in other languages, such as French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Hopefully participating in a long-term mobility will spark an interest in the participating students to live and study in other countries in the future as well. And finally, we want to improve the understanding of how European institutions work by bringing teachers and students to visit them in Strasbourg.All participating schools are happy to share their knowledge gained during the organisation of long-term student mobilities, which haven't been very common so far, in order to encourage other institutions to incorporate this activity into their syllabus as well, since the school curricula must evolve with the times to better serve the needs of tomorrow's Europe.