We have finished the project ‘Cooperation for insertion and motivation of students at risk of early school leaving’ in which three educational centres got involved two years ago now: “Santa María” in Galati (Romania), Franceso Crispi in Ribera (Sicily, Italy) and IES Emilio Pérez Piñero in Calasparra (Murcia, Spain). From the beginning, we got involved knowing this project would demand a lot of time and effort due to the student type it was aimed to, the cultural, language, time and distance differences, etc, but knowing as well it would be very rewarding in many aspects. From the perspective gained through the passing of time and the calm of already completed work, we can confirm it has been a total success; moreover, if we bear in mind that teachers, students, parents, companies, educational and local institutions from the three countries got involved and actively participated in its organization, implementation and/or dissemination-The project was aimed to students of Basic Vocational Training, within the age range of 15 to 23 years old, who had coexistence problems at school and risk of school dropout, and as a result, were at risk of losing educational, work and social insertion opportunities. Three teachers and ten students from each country per each mobility took part in the coordination activities and in teaching, learning and training activities; the percentage for intermediate activities was around 60% (Spain), 70%(Romania) and 65% (Italy) of students from each school.-As a common thread, we had in mind to improve coexistence at schools; improve the inclusion of all students; solve conflicts in the school environment, motivate students with disadvantages and with a high rate of absenteeism by guiding them towards vocational training, with a purpose to reduce early school leaving; and finally, to improve common values like inclusive education and students’ European dimension.-Despite the difficulties faced along the project, all planned activities were carried out, except for the last one to take place in Spain (Calasparra), due to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the world, with a particular impact in Italy and Spain. Thus, we held two meetings for Teacher Coordination and Training in Spain and Italy, two meetings for Training, Teaching and Learning Activities in Romania and Italy, and one virtual activity replacing the training, teaching and learning activities that were to be carried out in Spain. Besides, planned intermediate activities were implemented, and other activities were also implemented about coordination, planning, motivation, dissemination, conflict resolution, assessment… Evidence of the above in: https://www.erasmusemilioperezp.com/KA229/-Along the two years we managed, through the exchange of experiences and working methods among the 3 schools, to reduce the number of dropouts, increase the number of registrations, increase students motivation with approximately 90% participation in intermediate activities, improve coexistence and increase completion and graduation in these studies, highlighting a decrease of school absenteeism of 12,75% in Spain, 8,20% in Italy and 5,80% in Romania. In addition, teachers and schools nourished from the working methods and projects from the other schools: Ribera school contributed with ‘peer education’, Galati school with work with students from migrant families… And in Calasparra school, “Student supervision”, “School Police Officer”, and ‘Conflict resolution strategies and leadership in the classroom’.However, the highest achievement was to be part of the students and their families’ vital experiences: -“If it had not been for the Erasmus I would not have graduated in Compulsory Secondary Education…” -“Who knows what may happen later… I am going to continue studying…“ –“My son was very unmotivated…” “we do not have any resources… we couldn’t have afforded to offer our child such an experience…”-The methodology for the final assessment of the project was implemented through a participative process of narrow cooperation and contribution among the schools. The assessment variables focused on objectives, organization, mobility and intermediate activities carried out and the results obtained. The assessment tools used were interviews and questionnaires for families, students and teachers, sociometric questionnaires and analysis of school coexistence and absenteeism.-We can conclude that the objectives targeted in the long term are reaching the zero absenteeism and school dropout objective, lack of coexistence problems at schools, and school success for all students, even if it sounds utopian. It is therefore essential to continue working with this student profile, so that we can contribute through prevention to build a healthier and more inclusive society.

The project

The OHS as coordinating institution has carried out an international, tri-lingual foreign languages project together with the Howard School in Gillingham (UK) and the IES (Slain).Content of the project was to write and produce a multi-lingual musical. This took place in lessons as well as in working groups The thus created musical has primarily a historical and political focus: the resistance of the youth against the regime of the National Socialists in the 1930s. The planning and realization of the project was in the hands of the participating pupils with the teachers taking on a supportive role.The regular exchange between the participating schools and works groups in between the project meetings was very innovative. With the help of modern media, the participants were able to communicate constantly in virtual classrooms and exchanged data and documents. In this process E-twinning and Twin space were as useful as smartphones and digital text messages via SMS, WhatsApp or email. On a meta level the participating teachers have compiled a guideline, which lists the most important points, so that it can serve as an inspiration and basis for similar projects. A continual evaluation regarding the content-related learning objectives (historical facts and language improvement) as well as the methodological competences (use of digital media) and also - last but not least - the motivation of the pupils has shown, that an increase in all the areas mentioned above can be seen.