Monday 9 September 2013

A new Comenius Project

This year our European Project Team will continue to work and we’ll take part in a new Comenius project.
With the school Saint Pierre-Notre Dame de France-Sainte Marie from Abbeville, in France, we’ll develop the Bilateral Project “Towards a brighter future: preventing dropping out in an inclusive school ". A very interesting project which will deal with a serious problem in Europe: early school leaving.

This is our project summary:
“Early school leaving is an urgent and serious problem in Europe, both for individuals and society as a whole. According to the European Commission, one in seven young people leave school without finishing secondary education. One in seven young people who are more likely to end up unemployed, poor or marginalized. Beyond the cost to individuals, early school leaving hampers economic growth and competitiveness. Low levels of education have severe consequences for young people, but also high economic and social costs for society. There are many reasons why some young people give up school prematurely: learning difficulties, social problems or a lack of motivation, guidance or support. However, the impacts of individual and social conditions are also affected by the set-up of the educational system and the environment in schools. Since there is not a single reason for leaving education or vocational training, there are no easy answers. With this project, we will try to find out some answers and to set up some innovative methods/strategies/activities to prevent school drop-out in the vocational education sector in our countries.  Teachers, students, parents and local entities will work together to exchange practices and knowledge on the most effective ways to keep young people in education and training and to fight against early school leaving. We'll focus on teaching/learning methods which promote personal and social growth, career development, and civic responsibility, while involving parents and local entities which will make the connection between school and real life more visible for students.”