Education, training, youth and sport in Europe are highly supported by specific European actions.Erasmus+ is the most famous EU programme for learning mobility opportunities.
It opens the door to an aware global citizenship, by inviting participating organizations to an active sharing of best practices as well as to a reflection upon the opportunities received not only to enhance teaching and learning skills but also to compare with other Education Systems and, by knowing each other, show interest and respect. Erasmus+ has different Key Actions (KA), according to the aims and the goals.E+ for schools has two main actions: KA1 and KA2. KA1 is intended as staff mobility - for teachers, headteachers and administrative staff. KA2 involves the mobility of students too. February and March are the usual deadlines for submitting applications and in the preceding weeks project coordinators and teachers mostly involved in the European project planning devote most of their time in checking the information required to fill in the form (webform), getting to know the right partners from other schools, looking for the partners and for the mobility actions to choose (courses, job shadowing, teaching assignments).
Writing a good project takes a lot of time and a hard work: teachers need to study their school’s European Development Plan, Academic Plan, Educational Syllabus, Mission Statement of the school, extra-curricular school projects, results of INVALSI tests and the background of the school.Finding partner schools may be easy when you are acquainted with eTwinning and School Education Gateway.Since September 2019 schools are given a new identification number, OID (Organisation ID), which must be outlined when applying for the calls. A good idea for writing a good project is to have in mind the different parts of the webform and write each part with all useful details. Furthermore, it is important to show schools know the different tools which may help the process.eTwinning is a platform for teachers, where you can launch projects, work together online and share best practices. Each project has different stages and the activities are recorded into a TwinSpace which is a kind of mini-website of the project, with pages, materials, and you can also have a forum of discussion. Students may be registered too and the platform is safe. In a specific section, “Partners Forum”, you may look for reliable partners (both for new eTwinning projects and for Erasmus+ projects).
School Education Gateway is a more technical platform, related to eTwinning, where you may find useful information and materials for E+ actions. Furthermore you may find mobility opportunities, may they be courses, job shadowing or short-term teaching assignments. You can be linked to the providers of courses so to have an idea of the courses you are interested in and the costs.It is important, when writing a E+ KA project, not to exceed the budget. Schools are more and more interested in EU project planning and there is an increase of teachers involved in courses for writing a good EU project aimed at a sheer Internationalism. Headteachers reflect on the European Development Plan and work to open their school to the reality of plurilingualism and multiculturalism, as well as the exchange of good practices, both in virtual platforms (eTwinning) and in mobility actions.
Why EU projects?
Because EU is investing on learning and giving schools the opportunity of meet other Education Systems. When schools meet, cultures meet too, and this is a great way to cooperate for Education’s sake. The enthusiasm of teachers and students when coming back from a mobility tell us more about the programme. It is not politics, it is culture.With Brexit officially completed, questions arouse about learning mobilities with UK partners. To date, it has been confirmed that nothing is damaged and Education programmes will be supported. We leave politics to politicians and take Education for ourselves. Because we care for education and we care for culture. And what’s more caring than sharing? Sharing best practices, sharing the way each school invests on innovation, sharing motivation…these are all elements that will make the first steps to the making of a culture of respect, integration and enthusiasm.And if you want to know more and to be “connected in mobility”, you can also download the Citizens’ App: an app thought for all people interested in the results and success of EU which helps teachers involved in EU project planning to find events they may be interested in.Again, because sharing is caring. Last but not least, è una bassista con esperienze musicali in ambito nazionale e internazionale.
Angela Panzarella (02/08/1978), laureata in lingue e letterature straniere moderne (inglese e serbocroato) con indirizzo filologico letterario, un’ulteriore laurea in lettere (storia delle tradizioni popolari) presso La Sapienza di Roma, master in traduzione, abilitazione SSIS (A345/A346), master CeCLIL (Ca’ Foscari) e Metodologie CLIL nel XXI secolo (IUL Firenze), benemerenza in Filologia (Philology Sila Trophy, per il saggio “As You Like Her…”), expertise in bilingual education since primary years, dopo anni di docenza nella scuola secondaria di secondo grado, insegna inglese nella scuola primaria per la sperimentazione e il proseguimento dell’esperienza bilingue (IBI-BEI, istruzione bilingue, bilingual education, CLIL & technoCLIL) nella provincia di Milano. E’ formatrice riconosciuta dall’USR Lombardia (per corsi linguistici e metodologici CLIL, technoCLIL e webtools per la didattica) e certificatrice Cambridge Young Learners (International House) ed ESOL (Cambridge, International House, English Speaking Board). Referente per l’Internazionalizzazione, è anche esperta eTwinning, Erasmus+ ed Europrogettazione, con partecipazione a seminari multilaterali in Italia, Europa e Paesi del Mediterraneo. Attiva con pubblicazioni anche su Scientix e per Stem Discovery Week. Ha scritto per i suoi “gnomi” (come si diverte a chiamarli, e per i quali è Miss Angela), la collana completa di testi per la didattica bilingue 100% CLIL e technoCLIL per la scuola primaria.Last but not least, è una bassista con esperienze musicali in ambito nazionale e internazionale.