PROJECT ORGANISATIONS:
ASOCIACIÓN INICIATIVA INTERNACIONAL JOVEN (SPAIN)
Asociación Iniciativa Internacional Joven (Youth International Initiative Association) is an NGO from Malaga (Spain) created in 2003 from a group of youths who after participating in international programmes and activities, concluded that these experiences had been very important to change their life. Therefore, they decided to share them with other young people, collectives and associations, to enhance the interest in participating in international programs and exchanges, learning languages, realizing voluntary work, raising awareness, tolerance and respect for other cultures, etc. thereby contributing to personal and professional development of young people and adults. The mission of the organisation is to contribute to the comprehensive development and improvement of the quality of life of citizens, especially young people. We work at local and international level in the following areas of intervention: (1) Participation and Volunteering; (2) Culture of Peace and Interculturality; (3) Gender Equality; (4) Sport and Healthy Life; (5) Art and Creativity; (6) Personal development and entrepreneurship.
IES PORTADA ALTA (SPAIN)
IES Portada Alta is a secondary school that was created back in 1990 in Malaga (Spain). This educational centre has a lot to offer, including obligatory monolingual and bilingual secondary education; baccalaureate in humanities and social sciences, natural and health sciences and technology; professional formation in art; special education; training cycles in microinformatics and networking, and development of multi platform applications; and lastly, courses specialized in AI and Big Data. This educational centre forms part of the Andalusian network “Escuela, espacio de paz”, or “School, space of peace”, which helps connect centres and facilitate the sharing of resources and experiences in order to improve cooperation, promote the culture of peace and important values in schools. The main profiles of the 628 students that IES Portada Alta works with are young people at risk of social exclusion for primarily academic and economic motives. 5.25% of students who participate at this educational centre are immigrants and don’t have high levels of parent involvement.
AGRUPAMENTO DE ESCOLAS GIL EANES (PORTUGAL)
The Agrupamento de Escolas Gil Eanes (AEGE) from Lagos was founded in the year 2010 in a reorganization process of the municipal school system. Their primary mission is to support all students and promote their success despite barriers and differences. They place special emphasis on creating an environment that facilitates exchanges, innovation and sustainability to improve the learning process. This educational centre provides residents with access to a variety of preschools, elementary schools and high schools, where it promotes a positive school culture based on the rights and responsibilities of the community and core values such as respect, cooperation and tolerance. AEGE offers a class in citizenship that is directly related with respect to diversity, tolerance and inclusion and it has developed a transdisciplinary curriculum to enhance diversity, bringing in cultural, artistic and musical elements. AEGE works with 1,975 students up into 92 classes to be exact. Within the student population, there is a lot of diversity, with 10%, or 201, coming from outside Portugal, and also requiring extra support in language and cultural integration.
LICEUL TEORETIC “EMIL RACOVITA” (ROMANIA)
Liceul Teoretic “Emil Racovita” (LTER) is a secondary school with a theoretical profile where students acquire general knowledge and skills. It is located in Vaslui, in the eastern part of Romania. The school has four branches of studies: Mathematics-Informatics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Philology. Students study in 14 classrooms and 8 laboratories (4 for computer science, 1 for biology, 1 for physics, 1 for chemistry and 1 for geography). All classrooms have multimedia equipment and the school has a library with more than 16,000 books, a gymnasium and two synthetic sports fields with night facilities. Teaching activities are supported by 58 teachers and there are currently a total of 865 students, of whom 145 belongs to an ethnic minitority and/or have immigrated to Romania from outside countries. The school has extensive experience in carrying out European projects, each of which has contributed to improving the quality of education and teaching. LTER also organises extracurricular activities, such as drawing workshops, voluntary actions, study visits, thematic trips and charity actions.
2 GYMNASIO NEAS IONIAS VOLOS MAGNISIAS (GREECE)
The 2nd Gymnasio Neas Ionias Volos Magnisias is a general educational centre from preschool to secondary school. The centre, which is made up of about 217 students and 33 professors, adapts to the modern needs of students and teachers, providing them with new and ample technological installations such as audiovisual systems for facilitating teaching in the classroom. It also belongs to the network of panhellenic schools, prioritizing and facilitating the connection between students and their educational community. The school carries out additional activities with the goal of promoting social inclusion, such as literary presentations, workshops about health and personal hygiene, social communication skills and topics alike. These extra-curricular activities are one of the pillars for the process of inclusion at the educational centre, and utilize creative, innovative methodological styles such as art or theatre. Teachers work with students ages 12–15, almost half of which are of Romani ethnicity. The school itself is located in a run-down area, that is farther away from the city centre of Volos and many students come from economically disadvantaged families, or families with little resources.