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Partners

This project involves students and teachers from five countries:

Hungary, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Estonia. 

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Hungary

 

Our school is in Miskolc, in one of the biggest cities of Hungary. The school has 730 students and 76 teachers. We believe that improving basic skills is more effective if students can take part in artistic education since their early ages. Music and dance are an essential part of a child’s development as it contributes to the development of basic skills, eye-hand coordination, memory, creativity. In our school children first only have singing classes but later they are followed by instrumental education.

By the means of so called Kodály-method (e.g. solmization) we can improve spatial orientation and fine motor skills. Playing instrumental music and singing together have a great effect on children’s behaviour, on learning skills, on creativity – it was proved by several researches. The acquirement of basic tasks on drama faculty helps communication, phonation, self-contained presentation, and the ability of working in teams while painting helps creativity, picturesque representation and expression, eye-hand coordination; they all contribute to developing basic skills and aesthetic skills. Artistic education also develops emotional intelligence therefore it helps students to be successful in life. The children taking part in the program are the students of our school therefore following them from the root to their extension can be fulfilled. Thus following their professional development is continuous. In 2003 we were rewarded the title „FOR THE HUNGARIAN ART EDUCATION” by the Association of Hungarian Music Schools and Art Schools. We are an ACCREDITED EXCELLENT TALENT POINT. In the year 2018 the school received the title EUROPEAN TALENT POINT. We have cooperation with local and national Talent Points. We organise flash mobs, talent days, street art actions. We took part in common trainings with other Talent Points. We have already sung in oratorios for several times for the invitation of National Philharmony. We have already performed with world-famous conductors, soloists and the city’s symphonic orchestra: e.g. Johann Sebastian Bach: Matheus Passion, Carl Orff: Carmina burana, Arthur Honegger: Nicolas de flue. The choir was invited to Hamamatsu (Japan) where they took part in an international choir festival held by five years there.

(World Youth Choral Festival). The choir is a successful participant of Miskolc International Opera Festival. The repertory of the past periods is kept on several radio and CD records. Besides music teaching dance has also got remarkable role in artistic education. Both classical and folk dance give marvellous experiences to our students. They can get aquintanted with Hungarian folklore and cultural traditions. Drama makes students outgoing and inquring, helps them to be confident, gives them assurance. Among the key persons involved in the project there are artists teaching music, dance, drama etc, a teacher of literature and English as well as a teacher of SEN who are eager to work on this project.

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Greece

 

DES (Interactive European School in Greek) is a private school located in a very nice located suburb of Athens, near the sea, named Varkiza. The bilingual kindergarten is located in the center of the town of Varkiza and host 60 students and 12 teachers. The elementary school is located in a nearby hill, in an area of 20 acres and host 120 students and 25 teachers. Dr. Billie Konstantara – Riga, DES founder, has for fourteen years propose a differential educational approach based on the theory of “Multiple Intelligences”, developed by Howard Gardner. This perspective has been widely adopted and our kids are happy, creative and curiosity driven to explore and learn. In DES, lessons are being taught in Greek and either in English or German. Our kindergarten has been accredited by the German Embassy in Athens as one of the ideal schools for German speaking children. The elementary school is a sustainable school, with many environmental projects. In our school premises we have stables with donkeys, chicken farm and bunnies. DES educational approach is unique since in the basic program a student, from the first grade, attend in a differentiated model: sailing, yoga, literature and arts, music, coding and STEM. DES primary school is working: -· With recyclable materials and "producing" artwork. · Makes original animation projects with the stop motion technique. In this case the children become the mythologists. They come in contact with the first form of cinema and with the technology at the level of editing. -· We learn for artists without teaching children art history but with a mood to interact with the works. First there is a speech on teacher’s part which creates an atmosphere not necessarily related to the artist but to his work or his theme. After the children have completed their work, they see works by the artist (it is a good idea to visit his periodical exhibition), and we are going through observations and experiments on an artist or a movement in art. The key people in charge of running the project are the Arts teacher, the Music teacher, and the school owner who is a psychologist. The main motivation to join this project is expressed by our motto: "Learning is serious fun:" Have you participated in a European Union granted project.

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Italy

 

The school was founded in 2000 and is located in the third town hall of the city of Rome, which has 200,000 inhabitants. It’s about 10 km from the centre. There are about 1200 students and 115 teachers. Most of the students live in the school's neighbourhood. Junior High School (age 11- 13). The school consists of three separate school complexes. In two of them Nursery and Primary School follow Montessori method. Two of the three school complexes are set in a partially disadvantaged area. In our classes there are a lot of children with special needs (about 160) and a lot of foreign students. Our students study Spanish and English language. Our teaching method is based on respect for the learning ability of each pupil, and promotes the exercise and the development of skills through an active construction of knowledge. We help pupils to create their own experiences, as we believe that through the experience in the first person they can develop their personality. Our pedagogical method is based on the respect of learning abilities that every pupil has in order to promote, exercise and develop some valued building abilities. We believe that the teachers have the role to help students to understand their experiences through questioning and analyzing their problems. The teaching methodology is based on: attention to the person applying the Montessori method, cooperative learning and valid staff of teachers. We are very interested and active in inclusion topics, conflict mediation and gender equality, healthy lifestyles. Recently we implemented our school with new tools for an innovative teaching (ITC) that uses different technologies, especially in pursuit of greater inclusion. Our school often hosts teachers (Italian and European) and college students who want to learn the characteristics of the Montessori method. The teaching methodology is based on: attention to the person applying the Montessori method, presence, valid staff of teachers and curricular support, flexible working hours, relationships with families and with nearest stakeholders. Our motivation to join this project is based on recent studies: they show that children learn a lot from looking at or creating art in class. Creative activities can develop new neural paths when children’s brain is involved in creative activities. Furthermore, art has a strong connection with emotional brain that is strictly involved in decision making and problem solving. We hope during the lifetime of the project - through the partners' methods teaching art – we will get new impressions proving this theory. The key people involved in this project will be psychologist and a drama teacher of the school. They are responsible for showing and proving the influence of art on children's development and also for arranging and directing our play, the Travelling Story.

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Portugal

 

Agrupamento de Escolas de Argoncilhe is a state school cluster which includes 5 pre-schools, 6 primary schools - 1st cycle of learning (1st to 4th grade), 1 middle school – 2nd cycle of learning (5th to 6th grade) and secondary school – 3rd cycle of learning (7th to 9th grade). The number of students is as following: pre-school-245 students, primary - 482, middle/secondary - 496, in a total of 1223 students. In what concerns staff, there are 120 teachers and 62 staff members. The school is located in a rural area, surrounded by rivers, mountains and valleys, with dense forests and small villages, adorned by many opulent baroque churches and a medieval castle, where influences of Arab, Visigoth and Roman cultures can be seen. The level of instruction of the population is still extremely low: the percentage of women with higher education is about 5.6%, while in the case of men this

indicator is around 3.2%. Most students’ families struggle with difficulties and the demand for social protection measures has increased, mainly among segregated groups, such as gypsies and emigrants from eastern European countries. Although the high rates of early school-leaving in the county are not surprising, the efforts to reduce them at our school are remarkable and you can state that parents are generally engaged in the school activities, extra-curricular activities and children's progress. Escola Básica de Argoncilhe focuses on providing an education that widens students’ creative, artistic and critical competencies. It encourages pedagogies that also focus on learning through the arts and this includes performing arts (mainly music) and visual arts (crafts, design, animated films and digital arts). Activities at school, both curricular and extra-curricular, are expected to develop students’ cultural and aesthetic awareness and interest in art in general, and music and

visual arts in particular, in an effort of integrating disadvantaged groups of students, such as gypsies and students with special needs, providing them an inspiring environment where they may express themselves and consequently develop their own potential. The Animated Film Club, The Special Flavours & Crafts Club (especially designed for boosting the self-esteem of children with special needs) and The Music Club play an important role in the personal development and self-discovery. They are particularly helpful with the work with mixed-background groups. The key persons involved in this Erasmus + project are particularly experienced in both exploring the strengths of artistic forms of expression, especially through visual arts, and the coordination of different projects. The main aim is, therefore, to bring out the creativity of children, promoting equity, inclusion and respect for all.

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Estonia

 

Paikuse Põhikool is a basic school with 504 students and 35 teachers. Our students are at the age of 7 - 16 (in primary school 7 - 11). The school is situated in the Pärnu County (83 000 inhabitants), in Paikuse parish (3900 inhabitants). The county centre is Pärnu (40 000 inhabitants) - located in the South-West of Estonia. It is a popular health resort with its sandy beaches and the sea. The area where the school is located is quite advantage one. Social conditions are usually good, there is a strong population increase and also a good economic development, especially in the building industry. The school curriculum includes the teaching of such interesting subjects as chess, dance and drama. There are several choirs in our school. In Grade 3 our students start to study English and in Grade 6 the Russian language. Our institution is well equipped with ICT facilities. Paikuse Hobby School is located in the same building with Paikuse Basic School. After lessons the students can paint, create ceramic sculptures or deal with media studies there. Paikuse Basic school has a big sports and health care center which is also very popular among the local people. Not far from Paikuse Basic School there is Paikuse Police Collage which is a good partner for our school. Our participation in this project will be a huge motivating factor for our students regarding foreign languages. Some of our language teachers obtained their degrees abroad, so with their language expertise, they can easily guide our students over the language barrier. We consider that this project would be a great opportunity for our students to recognize the importance of speaking foreign languages. Better speaking skills will be developed and thus the participants will be able to overcome their timidity apprehensions speaking English. Besides speaking a foreign language, the participants will have the chance to get acquaintance with good practice in art teaching. Teachers who will take part in this project will surely influence it positively with their experience, professionalism, expertise, ambition, practical sense, respect for students, and motivation regarding their profession. As for methodology we appreciate integration in teaching very much. So far we have practised team work with different teachers and similar topics. It needs much effort as our National Curriculum does not stress it as much as we would like to. The aim of this project is definitely outstanding and could help the students with different abilities and at the same time it is the challenge for the teachers. As a project partner we would definitely like to share our experience with the other partners and we are eager to learn and try new things in our lessons to give new challenges to our students. The teachers in Paikuse have many skills the most relevant being languages, art, music, design and experts in our local area. Our teachers and students use widely ICT in teaching/learning process.

Testimonial

"Taking part in this project was the best experience of my life as a student."

                       Marco, Portugal

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