The First "Leading Lights" Erasmus+ Meeting in Caserta, Italy, October 2016

Happy Reunion! Meeting the Italian ex-exchange student, Michele delle Curti, from Liceo Scientifico A. Diaz, Caserta, Italy, who spent his last year studying at Laanila High School, Oulu, Finland.

1st TRANSNATIONAL MEETING PROGRAM:  "INCLUSION AND EQUITY"
LICEO SCIENTIFICO “ A.DIAZ” CASERTA, 

3rd-7th OCTOBER 2016

Monday 3rd October
9:00- Erasmus+ teachers get to Liceo Scientifico “A.Diaz”-Caserta
9:30- Conference room- The Principal welcomes the Erasmus+ teachers and all the participants to the meeting. Introduction of the Italian school’s staff involved in the project
10:00- Ms Claudia Tabiano and Mrs Mena Mone (English teachers) illustrate the focus of the Erasmus+ project KA2 2016-2019 “Leading Lights”, the role of the Italian school in the project, the theme of the 1st transnational meeting :“Inclusion and equity” and the activities planned for the meeting
11:00- Three students describe the school and the area of Caserta with a video giving historical and geographical details
11:30- The teachers from the coordinating and partner schools introduce themselves and the role of their schools in the Erasmus+ project
13:00- Lunch break
15:00- Visit of the Royal Palace Park in Caserta (Unesco World Heritage Site) with Italian teachers and groups of students as guides
17:00- Visit of the Royal Palace apartments with Italian teachers and groups of students as guides

Tuesday 4th October
9:00- Erasmus+ teachers get to Liceo Scientifico “ A.Diaz”-Caserta
9:30- Conference room- Two students discuss national and local immigration trends/national and local statistics about the number of foreign students in Italian schools
10:00- The school psychologist, Mr Emanuele Mingione, illustrates the complex process of personal identity building experienced during adolescence and the development of young people’s attitude towards diversity
10:45- Two graduates from our school show the video they made last year with their classmates, winner of the 2016 edition of a national contest for high school students. They proved their skills as mobile journalists and reporters making a video with the language of the TV news to describe the widespread phenomenon of the exploitation of young immigrants’ work
11:30- Coffee break
12:15-13:30 Workshop (Italian teachers involved in the Erasmus+ project and partner teachers) “Go through work plan”: plan the activities in detail, set final deadlines and make decisions about the website and logo

Wednesday 5th October
9:00- Erasmus+ teachers get to Liceo Scientifico “A.Diaz”-Caserta
9:30-Conference room-Mrs Stefania Modestino (Italian teacher) illustrates her three –year project “Understanding diversity as a means to avoid discrimination”, focusing on the relationship between young people and disability. Two students describe their participation to this project and show two video-interviews they made to representatives of national and international associations for the defense of the rights of disabled people.
11:00- Students involved in local Scout groups describe their personal experience and activities ranging from literacy campaigns, psychological support and volunteering activities for immigrants
11:30. Coffee break
12:15-13:30 Workshop ( Italian teachers involved in the Erasmus+ project and partner teachers)

Thursday 6th October
9:00- Erasmus+ teachers get to Liceo Scientifico “A.Diaz”-San Nicola la strada
9:30-Conference room- The Mayor of San Nicola welcomes the participants to the meeting
9:45- Some students from local Scout groups perform a roleplaying activity showing the interpersonal dynamics produced by prejudice and lack of communication due to ethnic-linguistic-social diversity.
11:00- A group of students describe their experience with the AFS programs for students mobility abroad, stating the immense value of a school year spent in another country as a chance to get to know different cultures and to overcome cultural prejudice.
11:30- Coffee break
12:15-13:30 Workshop (Italian teachers involved in the Erasmus+ project and partner teachers): new ideas, comments on the aims and content of the project.

Friday 7th October- Day trip to Naples
8:00- Four Italian teachers/Erasmus+ teachers/ a group of students leave for Naples ,35 km from Caserta ( private bus)
10:00- Visit of San Martino Museum, site of historical value on a hill overlooking the bay of Naples, from which it is possible to observe the city plan where over the last fifty years some areas have become separated by invisible barriers based on social, cultural, economic differences.
13:00- Lunch (about fifteen euros to be paid by each participant)
15:30- Visit of the “Diversity section” of the National Library – Naples. Meeting with Mr Giampiero Griffo, former president of “Disabled People International”, permanent member of the World Task Force for the defense of human rights and Bioethics, now member of the Italian Forum on diversity. His curriculum vitae includes his important contribution to the ONU convention on disability in 2007.

Sá de Miranda, Braga, Portugal: Theme projects

Pedagogy for Autonomy and Educational Success – What Relation? An Ongoing Multi-disciplinary School Project

Project initiated in 2007/08 with a group of teachers from different disciplinary areas, whose main aim is to foster learner autonomy as one means to achieve educational success.


MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
* Educational success depends on the development of competences (knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values).
* Educational success depends on the students’ active involvement in the teaching/learning process.
* Autonomy development requires a learner/learning-centred approach.
* Pedagogy for autonomy entails reflexive, potientially empowering teaching practices.


OBJECTIVES
* Promote coherence of practices, with reference to global curricular goals.
* Promote the integrated development of the learners’ academic and learning competences.
* Promote professional dialogue and peer collaboration.


SUSTAINABILITY FACTORS AND EFFECTIVE CHANGE
* Interest, commitment, participants’ engagement
* Critical attitude towards practice.
* Recognition of the relevance of the project as a collective initiative.
* Institutional support to the project.
* Teacher development on pedagogy for autonomy.
* role of contexts, learners and teachers
* pedagogical principles


ACTIVITIES
* Project team meetings.
* Materials design.
* Pedagogical experimentation.
* Project evaluation at the end of each school year (questionnaire).
* Dissemination of the work done.
* In the school (open sessions/seminars).
* At national and international conferences.
* Publications.

* Latest articles:
Barbosa, I., Kao, S. H., & Lacey, F. (2013). Teaching for autonomy – challenges and possibilities. In A. Barfiel & N. Delgado Alvarado (Eds.), Autonomy in Language Learning: Stories of Practices [Kindle]. Canterbury, England: IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG.

Barbosa, I., Pereira, C. & Branco, C. (2016). Espelho meu, espelho meu… Imagens das Práticas nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário. In Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología Educación, Vol. 3, núm. 1 (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2016.3.1

Sá Voluntário

Be a volunteer!
Being a citizen…
It all started in an attempt to enhance the feeling of a responsible citizenship among our students, hand in hand with the acquisition of further academic qualifications.
In order to achieve this goal and privilege a close contact with the surrounding community, our school established a partnership with a local institution – the Parish of S. Vicente. Some of the activities already put into practice included having students socialising with groups of elderly users of the Day Care Centre, helping in the social store and participating in campaigns to gather hygienic products for the parishioners.

All these activities are performed by volunteers – students from the 11th and 12th forms - who want to give their free time another meaning and use it to promote the welfare and better quality of life among the local community members.
The Parish is responsible for the project and for previous volunteering training.
Simultaneously, the school is fully committed in a real integration of intermediate level students with special learning needs, aged 11 to 14, by promoting, not only leisure activities specially planned to include this particular group of students, but also tutorial teaching activities performed by older students.
Those students who feel like embracing this experience just have to get in touch with the school teachers responsible for the project “Sá Voluntário” Dra Maria Eugénia Fernandes and Dra Maria do Carmo Vila-Chã and Make a Difference!

Project “Sá Solidário”

The project aims to involve all the agents of our educational community by sensitising them to donate products that will hopefully help needy community members overcome the lack of basic goods.
A group of teachers and students, in close cooperation with the Students’ Support Office (GAA) is asked to try to identify and select, among all students, those whose families show evidence of facing a difficult economic situation. The canned goods, donated by the members of our community, will be given to those families after having been used to build a sculpture that will be exhibited in a local and then, hopefully, in a national contest as part of the project “Canstruction”, addressed to all Portuguese schools.

Laanila High School, Oulu, Finland: Theme Projects

Human Rights Education through drama for Laanila students on May 3rd 2017! 😊

Thank you Johanna Lampinen and students from the Intercultural Teacher Education at Oulu University! Your visits are highly appreciated!

ENJOYING the International School Day of Non-Violence and Peace and passing the Dove of Peace at Laanila High School on 31st January 2017.

May it reach all our students, staff and friends and fill their hearts with compassion, hope and understanding.

See the video:

International School Day of Non-Violence and Peace

Lucia 2015 from the Swedish school visited Laanila High School's Swedish lessons on the 16th January 2017. 

Our students had the opportunity to learn more about the Swedish language, the Swedish speaking minority in Finland and about Aleksiina's further studies abroad. 

Two of our bravest Laanila students even interviewed her on the school radio!  

MEDIA PRESS RELEASE

”Home” dance show unites digital art, new technology and multiculturalism in Oulu

A celebration of diversity will be seen in Oulu when the first presentation of “Home” will be launched on the 7^th December.

The production, which has been built by local students together with young immigrants, unites dance, new technology and multiculturalism.

The group consists of young immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Congo, Great Britain, Japan and Kosovo as well as their Finnish peers. The aim of this pilot project is to offer young people an opportunity to create high quality art in a multicultural group which helps the members of the group start new friendships and integrate into the local community while learning new skills.

In addition to choreography and dance, the participants will learn new skills, for example, in interactive visual design, costume design, make-up, music and filming. The project consists of 20 young students from Laanila School, Laanila High School and Vuolle Community College.

“Home” is a touching show that celebrates diversity and is flavoured with the personal stories of the participants. The show is expected to increase the visibility of multiculturalism and the mutual understanding between people in Oulu.

The seven weeks’ project is implemented together with Laanila School, Laanila High School, Vuolle Community College, Cultural Centre Valve, EduLab at the University of Applied Sciences in Oulu, International Teacher Education of Oulu University and Oulu City Theatre. The project is supported by Central Arts Council.

The pilot is coordinated by TaikaBox ry which is a dance and digital art organization based in Oulu whose aim is to create new technological ways to experience dance.

”Home” will be presented at Cultural Centre Valve as a part of Colourful Cultures Festival at 7:00 pm on the 7^th December. The show will be seen together with the theatre artist Mika Kiviniemi’s “Huutelija” production. Free admission!

For more information: Tanja Råman, tanja@taikabox.com 044 981 7348 or                       Tiina Fredriksson, tiina.fredriksson@eduouka.fi 040 575 5337.

Unesco Course: "Colourful Cultures Digi Dance Magic" 

English speaking digi dance workshops together with high school students and young refugees. The 
main point is to plan, create and learn together in an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable way. Team work, openness, empathy, negotiation, manuscript, drama, graphics, digital art, set design, make up, clothing, lighting and sound. 

The course will be carried out with a line of local experts in diverse learning environments. 
Our partners include the following:

TaikaBox (http://taikabox.com/fi/)
Cultural Centre Valve (http://www.kulttuurivalve.fi/sivu/fi/)
The City of Oulu (http://www.ouka.fi/etusivu)
The City Theatre of Oulu (http://teatteri.ouka.fi/)
Oulu University of Applied Sciences  (http://www.oamk.fi/fi/)
Oulu University (http://www.oulu.fi/ktk/)
Community College Vuolle (http://vuolleoulu.fi/)

Global Me Course at Laanila 2016

Course content
Global.me course aims to preserve and enrich the multiculturalism and cultural diversity among the youth in Finland, helping the students aware of the globalization in the world, and promote the sustainable development in their daily life. Throughout this course, we want to create an impact on the students’ knowledge, attitude and skills in relation to global education. 

The objectives of the course are:

• To expand the understanding about the world and global issues among Finnish youth
• Increase tolerance and self-expression among Finnish youth
• Improve the possibilities of Finnish upper secondary schools to gain international experiences
• Improve students’ English proficiency (both written and spoken skills)