Who are we?
We are teachers from four different schools in Europe; Greece, Hungary, Poland and the United Kingdom. We came together as part of a common Erasmus+ project.
The reason?
We all wanted to see what it takes to educate global citizens. Research and current advice from policy makers have been advocating for a global dimension within formal education. Simply, this means that teachers should be preparing pupils for the needs of the 21st century. Although this is an extremely important task, there hasn’t been great guidance for teachers on how to do this. We are all professionals who are concerned about our society and the world. We want to ensure that we educate pupils that care about each other, care about the environment, care about our world, understand the values of democracy and social justice. We wanted to ensure that we develop teaching and learning practices that cultivate the development of responsible citizens in schools.
Our project:
We will be working together for two years and we will be focusing on a range of different topics. Some of these topics are:
- UNICEF’s Universal Convention of the Rights of the Child
- The Refugee Crisis
- Europe Day
- The Sustainable Development Goals
- What is takes to be a Global Citizen?
During the project we will be suggesting a range of different teaching and learning activities that teachers can use to promote these values to their pupils. By the end of the project we are hoping to publish a handbook of the activities that we have used and worked in our classrooms and share it with other education practitioners.
Join our discussions and share your own vision about an education that believes that pupils can make our world a more just and democratic place to live…
Find out more about our schools:
Glebe Primary School, London, UK
Glebe Primary School, London, UK
Glebe Primary School is an outstanding large three form entry Primary school based in the North
London. Our location is ideal for travel into central London and this can be done within half an hour by
public transport. Our consistent commitment to maintaining this high quality has secured our position
in the top 10% of schools in the country. The school itself is a thoroughly diverse community, with
pupils from different parts of the world (eg Romania, Poland, India, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nigeria and
Afghanistan). Numerous languages are spoken by the children and their families and the school
regards this as a major strength. The families of our pupils play an important role in supporting the
school's activities and the school community. Glebe Primary is an inclusive school, with a dedicated
team of professionals. There are a few families whose circumstances are challenging. However, the
school works tirelessly through its numerous projects, to support these families and cultivate a
positive learning environment. There are approximately 90 paid members of staff as well as some
working in a voluntary capacity and 686 pupils on role. As a technologically advanced school with
accreditations from the ICT Mark Naace and SAFER ONLINE E-safety Mark, we make extensive
use of a range of technological features in all elements of our curriculum. The school holds the
Unicef's Rights Respecting Level 2 award as well as the international school award at an outstanding
level. Additionally, we are a learning hub for communication and language learning (EAL and MFL),
providing systems of leadership and support to other schools in the borough. Our strong team of
mentors help to lead the induction of student teachers, and a range of well-recognised higher
education institutions, liaise closely with us in helping to educate future teachers. The international
co-ordinator (WK) has extensive experience in managing international projects and will be
overseeing this potential project. WK is the research and development co-ordinator in the school, and
her and other leaders are delivering training in promoting research within formal education not only in
our schools but other local schools, too. Also, the school has been part of the Global Learning
programme and has been developing relevant practices within its curriculum. One of the schools
teachers (GE) and member of the international team has been pursuing his PhD at the field of global
citizenship education and has participates in a range of international conferences. Finally, the school
has collaborated with the UCL/IOE and holds the CPD award at platinum level. Hence, the school is
particularly interested in the development of responsible citizenship within schools. The International
team, formed by approximately 10 people is responsible for coordinating all the international links. In
case of any of the current leaders leaving their post, this will be succesfully taken over by other
experienced and well trained staff.
10th Primary School of Kalamata, Greece
10th Primary School of Kalamata, Greece
The 10th Primary School of Kalamata was established in 2014. It is a Primary School of six grades (6
to 12 years old). We currently have almost 300 children from Greece and the neighbouring Balkan
countries. It’s the latest and the biggest school in our region at the moment. The School has 16
teachers of all grades, 5 foreign language teachers(English, French and German), an ICT-teacher, 2
PE teachers, a music teacher, a drama teacher and an art teacher. Moreover, we have two teachers
for children with SEN and 2 psychologists. The school is widely regarded as a school that provides a
good quality of education for all its pupils through new innovative ways. Furthermore, school’s
philosophy is to provide learning programmes that are challenging and appropriate to the present
and future needs of our children –Skills for Success. We aim to provide quality learning experiences
that are engaging, enriching and enjoyable through a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum. In
addition to the core curriculum our pupils engage in a wide range of extra activities and programs
linked to their own lives and the local community. The School has 14 classes for Greek language
lessons. Moreover, it has a class for children with special educational needs, a computer lab, a
chemistry lab, a music class, an art class, a school library, a resource room for Parent
Meetings/Courses, a school garden and a large event hall. Finally, all classes have internet
connection.The school often participates in relevant school projects including social, environmental
and cultural projects. All teachers address educational needs through new innovative and
student–oriented ways. Currently, teachers and children participate in almost 15 projects.
Furthermore, this year, we participate in a social school project which promotes themes such as
peace, children’s rights, intercultural understanding, citizenship education, respect for diversity and
tolerance, and inclusiveness. We approach these subjects not only on a theoretical level but also in a
practical way through music, theatre, visual arts and by organizing events which promote voluntary
practices. Lastly, the School closely works with the community. We organize weekly special events
free for everyone to participate like book or movie presentations etc. Our Erasmus team, which is
currently expanding, consists of 5 energetic and innovative teachers, who will be ready to take over
any responsibilities. All of them speak English fluently and have knowledge of how to work in a
project like this. They are open minded, tolerant and creative. They are hard workers and they
promote innovative educational skills, experimental methods and interdisciplinary teaching
techniques in a more student–centered learning environment, where all students develop cognitively,
emotionally and socially. We enjoy working together and we believe we have the ability to spread the
benefits of the project both inside the school and at the international level.
Weöres Sándor Általános Iskola és Gimnázum, Budapest
Weöres Sándor Általános Iskola és Gimnázum, Budapest
Weöres Sándor Általános Iskola és Gimnázum is situated in the 9th district of Budapest, in the heart
of József Attila Residential Area. The institution consists of primary and secondary grammar schools
and has a swimming-pool and an ice-skating rink. We have 750 students(390 students in the primary
school/360 students at the secondary school). Our students are mainly from the capital city but a
large number of them commute from the outskirts and the neighbouring villages and towns. We
provide a place for immigrant students from China, Vietnam, Argentina and Greece. We are a
humanistic school where we take up dealing with students who have learning difficulties such as
dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia or being undermotivated as for their previous learning
experience or problematic social background. Our significant pedagogical aims help these students
overcome their disadvantages and perform to their full potential. In our pedagogical programme we
emphasize five basic values: openness, partnership, flexibility, care and harmony. We focus on
growing up students with harmonic personality to assist them find the balance in their environment
based on their personal skills and talents. Our teachers adapt their teaching to students' needs and
are open to deal with students who have learning difficulties. We specialise at drama course which
was originally created to develop our students’ personality and give them self-confidence in their
studies and career. We noticed that those students who had learning and behaviour difficulties were
eager to take part in these lessons. After all, they became interested in other cross-curricular
subjects such as History, Literature, Geography and Foreign Languages. In Primary School we have
classes with a higher number of foreign language lessons. In our language preparatory classes,
students spend 5 years with first year focusing on languages and IT skills. By the end of their studies,
these students are able to take at least B2 language exams in one or two foreign languages. In 2011,
we managed to win the approval of a Comenius project which has given our students and colleagues
a great chance to meet different European cultures and develop their English language knowledge.
From 2011 we do Etwinning projects with several countries not only from Europe but all over the
world. Our team is highly qualified and every single member is ready to take over any required
leading responsibility. Our coordinator, Barbra Zielonka, was in the top ten for Global Teacher Prize.
We hope that this project will continue our global cooperation, make international connections with
peers and experts from all over the world and improve our students’ problem solving skills, critical
thinking. We aim to find with our students what global citizenship means, how to generate evaluate,
select and implement solutions culturally, environmentally and socially. We believe that this skill will
be one of the most important ones in the future.
Publiczna Szkola Podstawowa z Oddzialami
Integracyjnymi im. Wincentego Kwasniewskiego, Poland
Our school is situated in Zblewo, a small village in the north of Poland. We are a big public primary
school with 503 students aged from 5 to 15 and we've got 46 teachers. Our school plays an
important role in the local community and parents are actively involved in our daily activities. English
is being taught across the school and students' progress is good in all areas of the curriculum. Our
school has these technological advances that are considered important for the delivery of our
curriculum. We are keen on promoting innovative teaching and learning practices as we want to offer
long lasting learning experiences to all of our pupils. Art and DT have an important element in our
activities, too. As the class teachers, we very often have to help our students to understand their role
in their community, their country, and their world which is constantly changing. Thus, our experience
could be helpful in collaborating on some teaching and learning practices to assist the development
of responsible citizenship. Also, we wish to explore the cultural heritage of other participating
countries and give the chances to our pupils to gain a range of experiences and skills that will be
extremely important for the multicultural society we are currently living. Furthermore, including areas
of research and development in our daily teaching and learning practice is something that we are
really keen on and our participation in this project will definitely enhance our further understanding.
Most of our staff have been involved in etwinning projects and bring a great experience of the
European culture in teaching and learning. Our Erasmus team is greatly supported by a team of
dedicated professionals who are really keen on managing several tasks.
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