Founded in August 2023 by two eTwinning schools – Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu”, located in Pătârlagele town, Buzău county, Romania, and Korgeneral Enver Akoğlu Ortaokulu, located in Bandırma town, Balikesir, Turkey – the project „Let’s Be Well Together!” aims at identifying and solving some of the problems affecting the well-being of each school community involved in this international partnership, while its local and transnational activities will contribute to the emotional, personal, social and academic development of the participants through collaboration, ICT tools and digital resources, intercultural dialogue and experience exchange.
Therefore, by the end of the project implementation we expect to build an international team based on collaboration and exchange of good practices, communication and positive change and to improve the individual and collective well-being in each partner school community through artistic expression, connectedness, physical and emotional health, outdoor activities, engagement and positive action. We are confident that if we start to cultivate and promote proactive attitudes and behaviours, especially the participants’ assertiveness, mindfulness, self-compassion, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, motivation, caring, empathy, confidence and resilience etc., we will succeed in developing the participants’ awareness, skills and abilities in terms of self-acceptance, conflict mediation and resolution, failure and negative emotion management, school-related stress, relationship problems, (cyber)bullying prevention rather than cure, coping with criticism and negativity etc.
The main school subjects to be developed during the project activities are: Foreign Languages, Counselling and Orientation, Art, Music, Drama, Informatics/ICT, Psychology, Physical Education, Health Studies, Cross Curricular, Special Needs Education, Civics etc.
In Romania, the most relevant school subjects for the project will be: Counselling and Orientation and Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The first subject, focusing on the development of the key competences of the future graduates through formal, non-formal and informal learning in different environments and communities, involving skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, team work, communication, creativity, negotiation, analytical and intercultural skills etc. will also contribute to the improvement of key competences such as: literacy competence, multilingual competence, digital competence, personal, social and learning to learn competence, citizenship competence, entrepreneurship competence and cultural awareness and expression competence.
As for the second subject, teaching English as a foreign fanguage, the main general competences from the national curriculum improved by the project activities will be: receiving messages transmitted orally or in writing in different communication situations, producing oral or written messages appropriate to certain communication contexts, making interactions in oral or written communication and the transfer and mediation of oral or written messages in various communication situations.
The main values and attitudes to be promoted during the English classes, according to the current national curriculum, are: demonstrating flexibility in the exchange of ideas and team work in different communicatios situations, awareness of the role of the English language as a means of access to the world cultural heritage, willingness to accept differences and show tolerance through a critical approach to differences and cultural stereotypes and developing interest in discovering specific cultural aspects, through receiving a variety of texts in English.
The participants will create opportunities to get to know and understand themselves better, as well as one another, they will discover their strengths and learn how to improve their weaknesses so that they can become more confident, more optimistic, more motivated, autonomous individuals, equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and values to make the best decisions they can and cope with challenging situations, so that they can achieve their potential and lead healthy, successful, fulfilling lives.
The following 21st century skills are the most relevant in the context of the project: communication, collaboration, social skills, critical thinking, creativity, information and media literacy, technology literacy, flexibility, leadership, initiative and productivity.
The most important resources and tools to be used will be human resources (the project team), material resources and tools (computers, mobile phones, school supplies etc.), digital resources (the Internet, authentic teaching and learning materials – articles, interviews, songs, videos, books, quotations etc.) and tools (Google forms, Mentimeter, Padlet, Canva, Book Creator, Blog, Video, Kahoot, Learning Apps etc.) for communication, collaboration, dissemination and evaluation, time for the synchronous and asynchronous work and space resources provided by each partner school.
After the project initiation and building of the international project team, there will be an online meeting conducted by students (supported by their teachers) from each partner school to establish the main project activities (both the local and the collaborative, international ones) and plan the main joint outcomes, decide together on the project calendar/timeline, share the roles and responsibilities and agree on the rules to be followed in terms of GDPR, Netiquette etc. One of the most important preparation steps will be to identify not only the project participants’ needs and expectations in terms of happiness and wellbeing, their individual weaknesses and threats preventing them from living better, more fulfilling lives, but also the main real problems and threats in each school community. The implementation of the project activities will address these negative aspects (both locally and transnationally) so that solutions will be found and the initial situations will improve, together with the participants’ knowledge, competences, skills, attitudes and behaviours.
To identify the initial needs and expectations of the participants, to measure the progress or improvements made, as well as the final results, we will use online questionnaires and surveys (Google forms, Mentimeter etc.).
As stated before, the project team in each school will be responsible for identifying the educational needs of the participants and those of the extended communities to be addressed and the project activities will be designed not only to meet those needs, but also in ways that will encourage and capitalize on the participants’ preferences, interests, talents, abilities and skills.
The tangible and intangible results of the project activities (collaborative Padlets, multimedia presentations, digital books, art/poetry workshops, virtual exhibitions of inspirational and motivational posters, testimonials, dissemination brochures and articles on blogs and in online magazines etc.) will be shared in the project Twinspace and promoted on iTeach.ro, the most supportive teaching community in Romania, and on the European School Education Platform to increase the eTwinning collective knowledge and portfolio of experiences, resources, pedagogical innovation and good practices as well as on each partner school’s website (to inform and educate the entire community), on YouTube, on social media platforms and on blogs, during teachers’ pedagogical meetings, conferences and webinars etc. to reward the participants’ involvement, dedication, enthusiasm, creativity, collaboration and team work, contribution, progress, achievements and positive change etc.
We will also showcase the impact of the project activities in order to encourage and inspire other European schools with similar needs to follow our example and use our resources and methods to improve the wellbeing of their community and increase the efficiency, sustainability, thus adding value to our project. In accordance with the eTwinning community core principles, standards and regulations, each partner school will strictly follow the GDPR, informing the participants and their parents about it and formally obtaining the parental consent to collect, store and manage the personal data of the minors for all the project activities.
Along with the more traditional forms of project evaluation (initial, ongoing and final questionnaires and feedback surveys), there will be self-assessment and peer-assessment activities as well as genuine reflection opportunities for the participants to analyse and assess their own learning experiences and document their progress and personal growth.