“Expanding Learning Mobility through inclusion and cooperation” is an EFIL-coordinated large scale project involving AFS and school partners from France, Latvia, Spain and Belgium. Its key focus is to explore cooperation framework between schools and civil society organisations within Erasmus+, geared in particular towards including underprivileged pupils in individual long-term mobility. The project will last for 24 months, starting from November 2020. It is supported by Erasmus+ funding within Key Action 2 – Strategic Partnerships in School Education.
The objectives of “Expanding Learning Mobility through inclusion and cooperation” are to:
- Develop a quality educational framework for individual blended pupil mobility with underprivileged audiences
- Empower teachers to effectively promote, support, recognise and leverage pupil mobility in general, with less advantaged audiences in particular
- Engage schools and civil society organisations in recurring Erasmus+ projects, as a part of their overall European and international strategies
- Build and promote a sustainable model for partnerships between schools and organisations specialised in pupil mobility
In order to achieve all the objectives, throughout the project the partners will be working together on:
1. The development of a Guidebook to individual pupil mobility with underprivileged audiences, through cooperation between schools and civil society organisations, as an Intellectual Output of the project. The Guidebook in English will include sections dedicated to: the educational framework for individual pupil mobility, recommendations on recognition of learning outcomes, practical and risk management aspects, inclusion of pupils with fewer opportunities, whole school approach to internationalisation and the cooperation model between schools and civil society organisations. The last section focused on the cooperation model will be published as a brochure and translated into French, Spanish and Latvian.
2. Small scale individual blended mobility of pupils for a period of 2 months (winter 2022), which will serve as a pilot for the Guidebook content and for the cooperation model developed in the project partnership. The pupils – in total 12, with 3 sent and hosted in each project country – will all be selected among those with diverse underprivileged backgrounds.
3. Two international staff training events, each involving approximately 25 participants: teachers of the schools and educators of the civil society organisations of the project. The first event, planned for summer 2021, focuses on hands-on implementation of the mobility educational framework, capitalising on and feeding into the relevant elements of the project Guidebook. The second one, to take place in the summer 2022, is centred on sustainability and future planning for embedding pupil mobility in the long-term internationalisation strategies of schools.
4. Five multiplier events to disseminate project outcomes to different stakeholders. The first event – taking place in Brussels in spring 2022 in synergy with the Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange – will involve 50 participants from different countries, including school and civil society representatives, policy makers, researchers and experts from the field. The following four events will be organised at national level in autumn 2022, each to reach 20-30 different school and civil society stakeholders in the project countries.
All the activities will be embedded in the cooperation between schools and civil society organisations, using the respective expertise and outreach of the project partners. In particular for developing the Guidebook, organising pupil mobility and the national multiplier events, bilateral collaboration in each project country will be key. The results expected – next to the production of a practical G
uidebook tool, the contents and resources of the international staff training events, and the new competences of the learning activities participants – will focus mainly on building a sustainable future for individual pupil mobility. This includes increased interest of schools and civil society organisations in cooperation, in pupil mobility and in development of internationalisation strategies. The central result is a quality framework for inclusive individual pupil mobility, with effective educational approaches, outreach to wider school communities and clear task division for the different actors involved. Finally, the results will include commitment and readiness of the schools and civil society organisations, as well as their staff involved, to carry out concrete mobility projects with less privileged audiences within the Erasmus+ framework.
Through these results the project will have a strong learning impact on the direct participants of the activities and capacity building impact on the participating organisations, including their staff and learners. Beyond the consortium, other schools, civil society actors and policy makers will gain awareness on needs and opportunities for pupil mobility, and concrete tools for acting upon them. In the long-term we expect the project to contribute to the growth and development of individual pupil mobility across Europe.
Coordinator
- European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL)
AFS partners:
- AFS Vivre sans Frontière – AFS France
- AFS Latvija – AFS Latvia
- AFS Intercultura España – AFS Spain
- AFS Programmes Interculturels – AFS French speaking Belgium
School partners:
- Lycée Fulbert in France
- Rīgas 49. Vidusskola in Latvia
- IES Pradolongo in Spain
- Athénée Royal du Sippelberg in Belgium