My Roots Manifesto
Writing the cultural Manifesto of My Roots and the creation of its Mascot and also the Logo were the starting point of some friendly competitions amongst the students involved in the project. The activities proposed kept everybody on their toes, the students being excited to put their creation at work. Finally, after all the participant countries have voted their favourite ones, here are the winners!
We congratulate everybody on their effort and creativity and are proud of our work together as a Team!
My Roots Mascot
SUMMARY
This project aims to safeguard Cultural Heritage by transferring knowledge, skills and meaning. It specifically focuses on transmitting and communicating this cultural wealth which will lead to us being good citizens with European Identity.
Through the framework of ET2020, the project focuses on training people for creative and innovative purposes, involving the European Team spirit.
It also promotes the values of freedom, inclusion, tolerance, friendship, equity through many activities, having social inclusion as a top priority and gathering as many students as possible to make this goal a reality.
The project includes 6 schools from Turkey, Romania, Portugal, Italy, North Macedonia and Croatia, including as many teachers and students as possible, taking every person into consideration. Each month will have a separate activity, being connected to the main theme of “Intangible Cultural Heritage”. It aims to diminish the effects of bullying, to strengthen team building, peer learning and group identity. Foreign languages will come into play as well, encouraging participants to learn each other’s mother languages.
It also aims to work with parents and locals, spreading the message and the positive impact this project will have on its participants. Universities and NGOs are also encouraged to join in, thus propelling the impact even further.
This project will not be restricted to the 6 schools previously mentioned, involving the idea of inter- and trans-disciplinarity paying all competences, skills, values gained forward to our communities.
BRIEF PRESENTATION OF SCHOOLS
Sincan Şehit Abdullah Büyüksoy Bilim Ve Sanat Merkezi is a Science and Art Center from Turkey, a public school which works on gifted children, founded in May of 2019. Students aged from 8 to 18 attend this institution after passing the academic evaluations. Scholars develop their initiative, entrepreneurship, civic skills, 21st century skills, creativity and problem-solving skills.
Workshops are joined according to each individual’s interests. 320 students attend the Science and Art Center School along 20 staff members and 4 personnel for other works. Teachers are elected according to their education certificates resulting in more qualified personnel. The learning model is project based.
Colégio Santa Eulália from Portugal is a private primary school in Sanguêdo, a non-profit private association, CASTIIS (Centre for Social Services for Elderly and Children). Its mission is to promote children, elderly and public in general, increase quality of life by fulfilling their needs or through the development of adapted answers to the local social problems. It also has many different areas of intervention such as nursery, kindergarten, Leisure Activities Centre, Temporary Residential Child Care, Nursing Home, Day Care Centre, Home Help Service, Community Centre and primary / elementary School.
Colégio Santa Eulália was designed to ensure the economic sustainability of the Residential Child Care opened in 2010; it currently teaches 84 pupils aged from 6 to 12. Being a certified private school, the institution strives to surpass the basic education by granting outstanding lifelong skills, having as a goal self-initiative, autonomy, creativity and innovation spirit.
The State Comprehensive School “Fiorentino” from Italy is characterized by three levels of education: Preschool Level, for children aged 3 to 6; Primary Level, compulsory, for children aged 6 to 11; Secondary Level, compulsory, for students aged 11 to 14; there are 828 students and 86 teachers.
Laboratory classes are widely practiced in order to reach successful results in each subject.
The school is located near the Cilento National Park which is not only important from the material point of view (natural, historical, geological, archaeological) but also has an "immaterial" wealth, little known and which is at risk of extinction.
A direct manifestation of this wealth is the knowledge handed down orally by ancestors which concerns customs and habits of local communities. This wealth is necessary to recreate and enhance not only to give a sense of identity but also to give job opportunities, develop tourism that further incentives the local economy, encourage sustainable development, maintaining ecological processes essential for the production of food and artifacts as well as for the protection of the genetic diversity of the animal world.
The National College of Computer Science “Grigore Moisil” from Romania has 720 pupils and 51 teachers. The students are aged from 10-18. The school is computer science based with several classes with intensive-English department.
The pupils have very good results in many contests and competitions abroad and in their country. The motivation is very strong since the focus is on competences and abilities for scholars and teachers. The key will be the teachers who have experience in projects and school partnerships. Having their tenure degree, long-time projects will not be an issue. The school has successful participation in many national and international contests and competitions. The area the school is placed is a mountainous region, where tourism and many companies are in continuous development. In this school, with the help of the teachers who focus on 21st century skills, IT and the English language, students prepare to build a successful career in life.
Osnovo Uciliste Aleksandar Urdarevski from North Macedonia school was built in 1965 and provides a quality learning environment that causes the student to achieve personal interest and develop a positive vision for their future. The school consists of 250 aged from 6 to 15. The staff includes about 22 teachers Students are encouraged to participate in various educational activities.
This institution is motivated to participate in this project since it’s located next to an area characterized by ethnographic, folklore, and dialectal features. They encourage to take the children in the natural environment in which students and teachers exchange experiences and discover different cultures. The key people involved in this project will be a team of staff members.
Osnovna škola doktora Franje Tuđmana is the Primary school doctor Franjo Tuđman from Croatia it covers a program prescribed by the Ministry of Education. This program also provides classes for pupils with disabilities. It has 314 students, 46 teachers and others workers 13.
This institution encourages students to learn about their cultural heritage and save it for future generations. Through this project pupils will have opportunity to also learn about the cultural heritages of other countries.
3 teachers will be the key persons that lead and coordinate this project. They are experienced in EU founded projects. This team will lead all other schools into details such as how to handle each topic and to be concise.
THE MOTIVATION OF THE PROJECT
The project itself represents an intangible cultural heritage that varies from a community to another. The main purpose of the project is spreading information about different cultures, for instance, the foreign language that is spoken, the traditions and habits in the lands, the atmosphere and the citizens. As a consequence, at the end of this project a larger vision and a better perspective about human different cultures shall be achieved, succeeding in fighting xenophobia.
This project aims at non-formal activities which encourage the skills and competences of young students, as much as active citizenship as declared in The Lisbon Treaty (2008). This scheme is designed for broadening their vision through a series of activities in order to develop their skills, citizenship and local identity.
The methodology to train students will be shared, promoting active citizenship, creativity and innovation, including the European Team identity. Intangible Cultural Heritage can obviously be learned through reading and achieving information regarding this area with the help of all sources.
This would also aid in breaking barriers such as xenophobia between cultures, because migration, asylum, and social inclusion are today’s biggest issues, and those must be dealt sensitively with, in order to maintain peace in the world.
Consequently, we must all know about people’s rights, culture, protecting and respecting others, fraternity, equality, equity.
OBJECTIVES
Our objectives are to:
raise awareness on Intangible Cultural Heritage and the importance of safeguarding it;
make students adopt Life Long Learning as their own motto;
give our students a more broad-based education to ensure their all-round or holistic development, in and out of the classroom;
compare / contrast the Intangible Heritages;
gather around common products for students' and Teachers' integration to the project by heart;
inspire students with the passion for research about cultures;
help participants to improve the their attitude towards Intangible Cultural Heritage ,increase the pupils’ understanding about the ways to integrate it education as much as possible;
create many tangible outcomes/ products in all fields in local and digital platforms using appropriate web 2.0 tools to tell about Intangible Cultural Heritage for more visibility;
put social inclusion on top of the agenda to be able to bring solution to the world's present immigration/ asylum problem;
share methodology, project and activity plans to train students promoting active citizenship and enhancing creativity, innovation, including the European spirit (ET2020);
inform other schools, local authorities, parents about our activities to learn about our project and include them in all activities as much as we can;
make all students and teachers develop better civic competences around intercultural dialogue, social inclusion, religious understanding, equity, fraternity and encourage the skills and competences of young pupils as much as active citizenship (The Lisbon Treaty);
reinforce students’ self-esteem, self-awareness;
foster a more engaging and creative educational experience, regardless of learning style or any talent;
foster the collaborative learning among students and also the quality of project and to inspire the interested ones for further project ideas;
encourage teachers for further projects;
raise awareness on e-Twinning, Erasmus+ Projects and insert life-long-learning philosophy within the students and teachers;
fight xenophobia to help preserve world peace;
develop social dialogue in its real meaning around the theme of European Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy;
show the creativity of each culture within the point of their own view towards the life;
use culture as a combining power term focusing on the commonalities and as a richness power focusing on the differences making us feel the piece of the big puzzle;
foster social inclusion which means understanding the other without assimilating but living together respecting reciprocally;
develop social dialogue in its real meaning around the theme of European Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy;
show the creativity of each culture within the point of their own view towards the life.