Project objectives

PROJECT PRIORITIES:

• SOCIAL INCLUSION

• SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE

• PROMOTING A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

TOPICS ADDRESSED BY THE PROJECT:

• Creativity and culture

• EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

• Health and wellbeing

 START WITH YOURSELF project partners aim to raise knowledge and improve social empathy levels in partner schools. The key focus is to use social empathy to intertwine all the students, families and staff within the school communities. 

This project objective is to enhance all participants’ awareness on the critical role social empathy plays in schools and students’ future work setting in a global and multicultural society. 

The project specific objectives will enable all participants to: 

• be more aware of the importance and key role of social and intercultural dialogue amongst 250 students (age 12-15) as well as all the other participants; 

• raise understanding of cultural and social differences; 

• encourage and develop interpersonal empathy, social tolerance and responsibility; 

• decrease students’ emotional stress, bullying and risky behaviours; 

• boost students’ self-esteem, wellbeing, kindness and health; 

• achieve the ET2020 framework objectives. 

Our project objectives are in line with the chosen priorities to help all participants to understand differences, acquire, develop a sense of social empathy and achieve social inclusion. The 5 different European partners working collaboratively will bring an enriching intercultural dimension to this project as they will help participants to be more open-minded and to widen their cultural horizons as well as to enhance social and intercultural skills. Participants will be provided with a range of opportunities to boost key skills such as communication, teamwork, social empathy, critical thinking, creativity and problem solving, leading them to better understand both their own national identity and the EU cultural heritage as well as enhancing social cohesion. 

As English is the common working language, language teachers will have a especially proactive job by providing students with more real life situations to motivate and encourage them to communicate and interact more in English. 

The constant collaborative work and support from all the teachers will enhance cross-curricular teaching and learning opportunities. All participants will be able to enjoy formal and non-formal learning situations giving them suitable contexts to complete all activities fostering collaborative work. 

The project will bridge knowledge and skill gaps, will foster students’ social empathy leading to success through 21st century skills such as teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, decision-making, digital literacy and flexibility.