Key Action 2: Co-operation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices

“Community agreements for education-Comm Edu” -Project nr. 2021-2-IT02-KA210-SCH-000048370

A few words about the project

The general objective of Comm-Edu is to promote an innovative approach to school and extracurricular educational offerings on the subject of active and European citizenship, in order to combat educational poverty and early school leaving, based on the creation of educational communities at the local level involving public-private partnerships and the most relevant stakeholders.

The specific objectives will be:

  • Analyze the needs and good practices at the European level on education for active citizenship through the involvement of the educating community (global approach)
  • Promote the development of learning communities at local level, laying the foundations for the creation of a replicable model;
  • Elaborate a template, valid for several European countries, for the establishment of learning communities at the local level;
  • Promote awareness of the project’s themes among local communities and the involvement and participation of students within the educating communities.

The main output of Comm-Edu is the template “Community agreement”, for the development of a “community contract” between public, private, educational and third sector entities through which to establish communities of practice at the base of the model of educational offer dedicated to young people in the area. The template will be developed by the project partners on the basis of a careful analysis in the countries involved of the need for school and extra-school educational activities on issues related to active citizenship and European citizenship. The template will be the basis of the model of educational community that we want to experiment in the European countries involved.

The project also includes a series of process outcomes, fundamental to the achievement of the objectives, including:

Tools to reach and engage the local community;

Creation of educating communities at the local level in the 4 partner countries;

Establishment of dialogue between students, teachers, school leaders; local community representatives, parents and potential stakeholders;

Improvement of the educational offer dedicated to students on the theme of active and European citizenship;

Creation of links between different European realities in the field of school education.

The objectives and results link to the selected priorities as:

The project aims to improve the educational offer dedicated to students in order to combat educational poverty and early school leaving, promoting a holistic approach, based on the creation of communities of practice at the local level involving schools, teachers, students, public, private and third sector entities

Comm-Edu will focus its action on the promotion of educating communities at local level aimed at promoting active citizenship in students, which will be manifested in their direct involvement and participation in local communities and focusing the educational offer promoted by the project on the themes of active and European citizenship.

Duration: 16 months

Partnership:

  • La cooperativa sociale FARE-Italy (Coordinator)
  • Educom+, The community for the “plus” in education, Greece
  • MUSEV (Mucur Health, Social, Education, and Solidarity Foundation), Turkey
  • Osnovna skola Dobrise Cesarica, Croatia

For more info, click here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1lmYjfbPBgEr2MdBtE7M7E8seNob9n8bV

As the UNESCO Document Leading Better Learning: School leadership and quality in the Education 2030 agenda (2016) states, “effective school leadership is essential to improve the efficiency, equity and quality of education, particularly when schools are granted autonomy and principals receive appropriate support to make important decisions (Pont et al., 2008). It also demonstrates that successful school leaders can improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their support and influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions (Leithwood et al., 2008)” (2016: p. 13). Besides, it should be noted that intercultural leadership and inclusive leadership are top priorities for the E.U.

During the last two years, our schools have suffered a dramatic change as both teachers and pupils have had to adapt on short notice to a new panorama that in many aspects will likely prove to be irrevocable. Beside some positive changes such as the increasing use of new methodologies and technologies, the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has also emphasized the differences existing between our students, as the dependence on new technologies has made schools’ struggle to never leave any pupils behind even harder. The role of head teachers must be an ever-changing one, adjusting to the new teaching and learning scenario, being able to face the new challenges that the pandemic has posed, and ensuring inclusion and equity for all students, as well as the quality of education in their schools.

Under such premises, the Greek teachers association Educom+, the European School Heads Association (ESHA) and the Asociación de Directores y Directoras de Instituto de Andalucía (ADIÁN), designed and applied for a small scale partnership that was approved by the Spanish National Agency. During 2022, the three associations will carry out the Erasmus Plus project 2021-1-ES01-KA210-SCH-000034295 “Towards an Inclusive, Quality Education: Challenges and Opportunities of School Leadership” (or COSL, for short), that will bring together school leaders from different European countries in a shared effort to reflect on our profession and to achieve the aim of promoting equitable, inclusive quality education from the school head position.