Co-operation Project Took Us All the Way to Italy
Between Wednesday Nov.10 and Friday Nov. 13, 11 representatives from Parkskolan took part in a conference in Monza in Northern Italy. The Swedish delegation consisted of students as well as teachers and members of the school- board. Beside meetings and lectures we had time both to tie new bonds of friendship and to experience the Italian culture. The journey was carried through as a part in the exchange project “ECCE” where Parkskolan has been involved since a number of years. The abbreviation stands for “European Citizen Challenging Education” and the project aims at increasing democracy in schools and social commitment among students. Above all, students are encouraged to establish international contacts. The idea of a co-operation was born in August 1996 when representatives of the Italian upper secondary school Mosé Bianchi, situated in Monza just east of Milan, visited Parkskolan.. In January the following year a meeting was held between Parkskolan, Mosé Bianchi and the British Bishop Heper High School from Malpas, where it was decided that students from the three schools were to be given the possibility to jointly run a school magazine on Internet. This magazine was called Freeway. ECCE- a Growing Project Today the project has grown to comprise another two schools: Gimnazia”Romain Rolland” in Bulgaria and Malbank School in Great Britain. The home page www.freeway.org is a channel for communication about what happens within the ECCE - in the democratic work in the schools. The annually recurrent conferences where representatives of all the schools meet have been possible to finance thanks to contributions from the EU. “But you must know that this is not anything that has grown by itself” stresses Hélène Strömmer, teacher of Swedish and History at Parkskolan and one of the initiators of the co-operation. “All those involved have worked really hard to get financial contributions from the EU, and without money this exchange would not have been possible”
New Guidelines Drawn in Monza Those responsible for the project are obliged to report regularly on what the money is used for and what the co-operation of the schools have resulted in. If the project would no longer be considered to serve its purpose the EU would stop its financing. In 2003 a conference was held in Malpas, England, where the participators discussed what guidelines were now to apply for the co-operation. When they reunited this year in Italy the main task was to evaluate the work of last year and to refine the guidelines for the coming schoolyear. A number of “topics” were agreed on, topics which the articles of the students had to stick to so that the Internet page would be given a clearer structure. It was also decided that the conference next year was to be held in Bulgaria. Rewarding Interchange between Students Considering the fact that Freeway aims at increased communication between students from different countries, we students had as our principal task to try to get to know each other, and by that lay a foundation of continuous contacts. For that reason we were each given a “host” among the Italian students who guided us through the Italian everyday and was responsible for our accommodation. While teachers and head teachers were sitting in meetings during daytime, we students attended the classes of our hosts, and only on Thursday we had the opportunity of taking part in the discussions about the continuation of the project. Beside the work, we were invited to imbibe the Italian atmosphere on several occasions, and to be impressed by cultural treasure and famous monuments. Still, we felt that the most valuable of all was the e-mail addresses to the students we had got to know during our stay abroad. After all it is that kind of contact that the “ECCE” has aimed at encouraging all the time. ___________________________________________________________________________ |
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