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Kiiminki general upper secondary school participates in #ErasmusDays in a way that comes naturally to the school

Programmes Erasmus+ Erasmus+ for general education
The #ErasmusDays event is celebrated between 10 and 12 October 2019. During the event, information on what people have experienced and learned in the education, training, youth and sports projects under the Erasmus+ programme will be spread across Europe. The Kiiminki general upper secondary school participates in the event as part of the school’s seven-week team learning period organised every autumn.
ErasmusDays 2019 -banneri

Proficiency through dialogue, a two-year Erasmus+ staff training project, is currently under way at the Kiiminki upper secondary school. During the project, the school’s teaching staff participate in international courses that promote team learning, ICT skills and the objectives of the new curriculum. Participation in the project has benefited the school a great deal.

– In addition to new competence, our teachers have provided our school with new contacts to the other European countries. After the courses, they have shared their new knowledge with the other teachers and have also launched some small-scale eTwinning projects with the teachers they have met on these courses. We can make use of what people have learned on the courses, for example, during the team learning period, when we study across subject boundaries, says Pia Räsänen, the headmaster of the Kiiminki general upper secondary school.

Everyone in the school immediately decided they wanted to participate in the #ErasmusDays event. Räsänen sees the event as an opportunity to create international visibility to what happens in their school.  

– The event has not been defined too strictly so we can participate in a way and from a point of view that is suitable for our school. We saw the #ErasmusDays event as an opportunity to highlight the cooperation between different subjects in our school and show how we make use of the new competence acquired by our teachers, Räsänen explains.

#ErasmusDays fits easily into the school’s annual activities

For several years, the Kiiminki general upper secondary school has organised a seven-week team learning period in autumn. As all first-year students in the school participate in it, it was natural for the school to make participation in the event part of the team learning period.

– This year, the themes of the team learning period are related to the EU’s operation and goals. During the #ErasmusDays event, the topic of the period will be “Tomorrow in Europe – values and goals”. It goes well with the theme of the event and it will be easy to produce material for the event during that time, says Räsänen.

The Kiiminki general upper secondary school has actively participated in international activities. But what do internationalisation, international cooperation and Europeanness mean to them?

– The world is a “small” place today and it is important for our school to prepare the students to be part of an international world. We bring Europe and international contacts into the classroom in a variety of ways. Erasmus+ projects play a part in making it possible, says Räsänen.

Participation is possible in many different ways

#ErasmusDays is intended for those who are interested in international and European cooperation. All organisations and individuals who have been involved in the Erasmus+ programme can participate and there are many ways of doing it. You can talk about your experiences in the social media using the hashtag #ErasmusDays or organise an event, even a small one, that is in some way related to the Erasmus+ programme.

You can register your own events on the EU’s joint website www.erasmusdays.eu to give them local and Europe-wide visibility. This way, even a single project can make results of European cooperation known to the public and expand.  Welcome to join the celebration of international cooperation and Europeanness!