IES BREAMO - Pontedeume (Galicia, Spain)
Pontedeume is a medium-size coastal village located in the area of influence of Ferrol, once a ship-building economy-based town. This fact made our village suffer the aftermath of the important crisis this sector underwent in the 80s and the 90s of the past century. Its long effects, together with the latest developments of the present crisis, last up to the present day.
As a public general secondary school, IES Breamo hosts mainly middle and lower class pupils from the village and its surroundings, including a number of them at risk of social exclusion. Although their number has lately decrased due to the economic crisis, inmigrant youngsters have become more abundant in the last fifteen years, and this situation has created new challenges for educators working on their effective integration. In the past years IES Breamo has developed a positive tradition of taking part in European activities. The present aim is still widening the circle of staff involved in these activities, a task which has recently given some significantly good results with the inclusion in the Comenius activities of teachers who do not belong to foreign language departments. This effort should be maintained in the years to come.
IES Breamo employs around 40 teachers, over 300 students aged 12 to 18 and 7 administrative and service staff.
As a public general secondary school, IES Breamo hosts mainly middle and lower class pupils from the village and its surroundings, including a number of them at risk of social exclusion. Although their number has lately decrased due to the economic crisis, inmigrant youngsters have become more abundant in the last fifteen years, and this situation has created new challenges for educators working on their effective integration. In the past years IES Breamo has developed a positive tradition of taking part in European activities. The present aim is still widening the circle of staff involved in these activities, a task which has recently given some significantly good results with the inclusion in the Comenius activities of teachers who do not belong to foreign language departments. This effort should be maintained in the years to come.
IES Breamo employs around 40 teachers, over 300 students aged 12 to 18 and 7 administrative and service staff.
Poikolan koulu
Poikolan koulu in Juuka is a combined primary and lower secondary school with 330 pupils aged six to fifteen. Our school is the only school in Juuka offering lower secondary education. Juuka is a municipality located in a very sparsely populated rural area in Eastern Finland. Because of our geographical position, our pupils have very few contacts with people from other countries. The amount of immigrants is almost non-existent in our municipality. As pupils cannot use foreign languages in their everyday lives, many of them lack interest in learning them, too. Some of our pupils are also socio-economically disadvantaged. Therefore, our pupils need opportunities to meet and get to know people from other cultures in order to learn to be tolerant towards other cultures. This partnership would decrease their prejudices and increase their tolerance to other cultures. We would also like to encourage our pupils to use their language skills outside school and also encourage them to study more than just the compulsory foreign languages. This can only be done if they see the value of language learning in practice.
Poikola school works in cooperation with Juuka upper secondary. Many of our teachers have combined posts and work in both schools. The age levels (the amount of students) in both school have been declining for many years, thus deepening the cooperation is essential. This refers to the fact that projects must be applied mutually to get a reasonable participation of active students and staff members.
Our teachers are highly motivated and there is expertise in both in the use of ICT and new learning environments and foreign language teaching. Although we are a relatively small school, we offer our pupils several foreign languages as optional subjects.
See map for: Juuka Upper Secondary School.
Juuka Upper Secondary School
Juuka Upper Secondary School (Juuka, Finland) gives general education for pre-university and other higher education branches. The school is attended by students from all the socio-economic backgrounds and is in the only upper-secondary level school within the municipality of Juuka. In the school there are about 50 students and we are a family-like unit. During the three years of studies students obtain at least 75 courses of general education for deepening their understanding skills in the subjects that they have earlier studied in the basic education. Students prepare themselves during the three years studies for the Matriculation Examination exam which gives them qualification for applying for higher education.
Juuka upper secondary school works in cooperation with Poikola school. All of our 20 teachers have combined posts and work in both schools. The age levels (the amount of students) in both school have been declining for many years, thus deepening the cooperation is essential. This refers to the fact that projects must be applied mutually to get a reasonable participation of active students and staff members.
Within the school we have about 20 teachers and this group, together with the students, with the students provides the following expertise for the transnational exchanges: The new upper secondary curriculum is being published where thematic courses between disciplines will be emphasized. Thus, students' skills and knowledge gained from subject courses are to be adapted. In E-exams students will be tested more and more on how to use their learning crossdisciplinary. The staff and students work with a high level of ICT/IPad tuition and ICT learning environments, such as distance teaching + devices. The upper secondary studies provide high and multifaceted level of languages, sciences and emphasizes studies in art.
The school functions in North-Carelia, surrounded by a beatiful lake, hills and forests. There are only about 5150 inhabitants in the area of Juuka municipality. Also, a high level of unemployment and a weaker social position of families exist, compared to other parts of Finland. Therefore the school is contributing to the internationalization and at the development of competences and skills to be used in the higher education studies and later job market. Student lack the perspective of the intercultural awareness due to the distant location of the municipality and fewer opportunities to travel due to their socio-economic background.
Juuka upper secondary school works in cooperation with Poikola school. All of our 20 teachers have combined posts and work in both schools. The age levels (the amount of students) in both school have been declining for many years, thus deepening the cooperation is essential. This refers to the fact that projects must be applied mutually to get a reasonable participation of active students and staff members.
Within the school we have about 20 teachers and this group, together with the students, with the students provides the following expertise for the transnational exchanges: The new upper secondary curriculum is being published where thematic courses between disciplines will be emphasized. Thus, students' skills and knowledge gained from subject courses are to be adapted. In E-exams students will be tested more and more on how to use their learning crossdisciplinary. The staff and students work with a high level of ICT/IPad tuition and ICT learning environments, such as distance teaching + devices. The upper secondary studies provide high and multifaceted level of languages, sciences and emphasizes studies in art.
The school functions in North-Carelia, surrounded by a beatiful lake, hills and forests. There are only about 5150 inhabitants in the area of Juuka municipality. Also, a high level of unemployment and a weaker social position of families exist, compared to other parts of Finland. Therefore the school is contributing to the internationalization and at the development of competences and skills to be used in the higher education studies and later job market. Student lack the perspective of the intercultural awareness due to the distant location of the municipality and fewer opportunities to travel due to their socio-economic background.
Vogaskóli
Vogaskóli is a small public school of 300 pupils from year one to year ten located right outside of central Reykjavík, the capital city of Iceland. All the pupils come from the neighborhood area and most of them are brought up middle class. As a compulsory school, we have to cover all areas of the Icelandic curriculum but our strength lies in moviemaking, math and ICT. In recent years the proportion of foreign pupils have increased in Vogaskóli. Most of them come from the Baltic countries and Poland but there are also students from Syria and the Balkan countries living in Reykjavík as refugees. It is extremely important to build a common understanding and tolerance between the native Icelanders and the new ones. The staff counts around fifty people and among there are some from the Baltics and Poland.