Perform and share local histories

We applied for this project to address the need to innovate traditional teaching methods and place transversal key skills at the heart of teaching and on the front line of learning objectives. In particular, the needs of engaging students, of overcoming disciplinary barriers and enabling teachers to work together were at the centre of the project concerns. The Project proposed and experimented a holistic method to develop key transversal competences (cultural awareness and expression, citizenship, multilingual, digital, entrepreneurship, personal, social and learning) through a transnational experience of developing a cultural product including historic research, literature and art history, music, performing arts and digital skills. Starting from the analysis and reconstruction of the life and works of local celebrities, secondary schools of different countries collaborated in the development of parallel cultural products. The students learned from each other, were helped by specialized partners, were supported by their families to learn about performing arts and to develop intercultural and democratic citizenship skills. Each of the chosen histories presented to each other school to allow the understanding of the history of oth

By implementing the project, we aimed to contribute to the innovation and quality of secondary education by developing and testing a teaching/learning strategy based on collaborative cultural production and intercultural exchange also through a meaningful, stimulating and interactive use of digital technology. The identified concrete objectives of PERFECT were: to stimulate and support the development of autonomous learning and basic research skills, creative thinking, collaborative attitudes and skills through the creation of cultural products based on local history; to organise and reward digitally-enhanced international collaboration of partner schools by supporting the exchange of good practice and cultural products originated locally by students' groups, interacting among them through digitally supported project work; to develop a review of the experiences conducted and produce a set of methodological instruments to support the replicability and dissemination of the PERFECT "open model" of action; to set up and promote a network of primary and secondary schools committed to participate in exchange of cultural products developed by their students and in an European Festival. The project was developed through a transnatio

We implemented several key activities to achieve the project’s objectives. The project's central idea was to propose a learning innovation approach through which schools from different countries together develop a project-based method for the development of a cultural product. The partner schools had a methodological and management support of the other partners (European Networks like FREREF, OBESSU, IPA, IIHL, Ministry of Education of Malta). The activities of the project included: - Active participation and involvement of students and teachers to study the life and works of a local character (PR3). Through this activity, students stimulated to develop autonomous learning and researching skills, creative thinking and teamwork; - Transnational collaboration and cultural exchange took place between teachers during the whole project and the three-day teachers’ training (LTTA) took place in Italy. Teachers of the partner schools teams shared their experiences and suggestions concerning the learning innovations to be associated with the development of cultural products, preparing the design principles for the learning experiences to be developed in and among partner schools. They collaborated in designing common features to make

The project generated several concrete outputs and results: 1. Conceptual model and competence framework for intercultural cooperative cultural production, a key pillar for the project development, but also useful to stimulate reflection in other schools; 2. A Handbook for School Team Leaders, a more operational tool for the design and development of school-based cultural products; 3. A set of 5 cultural products to be presented as good practices; 4. A set of guidelines for school heads, teachers, students and parents to act as multiplier documents for newcomer schools 5. A virtual showcase of school-developed cultural products, including a multimedia documentation of the development process, to be used as a set of inspiring examples for new classes and schools approaching the idea of developing their own cultural product. Beyond the specific project contents and concrete Project Results, the PERFECT project increased the capacity of partner schools to innovate learning design and international collaboration, and helped develop key transversal competences for students.