1.3. School management

The project partners designed and implemented a new anti-bullying programme in schools in five EU countries. It drew on the experiences of existing programmes and practices originated by the project partners working in different cultural contexts.  It provided further evidence of effective approaches to the reduction of bullying in schools that will inform the development of improved child centred, whole school strategies for adoption at European level.

The Joaquim Ruyra Elementary School is located in a disadvantaged suburban district of Barcelona. In the 2016-2017 school year, 92% students were immigrants representing 28 different nationalities (including Pakistan, Morocco, Georgia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Senegal, and the USA) or from minority background (Romani). The school has a 40% mobility rate.  

National and international press have referred to the school as the miracle school as it had achieved academic outcomes above the average in the Catalan standardised tests, outperforming elite schools in the Catalonia region.

All classes in the school feature group work 40% to 60% of the time. The groups mix students of different abilities, genders and nationalities.  The small groups are designed to ensure that no one is left out, and students are encouraged to participate actively.  Each group is facilitated by an adult (e.g. a classroom assistants, a parent).  Psychologists and special education teachers may also work in the classrooms, and they support volunteer parents, teachers and the students.  The extra support and student interaction are considered as essential for supporting and reinforcing children’s learning. 

The objective of the MiCREATE project is to encourage the inclusion of diverse groups of migrant children by adopting a child-centred approach to the integration of migrant children at educational and policy level. Stemming from the need to revisit the existing integration policies, the research project aims to comprehensively examine the contemporary integration processes of migrant children to enhance their agency, participation, and well-being.

"Our School - My Future" was an ESL project initiated within the framework of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for School Education. It aims to support cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices between schools from different countries across Europe.
Part of the problem of ESL is attributed to lack of support and guidance, disengagement from schooling, and secondary-level curricula which too often do not offer enough options for varied courses, alternative teaching pedagogies, experiential and other hands-on learning opportunities or sufficient flexibility and support.
The framework for this project was designed to focus mainly on in-school factors influencing ESL, such as teaching methods and curricular issues, positive/negative school climate, and the parents’ role as a contributing factor to ESL.
A distance education programme, “Promotion of healthy lifestyles and development of the students’ social skills through physical education and environmental activities” was offered to teachers from five partner countries. Some 65 teachers from Greece, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Turkey had the opportunity to participate in this training programme, along with six academics who are also members of the Hellenic Academy of Physical Education.

The ‘Raising the Achievement of All Learners in Inclusive Education’ (RA) project aimed to provide evidence of effective practice in raising achievement and building the capacity of schools and communities to include and support all learners.

To improve students’ learning outcomes and the level of engagement with the school has developed a transformation project structured around seven key elements for school improvement: school climate, school image, academic excellence, methodological change, development of emotional intelligence, introduction of art in school and openness to the community. During the first years of the project, the emphasis was made on the two key areas: methodological change through the implementation of project-based learning and strengthening links of the school with families and communities.

The European Policy Network on School Leadership- EPNoSL has developed a tool to reflect upon, identify challenges and prioritize areas for policy action to support and enhance school leadership for equity and learning. It addresses policy makers, school authorities, school actors, researchers and leadership training institutes. The School Leadership Toolkit is designed to support analyses of the ways different school leadership policies and programs interplay and influence the overall capacity of school leaders and their schools to effectively and persistently address equity and learning challenges in their schools. It contains a range of useful materials, videos, case studies and toolsets on different aspects of school leadership.

The Supporting Inclusive School Leadership (SISL) project investigated how to promote inclusive school-level leadership and provided supportive tools. The project considered that leadership for inclusive education aimed at achieving full participation in meaningful learning opportunities, high achievement and well-being for all learners, including those most vulnerable to exclusion.