Hosting school: Öffentliches Stiftsgymnasium der Benediktiner zu St. Paul, St. Paul im Lavanttal (Austria)
Date: 15/07/2018 – 21/07/2018
From 15 to 21 July 2018 the Third Transnational Project Meeting of partners working at the project ‘2016-1-AT01-KA219-016660 Journeys of hope: Educational pathways to social inclusion and tolerance’ has taken place at Stiftsgymnasium der Benediktiner zu St. Paul in St. Paul in Lavanttal, Austria.
Representatives of the other 4 European schools involved, ‘4th High School of Ilion’, Ilion, Athens, Greece, ‘IES Joaquin Turina’, Seville, Spain, ‘Istanbul Lisesi’, Istanbul, Turkey, and ‘Liceo Scientifico Filippo Silvestri’, Portici have met the Coordinator, Giovanni Santoro, and the Austrian teachers involved in the project, to check the final products and the results to be published.
On Monday, after visiting the school and meeting the schoolmaster and the school staff, the international team has carried out a final evaluation of the project comparing the main objectives and the goals achieved, not only in terms of knowledge, skills and competences, but also concerning the awareness students developed of the problems of refugees and migrants and of the necessity of becoming active and responsible citizens and of opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and racism. To this regard all schools have had a positive feedback not only from students but also from their families, from the local community and from other foreign partners. An excursion to Klagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia, has been carried out in the afternoon, with a visit of its historic centre and arcaded walkways.
On Tuesday a final check has been carried out of the products obtained in the various countries and the final guide for teachers on inclusion and integration of refugees has been completed and reviewed by the international team. The team has also discussed about further possibilities of dissemination activities and sustainability after project end. The Austrian Coordinator has explained how to update budgetary information on the Mobility Tool. After an excursion to the Region Wörthersee in the afternoon, which gave the opportunity of discovering the beauty of the region and of learning about the culture of the area, and where the natural landscape of the region has been observed also from an exclusive location such as the Pyramidenkogel panoramic tower, on Wednesday the team has visited Vienna, and has been able to admire its beautiful buildings and churches.
On Thursday the participants have started work on the final report and in the afternoon they have visited Graz. They have been introduced to the history and culture of this beautiful town, whose architecture is inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and which has been defined the capital of European culture.
On the last day the participants have completed the final report, have had the possibility to visit the Church, part of the Monastery and its library and Museum with 180000 volumes, the first book printed by Johann Gutenberg and the famous and precious Cross of Adelaide.
Then a dissemination conference has taken place, on the occasion of which the feedback of the activities has been reported by the local coordinators after speeches by the general coordinator, the principal of the school, the representative of the local European centre of the Government of Carinthia, and some of the students involved in the project. An extraordinary Farewell Dinner has concluded the day and the week and the partners have left on Saturday with the awareness of having lived a unique experience that allowed both teachers and students to open their minds to Europe’s cultural diversity in a project of peace and collaboration.
