ICE and LINKgroup schools begin realization of international educational projects  

Since its establishment and the first meeting of a team of project experts within the Project Center of the Institute for Contemporary Education at the end of 2019, significant results aimed at encouraging schools and other institutions within the LINKgroup to participate in international and EU-funded projects have been achieved. The basis for initiating international cooperation was the ICE’s Internationalization Strategy, as a major step in the pro-European dissemination of innovation within the LINKgroup educational system. 

 

Project team, in partnership with LINK schools, begins realization of as many as 9 international educational projects 

The most distinguished active participants of the Erasmus+ project, and the Girls Go Circular project, which belongs to the segment of the multi-year project Horizon called Skills for the Future within the LINKgroup system are International School, Savremena gimnazija, and Information Technology High School. The team of the International Technology High School – ITHS achieved outstanding results, becoming an active participant in six projects within Erasmus+, while the Institute for Contemporary Education (ICE) took part in two exceptional projects – The Art of De-biasing (dBias) and Citizen 2.1.

 

STEP ONE: Training LINK schools employees for Erasmus+ projects 

In order to familiarize our employees with the concept of European projects, the team of the ICE’s Project Center organized several lectures and presentations of EU funds for teachers who work in International School, Savremena gimnazija, and Information Technology High School.  

 

STEP TWO: Survey on KA1 projects for teachers in LINK schools 

An extensive and thorough survey of teachers about their need for professional development through international cooperation was conducted. The aim of the survey was to examine the capacity of teachers to share their original teaching methods with their colleagues at home and abroad. A high turnout among teachers (111 out of 143 employees in four schools) showed that 80% of LINKgroup teachers are motivated to further engage in the improvement of the teaching process in terms of working with gifted students, digitization and the use of ICT tools in teaching, media literacy and tolerance, both through their own training and development, and through the exchange of good practices within the system, and at international level, through strategic partnerships. In addition, the survey recognized the presence of gifted students in LINK schools. As gifted students have been recognized in all LINK schools, activities aimed at introducing special programs for gifted students will be undertaken in the following period. The complete survey report can be found HERE.

 

STEP THREE: Project realization and expansion of international partnerships  

 

As part of the Girls Go Circular  project, a pilot phase including female students of International School, Savremena gimnazija and Information Technology High School was completed at the end of last year. Through this project, female students of LINKgroup schools were introduced to the interactive educational platform Girls Go Circular, which provided them with functional knowledge of the fundamental principles of sustainable development in an engaging way, fully harmonized with the modern trends in education, as well as students’ interests and habits. In addition, the project encouraged the development of entrepreneurial skills in the students of LINK high schools, which resulted in them finding innovative solutions to build a sustainable European society.   

By participating in the Girls Go Circular project, which represents a segment of a broader Horizon program, Skills for the Future, LINK schools have networked with a number of partner schools and organizations all over Europe, and opened the door for further cooperation on the improvement of the teaching process, as well as teacher and student competencies.   

The Citizen 2.1 project is aimed at exchanging best practices in the field of development of educational competencies related to digital skills. The project consortium comprises renowned European educational institutions from Germany, Belgium, and France, and the Institute for Contemporary Education (ICE) from Serbia. As part of the project, LINK participants will have the opportunity to attend a five-day training in order to familiarize themselves with the projects Silva numerica and Learning about Forest through Simulation („Učite o šumi kroz simulaciju”), which represent an operational response to educational and professional training needs by developing a VR platform for complex systemic learning applied to a forest environment. 

In addition, they will see an example of a flipped classroom in the Vauban high school, participate in the presentation of the Valter platform, and virtual reality simulator of agricultural machinery. A significant benefit of the project is the training for teachers in which the platform for certification of digital skills of teachers and educators Pix, artificial intelligence (AI) training on the educational platform M @ gistere, and Pause numérique – Digital Break – a device that provides support to teachers in the integration of digital technology will be presented.  

The Jerusalema Dance challenge within the project Together to a Better Technology contributes to the socialization of students, by reducing the use of redundant technology and learning traditional children’s games as an alternative to video and online games. The project helps participants to actively develop their skills for combating cyberbullying, by teaching students, parents, and teachers to use the Internet safely. The aim of the project is to reduce student’s dependence on technology, and increase their attendance at social and sports activities in school. 

The task of the Information Technology High School, a member of the LINK system, within this project is to prepare handbooks for safe Internet use, which will, together with other applications, increase the safe use of the Internet by at least 10% within the LINK system and other participating schools.  

All realized activities and initiated projects are significant from the aspect of innovation, and further development of the Institute for Contemporary Education and the LINKgroup system, which has been proactively introducing reforms into the educational system for two decades. 

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