Zabbar Primary B completes its first Erasmus+ project.
At our school we believe that engaging in personal and professional development is very much part of who we are as educators. It provides time out from daily routines and an opportunity to reflect and reconnect – with colleagues, and with our core values as we engage in professional dialogue and discussion to reaffirm our identities as educators.
‘Injecting a Dose of Non-Formal’ was the school’s first KA1 Erasmus+ project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Spanning a period of just over a year, the project supported the mobility of twelve members of staff who gave up vacation time to attended professional development courses in Spain, Romania and Portugal. Six courses were identified – four focusing on non-formal methods, one on intercultural education and how educators can harness the power of diversity in the classroom and an overarching training course that looked at quality and excellence in the management of EU projects. In turn, participants committed themselves to serve as multipliers to disseminate the experience, competences and good practices garnered from the mobility activities, transversely across the school community and beyond.
The mobility activities in themselves supported the personal and professional development of participants and the project impacted the entire school community. Non-formal methods make the learning experience at Zabbar B more relevant and fun, ensuring a truly meaningful experience for all our students, who are ultimately the reason behind all that we do as a school community. Such methods also further support inclusion in the broader sense of the word, enhancing the general feel-good factor that is already prevalent at school.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this project. The experience was highly enriching on both a personal and professional level.
The project also served as a launching pad for further networking and European projects and the school is currently engaged in other Erasmus+ projects, with others in the pipeline.
