Greece

11o GYMNASIO IRAKLIOU

Our school is a public secondary school in the north part of Heraklion. We have 23 teachers and 200 culturally diverse students (12-15).The school equipment complements a comprehensive range of teaching resources. Our main aim in the project is to offer equal opportunities to education for students who are disadvantaged due to economic, social or learning difficulties. As our school has never participated in international exchanges programs it is a great opportunity to increase students and teachers' motivation for learning despite living in a disadvantaged area with a high unemployment rate. Almost half of our students are economic migrants. Our school supports some Roma students and two migrant students under the authority of the United Nations Organization. In this program our students will participate in a variety of activities including their transmission to the partner countries and will develop cross-cultural skills in understanding diversity and becoming broadminded that brings better social inclusion of migrants and refugees. Students will enforce their identity as European Citizens, their motivation for better working conditions and the sense of satisfaction they gain as active learners. Due to our project, our staff will have been upskilled, energized and highly motivated for using modern teaching strategies. The development of good teaching practices and innovative methods and tools will contribute to the students’ initiation and their motivation towards the learning process.