Under The Same Sky

Start                      : 01-09-2017 

End                        : 31-08-2019

Project Reference: 2017-1-RO01-KA201-037188

Programme          : Erasmus+

Key Action            : Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Action Type          : Strategic Partnerships for school education

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Topics:

Access for disadvantaged Creativity and culture Inclusion - equity

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Summary

In this project, our target group is the students ; 
• whose parents are divorced or separated 
• who have emotional problems 
• who have behaviour problems 
• who have difficulty expressing feelings in words 
• who are low academic achievers with low self-esteem and experience little school success 

We are planning to explore the definition of "at risk" students, whose parents are divorced and the posibilities that involvement in the art and drama can aid these students to novigate the dangerous pathways away from failure and risky behaviours. One of the shortcomings of traditional education structure is that relationships with teachers may be caring, but they are not easy to sustain. At-risk need relationships that are both caring and stable. They need to build a sense of trust and have time to communicate the complexity, frustrations, and positive aspects of their lives in and out of school. We know that only after creating a strong relational base will an adult have the platform to be a source of enduring and cherished advice to a student. We, the teachers take part in the project, are planning to earn it by building a relationship through one to one interviews, art and drama activities. 

The aim of our project is to place art and drama as a strategic part of learning process and to show that the skills that children of divorce glean from art and drama experience have an impact on both individual and the whole school culture. We are suggesting that for these at risk students, art and drama will offer solutions to issues they face; these issues include problems involving personal space, patience, self-esteem, completion of work and complex thinking. Art and drama will allow at risk students to represent externally what takes place internally. These activities will place students in a leadership role when they might not be chosen as a leader in a traditional academic school setting. 

During the two years period of the project, we are going to make 13 sessions with our target group of students. These sessions include art and drama activities. Using a specifically prepared curriculum to address the needs of kids in divorce, children will do activities through play and creativity to help express and talk about their feelings. The Art and Drama teachers have decided the activities ,that we are planning to use in the project, by the guidance of councellors at our schools and Latvian partner. These activities will help these students to express themselves in a society, raise their self-esteem, share their feelings, control their anger and ,most importantly, to see that there are many people with the same problem in different countries too. 

At the end of the project, we are expecting "at risk" students whose parents are divorced; 

• Increased possibilities using art and drama for social, emotional and physical development of students at risk; 
• Increased possibilities to communicate with pupils with similar situation/ interests from other participating countries; 
• Increased competence in foreign languages and greater understanding and responsiveness to social, linguistic and cultural diversity through communicating with pupils with similar interests from other participating countries; 
• More positive attitude regarding school education and the role of education in the future career, contributing to the diminution of drop-out rate.