We are a group of seven schools with a high level of complementarity in terms of perspective on education and teaching experience to be shared: public and private institutions, laic schools or having a major religious component, with the early school leaving problem or without it, Western and Eastern partners, from Orthodox and Catholic countries (all having a high level of religiousness, according to sociological researches), big and small schools, schools from huge cities and rural schools etc.

This project has contributed in building and consolidating the intercultural competences, democratic values and equip our young people with the means to interact positively with their peers from diverse backgrounds, in concordance with ‘’ET 2020 Framework”. These competences are the keys for an active citizenship, in line with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty to “encourage the participation of young people in democratic life in Europe”.

Throughout the project we have risen the ethnic/religious/cultural diversity, cultivated tolerance and openness to diversity at macro level (culture, ethnicity or religion and it has also supported teachers to deal with the rising diversity and to have more inclusive approaches in teaching.

Moreover, it has contributed in fostering the critical thinking (one of the major tools in approaching properly History, Civics and Social Sciences) in a multicultural context, analysing both the positive and the negative consequences of various Historical events. Students (aged 13 to 17) and teachers involved have improved key competences, defined by the Recommendation 2006/962/EC: communication in foreign languages; digital competence; learning to learn; social and civic competences; cultural awareness and expression.

This project involved two kinds of schools: schools which are fighting with early school leaving and schools which have succeeded in this matter. This situation has offered a major opportunity for the schools in the first category to learn how to deal with the problem.

On the other side, any school has the risk of failure in education. A European project represents an attraction for those students who consider the formal school as being too boring. The attraction to this project has been a major motivation for these students. Furthermore, it is important to mention the contribution of the competences developed in the activities of this project for studying History, which is one of the major subjects for this profile (including at the Baccalaureate).

The project is innovative we have developed this project starting from a blank sheet of paper, in consonance with our common needs.