The objective of this strategic partnership is, through the exchange of good practices, to strengthen the competences of teachers and other agents in the educational community to favor inclusion, allowing an optimal level of learning and an integral development of students.

This two-year strategic partnership will consist of the training of 18 participants from the education community of two schools and a non-formal educational NGO.

Main objectives. At the end of the project, participants can expect to have:

1.Exchanged good practices to promote inclusion and interculturality in the classroom.

2.Improved the quality of their teaching methods in maths, natural sciences and literacy.

3.Acquired new tools (emotional management and playful teaching) to deal with disruptive behaviors in the classroom and other barriers to learning.

4.Learned new tools to promote digital learning and linguistic diversity among their students.

The main activities in the Project include:

1. a) The realization of 2 on-site transnational meetings (Poland and Spain), in which 2 representatives of the participating entities will review the working plan and evaluate the current state of the project.

(b) Three learning activities:

b.1.) The first will be a 3-day participatory visit to the Svete Elementary School, in which 2 representatives from each entity will learn about how the classroom functions, its best practices with regards to inclusion and interculturality, linguistic diversity and ITCs. In addition, the Warsaw Montessori School will offer a conference titled «Strategies to address underachievement in maths, science and literacy through the Montessori Method». Permacultura Cantabria will offer a conference «Playful teaching: how to resolve conflicts through connection and play», addressed to the entire educational community (including families).

b.2) During the second 3-day visit, 2 representatives of each partner entity will observe the operation of the Warsaw Montessori School. In addition. In addition,  the Svete Elementary School will offer a talk on good practices related to inclusion and interculturality, linguistic diversity and ITCs. Permacultura Cantabria will offer a lecture on Emotional Management to teachers.

b.3) A 8-day course in Spain attended by 6 representatives of the educational community from each entity. The methodology of the course will combine presentations by experts and relevant agents of the education system, non-formal learning techniques and exchanges of good practices.

The content will be divided into the following modules (M) and visits (V):

M1. Montessori Pedagogy (1st day: maths, 2nd day: natural sciences, 3rd day: literacy);

M2. Education and ICTs (1 day);

M3. Inclusion and interculturality (1 day);

M4. Emotional Management and Playful teaching (3 days);

M5. Future collaborations and development of new projects (1 day).

V1 and V2: 2 visits to reference schools in Cantabria, Spain (1 day).

Activities after learning activities:

1. In order to ensure that the learning outcomes reach all members of the educational community a workshop will be carried out at each of the entities.
2. In a meeting with the project participants, the management team of the three entities will analyse the learning outcomes obtained during the main activities and the contributions made by the members of the educational community during the workshop, to review methodological approaches or to make organizational innovations necessary in each center leading to 1) higher quality education 2) an improvement in the inclusion and participation of all students in general and especially of vulnerable or disadvantaged groups 3) a better classroom environment.
3. To implement some of the acquired skills and tools, a series of work commissions will be created.
4. The project results will be disseminated online on the Erasmus platforms, as well as the website and social networks sites (Facebook) of each participating entity.
5. After the completion of the project the three entities will keep collaborating in the framework of a transnational network of organizations interested in emotional education (EuroMotional).

– Objective: To make known the good educational practices that we carry out in our school, taking advantage of all the resources that the center offers.

Preliminary agenda:

DAY 1

9:30   – Welcome meeting, hosted by school’s director. Introduction of partners, meeting teachers.

10:00 – Visiting school and premises.

11:00 – Sharing experiences and good practises about interculturality and social inclusion of minorities. Joint session.

12:00 – SWOT analysis of the educational systems in Latvia, Poland and Spain, to clarify the external aspects which constrain our daily work with students and the weak and strong points of each entity.

13:30 – Lunch

15:00 – Cultural visit to the Jelgava Palace (Jelgavas pils or Mitava Palace).

DAY 2

9:30   – Visiting morning circle in preschool.

10:00 – Discussion about sensitive developing in the learning process.

11:00 – Workshop: ”Marte meo method for good emotional atmosphere leading/teaching the class”.  Video demonstrations. Participants will play role games using video examples.

13:30 – Lunch

15:00 – Cultural visit to the Jelgava History and Art Museum of Ģederts Eliass.

DAY 3

*We will invite teachers from other local schools (Primary Schools: Aizupe, Livberze, Sesava, Skibe, Vilce) and other relevant educational Institutions. We will also invite families (Parent Associations), other members of the educational community and teacher students, especially to the Permacultura Cantabria’s conference.

9:30   – Conference offered by the Warsaw Montessori School’s participants: «Strategies to address the underachievement in maths, science and literacy through the Montessori Method». (1 hour presentation+1 hour questions and answers)

11:30 – Conference offered by Permacultura Cantabria’s participants: «Connecting through play: how to resolve conflicts through connection and play» addressed to the entire educational community (including families). (1 hour presentation+1 hour questions and answers)

13:30 – Lunch

14:30 – Informal meeting with external stakeholders.

15:30 – Closing ceremony.

– Participants’ profile:

From our school, two reference people have been appointed who will take care of the welfare of the visiting group and accompany them in the majority of activities. However, we intend that the participants also interact with different sectors of the educational community, so that they can be enriched with different points of view. These people will be:

-Baiba Blomniece – Jurāne – psychologist, Montessori teacher, project content developer and contact person.

-Marita Sokolovska – Maldupa – speech trainer and Montessori teacher.

From Permacultura Cantabria:

-Oscar Argumosa: Director and coordinator, expert in emotional management.

-Carmen Solla: International Area Coordinator, project manager and expert on intercultural and inclusive education.

From the Warsaw Montessori School the attendants will be:

-Małgorzata Tarnowska – Founder and owner of the School, second contact person.

-Sylvia Macias Dworkin – Director of the School System, Montessori teacher.

– Objective: Introduce the Montessori Method and the routines they use at their school to encourage student motivation, concentration, inclusion and learning.

– Programing:

DAY 1

09:30   – Welcome breakfast with the administrators and the contact persons

10:00  – Visit the facilities of the school

11:00  – Talk about the Montessori Pedagogy (the basic pillars of the Montessori Pedagogy)

12:00  – Video and explanation of the Montessori materials: sensorial material such as the cube and the trinomial cube, the pink tower, the brown stairs; for math learning: the Seguin Table or Bead Stair to learn the concept of quantity, numbers, etc;  for science learning: intro to zoo and botany; the world, the continents, the contrast with the material of Geography; for language: Matching Cards, Printed Bi-color Movable Alphabet, Sandpaper Letters for Handwriting; for Practical Life learning: learning to concentrate with the basic materials and the Peace Table.

13:30  – Lunch

15:00  – Cultural visit: Stroll along Trakt Królewski (the Royal Route)

DAY 2

9:30   – Welcome coffee with teachers

10:00  – Observation in the elementary classrooms (The most interesting is the observation of child labor in the garden, in the kitchen and carpentry.)

11:30  – Symposium with the teachers. They will answer the participant’s questions of the observations.

13:30  – Lunch

15:00  – Cultural Visit: Tour the Copernicus Science Centre.

DAY 3

Teachers from other local schools and relevant educational Institutions will be invited. They may also invite families (Parents Associations), other members of the educational community and teacher students, especially to the Permacultura Cantabria’s conference.

9:30   – Welcome coffee

10:00  – Conference offered by the Svete Elementary School participants related to inclusion, linguistic diversity, interculturality and ITCs. It could be a presentation of their best practices. (1 hour presentation+1 hour questions and answers)

12:00   – Lecture on Emotional Management for educators, offered by Permacultura Cantabria’s participants. (1 hour presentation+1 hour questions and answers)

14:00   – Lunch

15:00   – Debate with internal and external stakeholders about conflict resolution.

16:00   – Closing ceremony

– Participants’ profile:

From the Warsaw Montessori School, two people will always accompany the group. However, the entire educational community will know about the project and will be involved in some way in the activities of the visit. The profiles of the people of reference will be:

-Małgorzata Tarnowska – Founder and owner of the School, second contact person.

-Sylvia Macias Dworkin – Director of the School System, Montessori teacher.

From Permaculture Cantabria:

-Oscar Argumosa: Director and coordinator, expert in emotional management.

-Carmen Solla: International Area Coordinator, project manager and expert on intercultural and inclusive education.

From the Svete Elementary School the following participants will attend:

-Sanita Baškevica – preschool teacher, ITC specialist in preschool for developing language skills.

-Andželika Tabunova – methodical director in preschool and preschool teacher, leading methodical work in preschool.

– Objective: To improve the educational competences of the participants, to receive training  on the Montessori Pedagogy, new technologies, emotional management and the main inclusive currents.

– Programming:

There are three main vertical axes, which depend on the dynamics of the group. They will contribute to the improved accomplishments of all the objectives. Also, it will help contribute to participants’ satisfactory personal and professional experience of the training.

They consist of:

VA1. Meeting each other (to know who we are, what our potentials are and what can we share)

VA2. Sharing and learning (about inclusion, emotional management, active methods and new technologies).

VA3. Collaborating (developing future alliances to create projects on the different key actions of the programme, especially focused on the KA2).

*On this occasion, a specific 1-day module has been dedicated to promoting such a collaboration. (M5: Future collaborations and development of new projects).

There are also four horizontal axes (which have been translated into modules) that respond to one or more of the objectives of the project.

*Module 1: Montessori Pedagogy (1st day: maths; 2nd day: natural sciences; 3rd day: literacy).

*Module 2. Education and ICTs (1 day)

*Module 3. Inclusion and interculturalism (1 day)

*Module 4. Emotional Management and Playful teaching (3 days)

Lastly, two visits to reference education institutions or schools in Cantabria, Spain (1 day) have been included.

– Participants’ profile:

Leaders of the training: Óscar Argumosa (expert in emotional management and training coordinator) Virginia Pañeda (trainer and linguistic support) and Carmen Solla (responsible of the welfare of the group).

Their participants will be trainers or volunteers who work with children in the environmental branch of the NGO and want to learn about emotional management and other educational tools, giving them the opportunity to cooperate in all the organization’s children  activities:

Lucía Fernández. Infant school teacher, Montessori guide

Simón Pérez Environmental trainer and children’s monitor

Silvia Abascal is a graduate in English Philology  and childrens leader

Daniela Mendoza Project developer. Children Environmental trainer

Angie Larenas researcher, trainer and project manager

1 regular collaborators, volunteers or teacher-in-training.

Svete School participants:

Baiba Blomniece – Jurāne – psychologist, Montessori teacher

Marita Sokolovska – Maldupa – speech trainer and Montessori teacher

Sanita Baškevica – preschool teacher, ITC specialist developing language skills

Andželika Tabunova – methodical director in preschool and preschool teacher

Inga Jansone – Svete School director

1 person from the educative community (parent, manager, collaborator)

Warsaw Montessori School participants:

Małgorzata Tarnowska

Sylvia Macias Dworkin

Marta Kiraga – Administration Manager and teacher.

Katarzyna Cupryś – Contact person, teacher and project coordinator

2 persons from the educative community (parent, manager, collaborator)

Svetes pamatskola

The staff involved in this project is:

• Gatis Kasparinskis – Education project manager at Jelgava District Municipality.

Responsibilities within the project: project implementation; technical, financial, organisational support, communication with project partners, practical arrangements – travel, meetings, mobilities and management of Erasmus Mobility tool online, writing reports. He will be the project and dissemination coordinator.

• Inga Jansone – 10 years as school director and 13 years as primary school teacher experience. She is looking for new methods and tools, to increase the quality of the school.

• Baiba Blomniece – Jurāne – psychologist, Montessori teacher, 16 years of experience.

She is acting as the project content developer (methods, methodology, training issues etc.) and as the second contact person, in the improbable case that the contact person cannot carry out his responsibilities

• Marita Sokolovska – Maldupa – speech trainer and Montessori teacher. She has 18 years of experience in work with children as a speech trainer and latvian teacher.

• Sanita Baškevica – preschool teacher, montessori teacher, ITC specialist in preschool, experience with children 16 years, she uses new technologies for teaching folk traditions and developing language skills.

She will help in the dissemination activities.

• Andželika Tabunova – methodical director in preschool and preschool teacher, 20 years experience, leading methodical work in preschool and teaching children.

Permacultura Cantabria

The staff involved in this project is:

• Oscar Argumosa – Director and coordinator of Permacultura Cantabria.

In this project, he will design and coordinate the training course in Spain.

He is an expert in Emotional Management, promoting two programmes related to this topic (Emotional Balance and EuroMotional).

• Carmen Solla – International Area Coordinator of Permacultura Cantabria.

She will be the contact person in this project and will be in charge of its implementation. She will also be the dissemination coordinator and attend the transnational meetings and the participatory visits to both schools.

As coordinator of the Interculturality and Education for Sustainable Development Area of “Save the Children”, she designed and monitored different international cooperation projects related to school education. She is also author of two publications about Inclusive Education.

• Virginia Pañeda – Trainer and facilitator in Permacultura Cantabria. BA in English Philology. She will be trainer of the course in Spain and second contact person. Important background in Emotional Management and as a trainer on gender and education, social groups and about project design in several Erasmus+ projects.

Niepubliczna Szkola Podstawowa Warsaw Montessori School

The staff involved in this project is:

• Katarzyna Cupryś – is a professional advisor for EU funds.

She deals with the evaluation of projects. She will be the operational and dissemination coordinator, responsible for contacting the National Agency, the preparation and technical organization of the participation of teachers, payment and settlement, monitoring and evaluation.

• Małgorzata Tarnowska – founder / owner of the School. She graduated from Warsaw University and a master’s degree of law. She is accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

She will be the 2nd contact person.

• Sylvia Macias Dworkin – Director of the School System, has over 25 years of experience in the field of Education.

Marta Kiraga – Administration Manager, responsible for the procedures to ensure the proper and lawful broad functioning of the institution. She has 20 years of experience in both business companies and education.

*The Project starts on 1st October 2018 and finishes on 30th September 2020 (24 months).

*By 31st October 2019 the coordinator must complete an interim report on the implementation of the Project covering the reporting period from the beginning of the implementation to the 30^th of September 2019.

*Within 30 days after the end date of the Project, the coordinator must complete a final report on the implementation of the Project, and, when applicable, upload all project results in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.

*The coordinator must use the Mobility Tool+ to record all information in relation to the activities undertaken under the Project, and to complete and submit the Interim and Final reports.

*All requests for payments and reports must be submitted in Latvian or English.

1. a) Project management and implementation

– Triggering event: the event that conditions the entitlement to the grant is that the beneficiary implements the activities and produces the outputs

– Supporting documents: proof of activities undertaken and outputs produced will be provided in the form of a description of these activities and outputs in the final report. In addition, outputs produced will be uploaded by the coordinator in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.

– Reporting: on behalf of the Project as a whole, the coordinator must report on the final distribution of funds and on undertaken activities and results.

1. b) Transnational project meetings

(c) Supporting documents:

– For travel taking place between the sending organization and the receiving organization: proof of attendance of the activity in the form of a declaration signed by the receiving organization (attendance certificate in annexes).

-Proof of attendance of the transnational project meeting in the form of a participants list signed by the participants and the receiving organization (in annexes)

– Detailed agenda and any documents used or distributed at the transnational project meeting.

1. c) Learning, teaching and training activities

(c) Supporting documents:

– Travel

*For travel taking place between the sending organization and the receiving organization: proof of attendance of the activity in the form of a declaration signed by the receiving organization specifying the name of the participant, the purpose of the activity, as well as its starting and end date.

* In case of travel from a place different than that where the sending organization is located and/or travel to a place different than that where the receiving organization is located which leads to a change of distance band, the actual travel itinerary shall be supported with travel tickets or other invoices specifying the place of departure and the place of arrival.

(ii) Individual support – Proof of attendance of the activity in the form of a declaration signed by the receiving organization specifying the name of the participant, the purpose of the activity, as well as its start and end date.

In the preparation phase, we agreed solutions for potential problems:

– If one of the people chosen to participate in the learning activities does not attend the meetings, does not sign the commitment to participate, does not perform their tasks on time or otherwise breaches their obligations. This person will be notified in writing of her/his departure as a participant in the activities and a substitute will be sought, as soon as possible.

– If one of the participants in the learning activities incurs a serious misconduct during their stay in another country (such as disrespect for another person or endangerment of themselves or their peers). The contact person of the host entity will notify the events immediately to the sending entity. In addition, the management or contact person of the host institution may decide to expel the participant from the activity.

– If one of the organisations is not able to engage a sufficient diversity of profiles to participate in the work commissions. The other partners will try to help the person in identifying the reasons for the lack of volunteers. If it is detected that it is due to lack of interest, the partners will suggest strategies to motivate the profiles or sectors of the education community that are more reluctant to participate. If the reason is the lack of a sufficient level of English, it will try to encourage these people to work at least on commissions whose working language may be that of the majority of the participants. In this case, a volunteer would translate into English the key documents such as the gathering of opinions, votes or minutes in order to share them with the contact person of the other two participating entities. If there were members of minority cultures in the educational community of any entity, who did not master the official language of the country, it would be worthwhile to translate the documents also into their languages.

– If one of the partners stops cooperating or leaves the project. In this case, the problem will be immediately notified to the National Agency by email, and if there is no response within a week, it will be notified by telephone to obtain information about how to proceed. The internal agreement between partners also establish that if a partner entity leaves the project, they should pay back the used funds.

– If some of the participants are late in carrying out the agreed tasks. The contact person of such organisation will be contacted to know the reasons for the delay or if the participant needs help (the same will be done if the person who is late is the contact person). If there is no response during one week, a notice will be sent by email, warning that, in another week, the fact will be communicated to the Latvian National Agency, where the project was presented and in the country to which the participant being late belongs.

– If the applicant delays payments to the rest of the entities. When an unjustified cause occurs, the partners will notify to the Latvian National Agency where the project was submitted, in case of more than one-month delay.

– If the contact persons do not send the invoices to the applicant, at the end of the project. If the cause is not justified, the applicant will delay the last payment to the organisation until receiving the invoices.

If the conflict prevention was not enough, and the parties did not reach an agreement for themselves, a vote between the best available options would be established, choosing the one with the majority of votes. In the event of a tied vote, the vote of the coordinating organisation, would be double-counted.

All parties would be aware of this resolution conflict measure and it will be reiterated in the previous meeting, so as to dispose them to a better understanding of this procedure and each other, during the project. During that meeting, the number of people being able to vote will be agreed upon, in case of conflicts.

Poor, partial or late implementation

Poor implementation of the Project may be established by the NA on the basis of:

– The final report submitted by the coordinator;

– The products and outputs produced by the project;

A grant reduction based on poor, partial or late implementation may be applied to the total final amount of eligible expenses and may be of:

– 25% if the final report scores at least 40 points and below 50 points;

– 50% if the final report scores at least 25 points and below 40 points;

– 75% if the final report scores below 25 points.

Termination of the Contract

The Partner notifies the Coordinator immediately in case of appearance of any situation that may affect the performance of the Contract of Partnership.

The Coordinator may cancel the Contract of Partnership on the condition to preserve all rights for damages through a notification to the Partner.

Other reasons for termination are:

• If the Coordinator decides that this Contract shall be affected negatively because of any negligence and/or late notification of the Partner,
• In case of occurrence of the conditions specified under the article of failure to deliver the documents in Article 11 of this Contract or violation of any article of the Contract,
• In case of occurrence of any of the conditions that shall require termination of the Contract which is set out in Article 2 of the Grant Contract in Annex 1, this contract will be terminated.