Innovative deSIGN of EDUcation - the foundation for community development

The overall objective of the project is to create an educational partnership able to innovate the design of the educational activities in schools, shaping up new development opportunities in multi-ethnic community along the Romania-Ukrainian border over a period of 18 months. On the basis of the similarities and common interests shown in the educational domain, an idea of a partnership had been developed among several educational institutions in the multi-ethnic community along the Romania-Ukrainian border: Forestry Technological Highschool of Sighetu Marmatiei (Sighetu Marmatiei, Maramures County, Romania), Crasna Viseului Secondary School (Bistra commune, Maramures County, Romania) and Solotvinska Highschool №1 (Solotvyno, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine). This project arose from the needs identified by the project partners to re-design the educational framework in their institutions in order to: - create improved physical conditions for education. - create opportunities for better educational performance, including career guidance. - better manage the overall activity within the educational institution. An integrative approach of these needs was envisaged by the project partners, meaning addressing the educational process in schools in Repedea, Crsna Viseului and Solotvyno at three levels: i) Physical level – ensuring proper material conditions for the development of the educational process. ii) Formative level – developing practical and specific skills for students and teachers, including career orientation and counselling. iii) Strategic level – improving the leadership and educational management in order to create an innovative vision on the educational process. The specific objectives of the project were designed in respect to these three directions of action. The project’s purpose is in line with the priorities of the local and national strategies of Romania and Ukraine, for example: - Romania: North-West Regional Development Plan 2014-2020 - Priority 3 “Improving quality of life in the region” is focused on (1) Investment in education, health and social services and improving service quality in these areas; (2) Development of human capital”. - Ukraine: State Strategy of Regional Development for the period until 2020 – one of the key goals focus on enhancing coordination in transport and infrastructure, economic development and investments, support to entrepreneurship, labour market, education and science and innovations.

SO1. Creating modern and equipped educational spaces and facilities for 5 buildings belonging to 3 schools in Repedea, Crasna Viseului and Solotvyno during a period of 17 months. W. Clement Stone once said: “You are a product of your environment. So, choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.” Taking into account the advice of the specialists (psychologist as well), as well as European and national standards in force, the project will address some of the urgent priority investments to be made within the partners’ institutions: 1) Technological Highschool of Repedea needs to upgrade its equipment, both for the IT laboratory (with licensed computers for students and teachers) as well as their schoolwork spaces (workshops) with specialised equipment and materials for textile industry. 2) Crasna Viseului Secondary School needs investments for: - rehabilitation / modernization works for the 2 buildings (Crasna Viseului Secondary School and its belonging structure, Maidan Secondary School) and. - purchasing of electronic equipment (including specialised equipment for practical activities) as well as and equipment and furniture for administrative use. 3) Solotvinska Highschool №1 needs investments for: - rehabilitation / modernization works for the 2 buildings (one building hosting classrooms and another building hosting the assembly room and the gym) and. - purchasing of electronic equipment and software (for students’ use), specialised equipment for practical activities and furniture. Sport equipment will also be included, as the school has to address all development needs of their students. Investments in rehabilitation and modernization works are meant to ensure the proper, safe environment for students and schools’ staff. Safe and adequate practical conditions will create the necessary comfort for the mind to focus on specific educational tasks. Investments in creating appropriate educational conditions in schools’ laboratories/classrooms are necessary in order to ensure access for students to the latest developments of the society they are living in, to ensure the possibility to exercise, experience in a direct manner professional equipment specific to a certain domain (such as textile industry, fashion, visual arts); SO2. Developing practical skills for 60 students and teachers in Repedea, Crasna Viseului, and Solotvyno during a period of 8 months. This component specifically addresses to actors directly involved in educational process: teachers and students, aiming to create situations for them to discover and improve their personal resources which, with adequate guidance and support, can change / improve their and their community’s destiny. Potentiating individuals’ resources is a way to challenge them to perform. The lack of motivation to perform on behalf of teachers has damaging effects on the quality of the educational process, on motivating students to learn and attend a tertiary educational form. On behalf of students, the lack of motivation has also catastrophic impact in terms of school drop-outs, lack of knowledge and ultimately lack of good job opportunities. The designed plan of action to address these aspects include: - training students and teachers for developing practical skills related to subject that are closed to their interests, such as: fashion design, photography, sewing and tailoring, drawing. - a common multimedia exhibition that presents to both stakeholders and general public the results of the students’ work: designing and realising original clothing pieces and accessories, photographs, videos, pictures, drawings etc. Its concept integrates practical skills achieved in previous stage of the program. The event is intended to put students in spotlight in their communities, to show they possess important resources and talents that can shape their future. The project includes also a support action for the students – for those participating in the project as well as for students attending the participating schools in the present and in the future, as well as students in the neighbouring schools. This support action is represented by training the educational counsellors and teachers with responsibilities in this area in dealing with specific challenges the students in the project area re confronting with: - high number of students coming from families with low income. - high level of absenteeism coming from a low motivation to study. - existence of communication barriers between teachers and students / parents. - lack of interests on behalf of parents for educational activities of their children. - lack of adequate familial environment (parents that works abroad) that trigger emotional problems; SO3. Improving the leadership and educational management skills of 12 members of the managing teams of the educational institutions in Repedea, Crasna Viseului, Solotvyno and neighbouring schools during a period of 5 months. Project partners have come to the conclusion that their educational institution need to have improved management activities in order to increase performance in all its domains: a) administrative – better administration of resources and activities. b) social – creating valuable partnerships with stakeholders. Often, the managerial teams lack abilities to address aspects such as communication bridges and partnerships with community / economic environment / NGOs that can support their activity. c) educational – achieving the specific objectives of intellectual, socio-cultural, psycho-motric, aesthetic and civic moral development. Several aspects have been detected as blocking performance of the schools: lack of methodological guides and complementary materials needed to answer to the real needs of the nowadays society, lack of motivation and support for study, monotony in educational activities, high level of absenteeism. d) technologic – ensuring modern work and educational environment for all (staff, teachers and students). Reduced financial resources lead to the incapacity to perform for schools’ staff, teachers and students as well. To address this need, the project partners has designed an intensive professional development program aimed at transforming leadership and management skills of managing teams’ members of the schools involved in the project, as well as of the neighbouring schools through a wide range of activities, such as: intensive trainings sessions, workshops, personalized coaching, leadership assessment tools, case studies, and belonging to a community of other school principals in which they can share successful practices. For creating such a community, the training program will include the development of a common strategy that will be discussed with managing staff of the neighboring schools that face similar challenges in a round table meeting, in order to formulate a set of measures to be proposed to decision makers at local and regional level to support their efforts to redesign of the educational process.

3 Upgraded equipment, furniture and educational materials for all the three schools participating in the project includes: - for Technological Highschool of Repedea: specialised equipment for textile industry; electronic equipment for students and teachers. - for Crasna Viseului Secondary School and its belonging structure Maidan Secondary School: electronic educational equipment for students and teachers; equipment and furniture for administrative use. - for Solotvinska Highschool №1: electronic educational equipment and software; educational equipment and furniture. Procurement procedures will be implemented. The whole process (including installation) will cover 8 months of the project duration. Reception of the purchased equipment and tools document will be a source of evaluation for the indicator. this result contributes to programme output “Number of rehabilitated / modernized educational institutions”; 10 A training workshop will be developed for a number of 10 educational counsellors and teachers with responsibilities in this area from the 3 schools participating in the project and other neighbouring schools. The respective training workshop will focus on developing practical skills regarding career orientation and guiding for students. The participation will be confirmed through completion of a feedback questionnaire. The indicator will be completed during the months 4 and 5 of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 12 A training course will be developed or a number of 12 directors and members of the managing teams from the 3 schools participating in the project and other neighbouring schools. The respective course will aim at developing their leadership and educational management skills. The participation will be confirmed through completion of a feedback questionnaire. The indicator will be completed during period between months 9 and 13 of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 1 Common strategy will be elaborated based on the relevant information collected by the teachers participating in the project. The strategy will be developed during the period between months 13 and 15 of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 1 set of measures to be taken by the decision makers in order to support efforts related to innovative redesigning of the educational process will be developed by members of the managing teams of the schools participating in the project as well as of the neighbouring schools during the round table organised within the month 15 of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 51 students that will participate in training workshops is 51 - a number of 17 students on behalf of each partner. The participation will be confirmed through completion of a feedback questionnaire. The indicator will be completed during the 2 months (months 10 and 11) of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 9 eachers that will participate in training workshops is 9 - a number of 3 teachers on behalf of each partner: Technological Highschool of Repedea (teachers from the textile industry specialisation classes); Crasna Viseului Secondary School (preferably with artistic / practical specializations - drawing etc.); Solotvinska Highschool №1 (preferably from the knitting specialisation classes - “labor hour”). The participation will be confirmed through completion of a feedback questionnaire. The indicator will be completed during the 2 months (months 10 and 11) of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 1 common exhibition will be organised in Repedea (Romania) and Solotvyno (Ukraine), as follows: - exhibition in Repedea: 1st day for stakeholders and 2nd day and 3rd day for general public. - exhibition in Solotvyno: 1st day for stakeholders and 2nd day and 3rd day for general public. Visitors will be invited to sign in the Guest Book. The products / items presented in the exhibition will be created by students as a follow-up action of the training workshops. This indicator will be completed during the 17th month of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of people benefitting from all types of activities that received funding within the CBC programme”; 2 Educational building of 2 schools will be rehabilitated /modernised: Crasna Viseului Secondary School and its belonging structure Maidan Secondary School in Bistra Commune (Maramures County, Romania) and Solotvinska Highschool №1, Solotvyno Town (Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine). Procurement procedures will be organised starting from the month 2 of the project and acquisition contracts will be signed until the month 8 of the project. Rehabilitation / modernization works will be developed up to the month 18 of the project. - this result contributes to programme output “Number of rehabilitated / modernized educational institutions”.