Erasmus+: General Information

        

                  Rights and duties of the Erasmus student

Our center is a Secondary school located in the town of Onil, rural

town of the Foia of Castalla which is 45 km far from the city of

Alicante. This area has a considerable industrial activity dedicated to toy manufacturing, manufacturing of plastic products and iron.

Nevertheless is an area with a growing demand for domestic and

foreign tourism due to the increasing foreign residents located in

different populations across the Foia, who have settled in the

residential resorts that have been built because the saturation of the coast. For its climate, its proximity to the coast and natural beauty at the foot of the mountains and next to the Font Roja na

tural park, Onil and its surroundings offer exceptional conditions for active tourism.

Our center offer Secondary Education, High School and Vocational

Training in outdoor activitities and Forestry. We also offer Short Cycle Higher degree in Physical Activitites and Sports, becoming so a Higher

Education Institution (HEI) according to the rules of the European Comission. Year after year we have about 60 staff members and 600 students. We have been teaching vocational training courses for ten years. Our European spirit and the pursuit of quality in training has led us to apply for and finally obtain several Erasmus + projects since 2008. All the information about our current and former projects is availablein the tab Eramsus + from our web page (www.ieslacreueta.es). As can be seen there, we have permanent contacts at different levels with most of the European countries.

We have been granted with the Erasmus Chart since 2008 until 2020 without any interruption. Thanks to it we could offer high quality education services, not only to our students and staff, but also to students from other schools in the province. Mainly the opportunity to train outside our borders is very well received and supported from local, provincial and regional public and private institutions. Our interest in closer ties with Europe make us continue working to provide other services, as Teachers courses and plurilingualism (since 2013 we are part of  the network of Spanish multilingual schools).

2) How the EPS has been developed and how it will be implemented in our institution.

Our center also participates actively in innovation and updating of the European Commission policies concerning education. So we participate in national and international congresses and conferences with a representative of the center, usually the Erasmus-Coordinator or other qualified staff member. Some  examples could be our presence in the Congresses of Erasmus Coordinators (ERACON) held in Romania and Poland in the 2012 and 2013, the XXII ENSEE Forum held in the Netherlands in 2013,  the ICEBSS Conference in Indonesia, held in 2015, and the 26th Latina American Congress of Social Sciences, held in Buenos Aires in 2018. This activities usually results in the publication of academic articles on various aspects of the Erasmus program. We participate also regularly in national and regional meetings, mainly those concerning contact seminars organized by our national agency, SEPIE.
IES La Creueta is trying to  implement the Dual Vocational Training according to Spanish rules both in higher and medium degrees, because we think a good link between education and job market is unavoidable. The result is  a line of work without interruption since our center began to participate in the LLP in 2008. Our students, on the one hand live the Erasmus experience when joining the center with 12 years, with emphasis placed on improving their capabilities of integration into job market, and have the opportunity to maintain that bond until finish their training period with the same possibilities of real projection in the world of work. Our staff of teachers, on the other hand, that often is personal teaching both high school and vocational training, has acquired over the years an experience and training that are focused in the same direction, improving their teaching and professional skills and the interaction with the possibilities of the job market. In the case of our Higher Education teachers this idea is complemented with a strong link with Environmental Education through Sport and Nature activities.

The general objectives of the projects carried out so far in our institution are the following:
– Encourage student motivation to learn through participation in projects.
-Encourage the participation of all sectors of the educational community of IES Creueta.
-Involve external entities closest to our educational center through collaborative partnerships.
-Promote active learning methodologies based on innovative, active and integrative actions.
-Reduce early school leaving by launching motivational activities.
Many of our projects are clearly related with the Erasmus + program aims and strongly linked to it for mutual benefits. Due to space limits is not possible to provide a full list of them, but some of the most representatives and linked to Erasmus+ activities are the following:
– Organizing and participating in conferences and events. We believe that these meetings (its organization and participation) foster collaboration with other entities as well as student motivation and participation of families and teachers.

– Didactical tours. Routes in the social, cultural and natural surroundings of tour institution provide an ideal means to better understand the environment where we live. When done with others also they encourage socialization and mutual understanding.
– Debates. They are open to teachers, students, families and anyone who wants to learn more about the great classics and provide feedback on the issues.
– Participation in projects. It is intended that students participate in motivating projects such as computer contests, competitions or philosophical literary competitions, in order to encourage students to collaborate and upgrade their skills.
– Vivacs and Popular culture. A rediscovery of the traditional arts of survival in the wild is intended. Here we want to give a practical overview of the use and enjoyment of the natural environment with respect.
– Speech and drama workshop. The theater invites both students and teachers and parents to participate in joint activities to help improve body language and the expression of feelings and emotions. This is intended to improve relationships and cooperative work in the center.
– Social skills workshops. Through various activities this activity is aimed to improve the conduct and acquire skills that can be useful to students in their personal lives. They are particularly aimed at anyone who is at risk of exclusion and neglect, with low motivation to study or disadvantaged social situation.
– Literary circles. It is symposia on literary works that create a dialogue that can help increase the motivation to learn. It is aimed at the entire education community and aims to promote the love of reading and improve speech and language and communication skills.
– Disseminetion activities. It is an artistic activity to improve the Centre’s image and encourage the dissemination of all the activities that are made from the center. This can include activities such as the creation of an annual calendar with pictures of activities contemplated, Christmas cards, information on the website, blogs or informational posters.
– “Sonrisas de Bombay” project. As in previous years, we want to continue to participate in charity projects through the making of handicrafts that will serve to raise money for the NGO “Sonrisas de Bombay”. This is obtained from markets and fairs made by pupils, teachers and families where products made by them are sold.
– Save the Children charity race, where students who wish travel a circuit providing one euro. The collected money will go to Save the Children Association in collaboration to projects carried out worldwide.
– Collaboration with the Onil’s Senior Center As in previous years, this year we want to work with the senior center of Onil “Caseta Sarrio.” For this purpose we carried out various activities like sending Christmas cards, Magic Kings gifts, organizing activities such as concerts, dynamic, readings and theatrical performances.
– Involvement with disabilities. We work with the two associations for the disabled in Onil, “Luz y Vida” and “Muévete”.
– Craft workshops. Onil has a very different crafts, including notably that moves around the toy and “esparto” (Stipa tenacissima). These workshops aim, through the school, it is the nexus of encounter between people who have the knowledge and the people younger participants.
– Sport activities. In collaboration with sports centers Onil seeks to encourage minority sports in order to enhance the sporting activities for our students. Throughout the year attending competitions like the Championship of Spain Guidance Teaching Institutions will be prepared.
-Encourage reading. Cooperation between language departments of the center in order to encourage reading among students in different languages. exhibitions, literary walks as the Camino del Cid, study author, monographs, murals and recitals are held.

3) How our institution ensure high quality in both student and staff mobility and within Erasmus co-operation project.

Our future plans with regard to international cooperation with other European or non-European institutions comprise the following lines:

• Cooperation with the University of Alicante in upcoming projects, because members of our institution are also part of this the university. This connection can be an excellent platform to improve our external visibility and our ability to participate in all kinds of initiatives.
• Cooperation with Latin America. We have already initiated some contacts with institutions in that region of the world (Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, etc.) to explore the possibility of future joint actions. As a result of this we are starting a new KA107 project with Universidad Nacional de Ecuador (UNAE).
• Improving our chances of international teaching staff mobilities  to other HEI institutions.
• To become a reference center at regional and national level with regard to the promotion of entrepreneurship, both to improve our students and teachers capabilities.
  
• Cooperation with Portugal, France, Malta, Ireland, etc. We are already sending students for internships to Azores islands, Pyrennes, etc.