INSULA EUROPAE (agreement n° 119117-CP-1-2004-1-IT-COMENIUS-C21) has been approved and receives funding from the European Commission - Directorate General for Education and Culture, under the Socrates Programme - Comenius Action 2.1.
The project actions began on October 1st 2004 and shall end on September 30th 2007.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

• Encourage teachers throughout Europe to extend the breadth of their teaching, in particular to introduce a wider European dimension of teaching;
• Develop teaching strategies in order to support European culture of tolerance into curricula and to increase European civic conscience;
• Improve professional development of teachers and the quality of teaching and learning in the schools;
• Provide teachers with a wide range of perspectives, teaching ideas and materials on those topics, themes and events, which have been of particular significance to European integration;
• Offer some practical advice on how to make effective use of innovative communication technologies in the teaching and learning activities.

The project is split up into three main phases:

1) The first one focuses on the production of guidelines to be used for implementing and experimenting a common teaching strategy, curricula and training didactical programmes in the following areas:
- European culture and literature
- European civic education
- History of European integration

It includes the production of a common integrated method to strengthen the concept of European integration into the identified curricula.

2) The second pahse focuses on the production and experimentation of teachers on-line training courses based on some key issues, such as:

• The integration of skills-based learning into a predominantly knowledge-based syllabus or curriculum framework;
• The teaching of how to make an effective use of positive attitudes and values, which include tolerance and respect for diversity;
• The integration of European identity awareness into classrooms;
• The effective use of the new communication technologies in education;
• The higher education reforms in Central and Eastern Europe; the recognition of qualifications; lifelong learning for equity and social cohesion.

This phase includes the creation of the e-learning platform, the Internet web-site and the production of training materials to be used on-line.

3) The last phase focuses on the experimentation of "Exempla courses" in the schools (participating in the project without a Socrates grant). It's an exciting and potentially fruitful opportunity for teachers involved in this project.

A final report and a video dossier will be produced at the end of this pahse.