INNOVATION

Realisation of curricula
The definition of the curricula is innovative because it not only includes the setting of objectives and didactic contents, but also the setting of a series of other educational objectives: teaching the ability of a critical approach; providing a language able to define the institutional, social, political, religious universe of the "European system"; providing a multicultural opening originating from the knowledge of the historical authenticity of different identities; providing conceptual tools to understand one's own present; providing the means to analyse the value of structural factors with intentional and causative objectives.

E-learning portal and internet website
The portal and website are intended to be a first attempt at a "permanently open seminar" as well as a storage of general and specific information referring to the subject. The "Insula Europae" portal could therefore represent a valid resource as well as an essential tool for whomever is involved in education, giving teachers news, didactic activities, collaboration tools, examples of school practices, studies and research: a co-operative infrastructure to enable collaboration between schools.
In this way, the project aims to promote co-operation using common reference standards, which allow a closer collaboration between European education systems and improve their effectiveness and results.

Online course for teachers
The course is innovative not only because it provides teachers with the ability to teach the subjects identified in the curricula, but also because the focus is placed on the simultaneous understanding of "identity" and the "differences" that characterise the continent and on the need for a critical and knowledgeable approach to the history of Europe.

Transferabilty and the reproduction of the module
The "modulo exempla" and the online courses for teachers, educators and trainers can be extended and used by all interested schools trying to take out educational syllabuses on "European citizenship" from the trial context, giving them a greater "institutionalisation" (whilst keeping the autonomy of each school system).

Creation of values and synergies
Values: the project promotes the exchange of ideas and materials to develop a greater knowledge of European citizenship with values of integration, tolerance, solidarity and reciprocal respect within the education system.
Synergies: the project encourages the development of synergies between socio-economic and territorial worlds and trans-national educational worlds in order to increase different local resources and common values that form the base of European citizenship. It must be underlined that a knowledgeable, democratic and responsible European citizen arises from reciprocal knowledge and strong relations between different cultures and worlds.

In conclusion, the project can be considered innovative because it meets the four interdependent elements that the European Commission spoke about in "European dimension of knowledge" and these are: producing knowledge; the transmission of this through education and teaching; its spread through information technology and communication; its use in an enlarged Europe.

For these reasons, the Insula Europae beneficiaries are not only teachers and schools taking part in the project but, given its transferability, also education systems in the countries of the partners and in Member States.

DISSEMINATION

Dissemination and mainstreaming actions represent a crucial element to meet the objectives of the project, and they are transversally developed in all phases. The responsibility for the implementation of the dissemination plan is entrusted to a Dissemination Team, made up of a designated member of every partner institute.
In particular, it must be highlighted that dissemination is associated to the specific tasks of testing the intermediate results and in this case, with the objective to compare the results obtained with the expectations of the groups, allowing implementations of improvements during the course of the work. At an operative level, all the organisations involved actively contribute so that everyone has the task of putting the disseminative work in its correct context, using their own networks and continually keeping local media up-to-date to create a wider level synergy. Considering that the involvement of third parties like school authorities and institutions as well as people in charge of education and training policies is of the utmost importance, all partners are asked to involve these people at a local and national level to receive advice and to implement a continuous and constant comparison of the results of the project, and also in order to guarantee its sustainability after its conclusion (management methods and updating of the website; areas for development of the project; diffusion strategies at the end of the project; added European merit of the results obtained).

The main work anticipated by dissemination is represented by: