“Empowering eTwinning schools: Leading, Learning, Sharing”

We recently congratulated the 1,212 schools that received the eTwinning School Label and on 14th-16th May 2018 in Rome, we offered some of those schools the opportunity to meet and exchange best practices with a view to becoming stronger ‘learning organisations’ and agents of change in their educational arenas.

The goal of the “Empowering eTwinning Schools: Leading, Learning, Sharing” conference in Rome, was to highlight, feature, recognise and promote the key elements that characterise eTwinning Schools so that they can be further nurtured within and beyond the individual school. The conference jointly organised by the European Commission, the eTwinning Central Support Service (CSS), the Italian National Agency Erasmus+/INDIRE, and the other NSSs and PSAs participating in this event.

The conference focused on:

the pedagogical, organisational, communication and promotional elements of an eTwinning School
providing participants with tools and methods to become stronger ‘learning organisations’
validating the idea of a network of eTwinning Schools
preparing the ground for the further development of the eTwinning School concept

Empowering eTwinning Schools: Leading, Learning, Sharing

eTwinning school leaders attended a wide range of workshops and training sessions and listened to internationally recognised experts on the themes of school leadership and inclusive systems, such as Patricia Wastiau, Principal Adviser for research and Studies, European Schoolnet, Angelo Paletta, Associate Professor, department of Management, Universita di Bologna, and Paul Downes, Associate Professor of Education (Psychology), Director, Educational Disadvantage Centre, Dublin City University.

Being an eTwinning school provides recognition of the innovative work that schools have implemented in the promotion of citizenship, cultural awareness and digital competence. It also recognises the work that schools have done to develop a cultural of collaboration within and beyond their schools, communities and countries.

eTwinning Schools are exemplar schools and models of innovation for others in their area and at a national level.

To find out more about what happened at the conference, see the full programme here and explore the #eTwSchools18 hashtag on Twitter.

Also, check out the interview below with Alda Barbi, an Italian head-teacher, for she shares insightful information regarding the conference and eTwinning Schools.