Certification as "European School"
European schools impart a comprehensive knowledge of Europe to their students. They make it their task to prepare schoolchildren for a life in the common European home. They promote Europe-oriented intercultural competence through the transfer of knowledge, encounters and dialogue with people from other countries and cultures. All those involved in school life make an outstanding contribution to the cosmopolitan upbringing of young people and to the further growing together of Europe.
We intend to be certified as such a "European school" in the medium term. To do this, we have to meet certain criteria. This catalog of criteria includes, among other aspects, the integration of European topics, foreign language learning, project-oriented school partnerships and internships, personnel qualification and personnel development and quality assurance.
What is an Erasmus Plan?
The essential basis of the accreditation for the new generation of Erasmus + school education programs from 2021 is the so-called Erasmus plan.
In this plan, we are required to describe how we want to benefit from participating in the various key actions and thus also benefit our teachers and students.
The goals described in this plan will help us to achieve certification as a European school in the medium-term.
Selection criteria for participants in activities of the Erasmus+ program
- Staff
No teacher is excluded from possible participation. Ultimately, it is always about the right combination of subjects, foreign language skills and the (personal) suitability of the teacher. The steering group around the school principal (Mr. Beck) and the school's European commissioner (Mr. Schmitt) will decide on the latter. During the selection process, we reserve the right to request short letters of motivation. - Learners
In principle, we do not exclude anyone from participating in a program module. The planned basis for participation will be a brief application with an individual letter of motivation. In order to ensure the highest possible equality of opportunity for all students, they are also allowed to write this in English, so that students with other native languages do not have a disadvantage if they lack German language skills.
Depending on the destination and the motto of the exchange program, students can increase their chances through their involvement in working groups such as "SoR" (School without racism), "Jugend debattiert" (Youth debating society) and "Jugend forscht" (German contest for young scientists). Through special achievements, such as in everyday school life (including school spokesman, course spokesman, school medical service, school newspaper, school band, robotics group) or in the BSO (Career orientation) area, students can also positively influence the likelihood of participation.
In addition, students with physical or cognitive limitations are always taken into account. Further criteria for participation could be the financial background of the parental home or the personal circumstances of the student.
In order to enable as many students as possible to participate, preference may be given to those who have not yet participated in any other student mobility.
Quality standards
Our goals
- Establishing and expanding a European profile of the school: Learning foreign languages and promoting multilingualism supports us in successfully integrating multiculturalism into everyday school life. Through transnational projects or active partnerships with European partner schools and in-service training programs for teachers far away from the Bremen system, foundations are laid for the successful teaching of the European idea.
- Improving the quality of teaching and learning and strengthening the professional competencies of the teaching staff: Through structured training and, if necessary, peer observation at European partner schools (including job shadowing) and further training in the use of digital media, we expect to increase the know-how of our colleagues. We expect the effective use of digital media in the classroom to improve the learning situation for our students.
- Creation of the possibility of so-called student mobilities: By organizing and carrying out student exchanges, we promote language competence and multilingualism as well as the political participation of students in democratic life within the EU.
- Promoting participation in democratic life in the EU: Children and young people develop democratic understanding particularly through personal experience, through their own actions and thus through the development of personal and social skills. Through stays abroad, the students' professional, linguistic and social competencies are developed in order to facilitate the transition into the European professional world. In addition, the key and cross-sectional competencies of the students are promoted, which leads to better opportunities on the European labor market and in the European community.
- Establishment of a European cooperation network: The network is to serve as a building block for student mobility in order to facilitate access to internships and individual guest visits to schools in other European countries.