We believe it is essential to capture the imagination and curiosity of students from the start of their education.
In the last few years, there has been growing consensus that educational success can no longer rely just on reproducing knowledge, but it also depends on applying acquired knowledge in new situations. This requires curious, creative and flexible people. It is recommended to stimulate the development of these skills at a young age, because the younger they are, the faster they learn. In addition, it is also recommended to develop these skills not only with a teacher and inside the classroom. The community of a school can be part of this.
Collaboration between school and its community has many advantages. First, it gives students the opportunity to learn in and together with the real world and other people than teachers. Students will experience reality during their school time and will be inspired by good examples. Secondly, school projects can draw upon local expertise and experience. Thirdly, it makes lessons more meaningful and it also improves the motivation and pleasure of students to learn. Finally, students get the opportunity to develop their curiosity, creativity, flexibility, but also important education skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication etcetera. It should be noted that, to develop these skills in the right way, it is important that students must get the opportunity to create their own projects and find their own solutions for problems instead of just watching or listening.
A school can be called an open school if it collaborates structurally with its community. This three-year Open Schools for Open Societies project aims to help a thousand European primary and secondary schools with the implementation of an open school approach.
What kind of schools are we looking for? This open school approach suits schools that want to collaborate with their community or want to stimulate curiosity, creativity and flexibility among students. Our national coordinators can help you to bring your school into contact with this project.
