Best Practice proposta nell’ambito del Progetto „Mediazione per l’accoglienza“ Consorzio Erasmus Plus 2021-1-IT02-KA121-SCH-000012059: Obiettivi 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
The village of Villaputzu is in the south-east of Sardinia, at the foot of the Sarrabus hills, lying on the banks of the Flumendosa river, and not far from the eastern coast of Sardinia. In this little village, whose origins go back to the Phoenician-Punic settlement of Sarcapos, you might wonder about the cultural, historical, and natural richness of the area.
In this picturesque village situated close to the sea and surrounded by hills, we find the ‘Istituto Comprensivo Villaputzu’ primary school. The school is part of a group of schools across six different school buildings accommodating different student levels in the greater area of Sarrabus-Gerrei. There are about 130 pupils, divided into 10 classes. As well as morning classes, the school offers extracurricular activities like chess, volleyball and other sport activities, traditional language (Sardo), theatre, maths games, English courses, and eTwinning/Erasmus+ projects.
The school is connected to the network of ‘Scuole senza zaino’, which means pupils at the school leave most school materials at school, meaning they don’t have to carry their heavy school bags every day.
This innovation promotes collaboration, as students share tables (4/6 pupils) and mini- labs to work in pairs, which is a setting that encourages active educational methodologies.
Alessandra Basso, an eTwinner and a teacher with 31 years of teaching experience shared her experience of living in a rural area and teaching in a small school with us:
Teaching in a rural school is easier because it offers opportunities to connect with families, local agencies, and the municipality. There is a strong sense of community in this village. When we want to organise learning activities outdoors, it is easy to find people to support us. People know each other so we just need to ask to find the human resources we need. As a result, the cooperation with the local community is very strong and covers various sectors.
We organise cultural activities such as exhibitions that promote cultural heritage, as well as environmental activities to promote sustainability. Our school collaborates closely with a vocational school and a local voluntary association in the area, and thanks to this collaboration, we offer activities to our students that deal with gastronomy, agriculture, and forestry.
The area doesn’t offer cultural activities like theatre, cinema, or museums, so our collaboration with the municipality is vital to our school because it helps us access resources that offer more opportunities to our students.
Our pupils understand that they are in a ‘narrow’ world, and that is why they are very passionate about eTwinning and Erasmus projects. They understand that these projects offer a great opportunity to know what lies beyond their town, compare different cultures and traditions, improve language skills, and overcome barriers.
Being an eTwinner has been especially helpful during the lockdowns we experienced because of the pandemic. Three days after the first lockdown, my class was ready to start distance learning. My pupils have already had experience in eTwinning, so they could manage their activities. As an eTwinning Ambassador, I taught other teachers how to effectively apply distance learning in their schools.
eTwinning is sharing and sharing means growing. Every year through our collaboration with the other schools, we learn and improve our school. We use eTwinning to teach school subjects, we promote digital safe education and the code of conduct on social media.
Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) https://education.ec.europa.eu/node/1518
Didattica Innovativa, Media Education, Internazionalizzazione Ambito n.6 Lombardia 