A chance for Maltese schools to go beyond our shores

The first Spring Day in Europe Project was celebrated in March 2003 and it was a great success, with over 6,000 European schools registering online to participate.

Five Maltese schools took part in that project. Each school's website was linked to the European Schoolnet's website, thus making it accessible to thousands of other European schools and initiating endless possibilities of collaborative work in all spheres of the curriculum.

This year the Spring Day project will be on the internet once again and the theme is enlargement. The aim of the project is to promote information and an awareness of what is happening around us - the enlargement is certainly a historic moment for Europe.

Schools that register receive a free myEUROPE newsletter, and have privileged access to advice from colleagues and experts. For schools who wish to look for partners (Comenius or other) or post requests for collaborating in a project or who wish to organise an exchange visit, the newsletter is an excellent portal through which one can communicate with thousands of other European registered schools.

The official website, which will soon be available in 23 languages, including Maltese, contains a mine of information about all the EU member and candidate countries. It includes numerous ideas about what schools can do to be part of the Spring Day project. These include debates, chats, projects, web quests, exchange visits, quizzes and a host of other ideas that can be easily organised with students at school. Every activity provides specific pedagogical guidelines, resources, a submission form and a list of contributions. An activity may last a day, a week or a month.

The Spring Day website also provides links to:

¤ What's happening in European schools;

¤ News about the enlargement process;

¤ Young reporters: a European team of pupils writing for other pupils about Spring Day;

¤ Fact files about 28 European countries;

¤ A discussion forum;

¤ URL of all registered schools.

The Spring Day project demonstrates how information technology can contribute to the enhancement of the quality of education. Its activities and projects have a message for people throughout Europe and beyond, inviting them to get to know each other, share the uniqueness of their identity and make their voices heard.

The Spring Day group of pedagogical advisers, which includes representatives from all 28 EU member and candidate countries, held a meeting in Berlin's city hall, the Rotes Rathaus from January 9 to 11.

The teachers discussed experiences and strategies for promoting Spring Day in Europe 2004 in each of their countries. They also compared notes on their plans for Spring Day in their own schools. Key issues included the political climate on European issues in different countries. While some countries are enthusiastic about the enlargement process, others are more sceptical.

It was agreed that, since Europe was often a controversial topic, Spring Day could be an excellent forum for debate, giving voice to the whole spectrum of opinions, hopes and fears for the future of the EU.

Berlin was a particularly fitting venue for the meeting, given its recent history of division and reunification. The formal reunification of Germany in 1990 was not only an historic national event - it also represented an important enlargement of the EU.

You can register your school on line now at http://futurum2004.eun.org. For help and further information please contact Sue Privitelli (Malta co-ordinator) at privi@waldonet.net.mt