Guidelines Erasmus in Schools for ESN Sections
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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Content
1.
Project description
1.1 General description
1.2 The European Platform
1.3 Erasmus in Schools package
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2.
Contact schools
1. Request the contact details of the schools
2. Share expectations
3. Sign the contracts
4. Prepare the visit
5. The Visit
6. Discuss the follow-up
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3.
4.
5.
Recruitment students
Preparing the students for the visit
After the visit
5.1 Certificate
5.2 Share your material
5.3 Register your activity
5.4 Evaluation
6. Motivational words
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Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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1.
Project description
1.1 General description
Erasmus in Schools (EiS) is an activity within SocialErasmus that was established to familiarize
students with Europe and European citizens, their traditions and customs as well as to
overcome stereotypes. EiS offers an opportunity for international students to get closer to
the local communities they live in and an opportunity to promote their home countries. At
the same time EiS gives local pupils an opportunity to get a firsthand experience of other
cultures. In the Netherlands ESN cooperates with the National Agency, the European Platform
(EPF), on Erasmus in Schools.
The basic concept of Erasmus in Schools is that international students studying abroad visit
local schools and give lessons about their country, culture and traditions to create cultural
awareness among local students. The lessons are customized to fit the local pupils at their
respective educational level.
Erasmus in Schools activities are beneficial for international students who will be
practicing/practice their presentation, teaching and organizational skills while at the same
time they are making new friends. Their involvement provides them with a chance to
experience and better understand different educational systems while giving local students a
fun and interesting experience that they will remember for a lifetime.
EiS activities also offer ESN sections a chance to build strong relationships with local schools,
educational departments and city officials. Providing deeper and richer activities that both
international and local students can benefit from will strengthen the image of ESN sections
and ESN in general. The efforts of local sections and international students have the potential
to spike local students' interest for studying abroad and promote active citizenship, respect
and acceptance of cultural differences.
1.2 The European Platform
‘The European Platform – internationalising education‘ inspires by demonstrating how
internationalisation adds value to today’s education. They enjoy sharing success stories and
support internationalisation in education through our broad knowledge, and financially by
offering government grants. Staff members and ambassadors provide professional advice.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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Primary and secondary establishments as well as teacher training institutions can benefit
from their expertise.
The goal of the EPF is that all pupils in primary and secondary education receive a foundation
based on internationalisation, in order to inspire and prepare them to study, work and live in
an international environment. In addition, the European Platform provides support to schools
wanting to establish internationalisation as an extra distinguishing aspect of their school. The
European Platform also encourages the internationalisation of teacher training institutions
for primary and secondary education in the Netherlands.
ESN The Netherlands and the European Platform started a cooperation in May 2014 as both
share the mission, vision and aim of the project. The European Platform focuses on contact
and preparation of schools while ESN the Netherlands focuses on the ESN sections, and the
sections focus on the preparation of the students.
For more information regarding the European Platform check their website:
www.europeesplatform.nl
1.3 Erasmus in Schools package
ESN and the EPF together created a package in order to provide tools for schools, ESN
sections and students to organize EiS visits. The website contains the following:
You can find it here: http://www.esn-nl.org/content/material
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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1.4 Erasmus in Schools Coordinator
From ESN the Netherlands Anne de Heijde coordinates the project on the national level. She is in
contact with all local coordinators via the SocialErasmus coordinators mailing list, phone and social
media. You can contact her with all the questions you have via: [email protected]
It is an honor to have been selected as this year’s Erasmus in Schools and Mov’in Europe coordinator.
With these projects I will focus on (informal) education and promoting mobility to students and work
closely together with the European Platform and other National Agencies. Bringing international
students and Dutch pupils together; learning about each other’s cultures and countries, while bringing
international students closer to their local communities and promoting mobility to the Dutch pupils.
Where EiS focusses on secondary school students, ME’s aim is to promote mobility to university students.
Mobility activities, such as a study abroad fair is most likely something you are all already familiar with,
or organize yourselves. One thing ME will do is to hand you insight in opportunities to do so even more!
About me: I am a law student at the University of Amsterdam, in which city I also live. The past year I’ve
been a local board member – of ISN Amsterdam – and have been actively involved in various fields of our
Network. If you have any questions about Mov’in Europe or Erasmus in Schools, do not hesitate to
contact me. I’m looking forward to meeting you all at the SIM!
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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2.
Contact schools
The first thing you need to do when you start to organize/ing an Erasmus in Schools visit is
to contact an school. These sections will explain the different steps of the contact between
the ESN section and the school.
1.
Request the contact details of the schools
The European Platform promotes the project to their schools and stimulates them to engage
in this project. Schools that are interested in participating in the project can sign up via the
ESN and EPF website. The European Platform collects the details of the schools and their
specific interests. You can request this information by sending an e-mail to
[email protected]. Furthermore you could call Elvira Arkenstijn: +31 (0)23 553 11 50.
2.
Share expectations
After receiving the contact details of the schools in your region interested in participating in
Erasmus in Schools you make an appointment with the school to share your expectations
regarding the content and frequency of the visit. Schools have different reasons to engage in
the project and have different demands regarding the courses in which the students can give
a presentation. It is necessary to know whether they are interested in a presentation about
the country of the student or a topic specific presentation.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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You could consider the following types of visits:
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Language villages: e.g. German or French
Regular presentation about the country of the international students
Playing games or sports
Geography lessons of the international students country
A story, myth or legend from their country
An international student and a student of the Netherlands/Dutch student who have
been abroad, share stories and experience to the pupils.
Don’t forget to discuss the following:
● Date of the visit: it is recommend to plan at the visit at least a month in advance as
you will need the time to recruit and prepare the international students.
● Duration of the course
● Amount of international students
● Content of the visit
● Frequency of the visit
3.
Sign the contracts
When the ESN section and the schools both agree with the expectations regarding the visit it
is time to sign contracts. These contracts prevent both parties to redrawn from the
agreements set regarding the visit. The contracts include the date, content, frequency of the
Erasmus in Schools visits.
4.
Prepare the visit
In this phase your main focus is the recruitment and the preparation of the international
students. The contact that you will have with the school will be about last-minute changes.
It is recommend to send the teacher responsible for the visit a reminder one day in advance.
5.
The Visit
At arrival at the school you as representative of ESN, start by introducing the students to the
teacher. Make sure that everything will go as agreed upon. Be open and helpful to both the
teacher and the students. If things go differently than expected, stay professional and be
flexible.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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6.
Discuss the follow-up
If you have time to discuss future visits during your visit it is great, but as you and the
teacher might be busy it could be relevant to plan a separate evaluation meeting. During
this meeting you will discuss if there will be future visits and if one of the parties needs to
change things. Start this meeting with an evaluation of the collaboration as there might
have been things that went different than expected. Finalize the meeting by setting a new
date.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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3.
Recruitment students
After reaching an agreement with the school it is time to search for international students to
carry out the visits. The frequency and type of promotion depends on your city and the
amount of students needed. As you don’t need that many international students for the visits
it is best to ask students that you know are capable. By doing this you can explain the project
to them in detail and ensure that you bring students capable of presenting to the school. In
this personal approach it might be helpful to keep the following in mind:
● Explain the benefits of EiS for them: contact with the Dutch citizens & improving their
presentation skills. Students are very proud of their cultural heritage and therefore
more than excited to showcase their country.
● Use examples of other students who have done a visit before. Let them talk with each
other.
● Not all students are as direct as Dutch students and might be afraid to give a
presentation. Be understandable and support them.
If the personal approach is not sufficient or the demand exceeds the amount of students you
could consider the following communication tools:
Tools
Use
Website
Place an explanatory piece about Erasmus in Schools on your ESN
website. You can use the introduction of these guidelines. Even if
you decide to use mouth-to-mouth promotion it is recommend to
include a piece on your website for stakeholders. Let the Erasmus
in Schools coordinator know which link she can use to place on the
National ESN website.
Facebook
Fanpage: share the pictures & videos of visits
Group: include students that will participate in the visit to share
questions & doubts before the event
Event: promote the date of your visit
Movies
Use movies from other ESN sections or create your own movies in
order to make the project more alive
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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Flyers
This is a useful tool to attract students that are not so involved in
ESN yet and won’t be reached with your other information tools.
For students that are already involved in your section it could be
used as a reminder. ESN the Netherlands and the European
Platform provided you with the flyers below:
Lecture talks
To give extra awareness about this project you could reach huge
groups of students my giving a short presentation in lectures.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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4.
Preparing the students for the visit
The preparation of EiS depends on which context, what class and subject the international
students will focus on e.g. if the EiS activities are organized during a special day at the high
school. Take into account that there are students that are nervous for holding a presentation
in not their native language.
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Organize a preparatory meeting with your students: depending on the amount of
students that will take place in the you can decide on a type of meeting. If the projects
becomes really big in your section you can organize meetings for all the students that
will take place in the project.
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Print the ‘guidelines for students’ and hand it out to your participants
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Send some examples of presentations of former students to your participants to
inspire them. You can find some examples on the website of ESN the Netherlands.
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Be available for the students if they have any questions.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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5.
After the visit
5.1 Certificate
After the visit it is very important to recognize the contribution of the international students.
Firstly remember to thank students for participating - you can provide them with the
certificate provided by ESN and the European which you can find on the website. You can use
the certificates in the promotion of your Erasmus in Schools activities as they are accredited
by the National Agency.
5.2 Share your material
It is important to share your material after your Erasmus in Schools visit in order to promote the
project to future participants, other schools and stakeholders because:
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International students might become motivated to take part in this project as well after
seeing photos or videos of former participants. Make sure that you will ask permission of
the teacher or parents in case you take pictures of underage students.
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Presentations of former students could inspire new students for their presentations
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Material, articles, photos and videos are useful to show other schools what the project is
about and to motivate them to get involved.
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Use your material to show your universities and HEI’s that your international students take
part in Erasmus in Schools.
1. Facebook
Except publishing the pictures on your local fanpages you can publish them on the following
websites:
ESN the Netherlands: https://www.facebook.com/EiStheNetherlands
ESN International: https://www.facebook.com/esnerasmusinschools?fref=ts
Furthermore you can share posts published on these websites that are relevant for your local
students.
Always use the hashtag #ErasmusinschoolsNL in all your posts regarding the project.
2. Twitter
When posting tweets regarding Erasmus in Schools always use #ErasmusinschoolsNL.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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5.3 Register your activity
In order to measure the size of the project in Europe ESN international collects all numbers of
Erasmus in Schools visits. Furthermore they collect the number of international students, native
students and ESN’ers involved.
Please register your Erasmus in School visits via this link:
http://www.esn.org/webform/socialerasmus-event-report-form
5.4 Evaluation
As the cooperation between the European Platform started in May 2014 and the package has
been launched on the 11th of August 2014 the project will be continuously improved.
Therefore we need your input and tips for improvement.
Please let the students fill in this evaluation form right after the visit, remind the schools about
it and fill it in yourselves as well. You can find the evaluation form here:
http://www.esn-nl.org/content/evaluation
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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6.
Motivational words
We have asked the sections what would motivate and what is motivating them to carry out
Erasmus in Schools. Here are some encouraging words from local sections to you. Read it and
you might find some inspiration for you, your board and for your international students.
“Experiencing local schools in the hosting country is a important mean of getting to know
more and more the quotidianity of this country. Erasmus is not only “living in another country
for half or a whole year”, but is an opportunity to know deeply another reality. Exploring not
only the university world, but also lower grade schools (which means, dealing with the local
new generations) would complete the Erasmus experience. “ Giuila Pilia - ESN Venezia
“It’s an opportunity to spread the knowledge of the Erasmus and other international projectsincreasing the knowledge of ESN” Riccardo Vetrugno - Milano Bicocca
“Our motivation is the connection between the international students and the local
community. It’s interesting how the international students can contribute in the education in
local schools. With their knowledge about specific subject or by giving some inside about their
countries.” Kiril Nikolov - ESN Lund
“To spread European brotherhood to younger people; to get new followers and active
members not only for ESN sections but also for charity/social association.” Chiara Trauzzi ESN- Assi Parma.
Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands
Bonnefantenstraat 2 - 6211 KL Maastricht– THE NETHERLANDS
www.esn-nl.org
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