Comenius Project

COMENIUS  focuses on the first phase of education, from pre-school and primary to secondary school, and it is addressed to all members of the education community in the broad sense – pupils, teachers, other education staff, but also local authorities, parents' associations, non-government organisations ...

COMENIUS supports school partnerships, projects for the training of school education staff, and school education networks. It thus aims to enhance the quality of teaching, strengthen its European dimension and promote language learning and mobility.

COMENIUS also emphasises certain important issues: learning in a multi-cultural framework, which is the cornerstone of European citizenship, support for disadvantaged groups, countering under-achievement at school and preventing exclusion

The overall objectives of COMENIUS are to enhance the quality and reinforce the European dimension of school education, in particular by encouraging transnational cooperation between schools, contributing to the improved professional development of staff directly involved in the school education sector, and promoting the learning of languages and intercultural awareness.

COMENIUS seeks to help those learning and teaching in schools to develop a sense of belonging to a broader and outward-looking European community - a community characterised by diverse traditions, cultures and regional identities, but rooted nevertheless in a common history of European development.

COMENIUS contributes to enhancing the quality and reinforcing the European dimension of school education by:

• promoting transnational cooperation and exchanges between schools and teacher training establishments;
• encouraging innovation in pedagogical methods and materials;
• promoting the transnational dissemination of good practice and innovation in the management of schools;
• developing and disseminating methods for combating educational exclusion and school failure, promoting the integration of pupils with special educational needs, and promoting equal opportunities in all sectors of education;
• promoting the use of information and communication technology in school education and in the training of staff working in this sector.

COMENIUS contributes to promoting the learning of languages in school education in Europe by transnational measures designed to:

• improve the quality of the teaching of European languages as foreign languages;
• improve the pedagogical skills of language teachers;
• improve the language skills of teachers of less widely used and less taught languages;
• increase the diversity of foreign languages taught;

motivate all teachers and learners to increase the number of foreign languages they speak and improve the standard to which they speak them.

COMENIUS contributes to promoting intercultural awareness in school education in Europe by transnational activities designed to:

• promote enhanced awareness of different cultures;
• develop intercultural education initiatives for the school education sector;
• improve the skills of teachers in the area of intercultural education;
• support the fight against racism and xenophobia;
• improve the education of children of migrant workers, occupational travellers, gypsies and travellers.

Comenius School Development Projects

At a time when the roles of the school and school staff are rapidly changing and the autonomy of schools in many countries is increasing, direct co-operation between schools on questions related to management and pedagogical approaches can be of particular importance. In this context, Comenius School Development Projects give school managers and teachers an opportunity to exchange experience and information, to develop together methods and approaches which meet their needs and to test and put into practice the most effective organisational and pedagogical approaches in the participating schools.

Broad thematic areas for the development of a project could, for example, include the prevention of conflict and violence; integration of ethnic minority groups into mainstream schooling, flexible and personalised teaching methods and classroom management; or development of pupils’ skills with a view to enhancing their employability. These projects will often involve cooperation with bodies from the schools' local community, such as local authorities, social services, associations and business.

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