Oenological project

This project has been elaborated by the schools Agrupamiento Vertical de Escolas de Cristel (Portugal), la Scuola Immacolata de Novara (Italy), Collège du Plantaurel de Cazères (France), 1o Gymnasium Acharnon de Achernes (Greece), University of Burgos (Spain) and Colegio Aurelio Gómez Escolar de Burgos (Spain).

Having completed a process of self-evaluation, the top priority detected is that of strengthening cultural links and promoting European unity, and also the integration of pupils with different ways of working in a multivariate group with pupils from other countries.

The teachers work as a team to coordinate the project, forming groups of pupils of similar ages in the five schools, with a similar academic level and contents to those in their national education system. Each group is supervised by the teacher team and also by the management team in each school.

All the schools are located in areas which are socially, economically and culturally similar. The five schools are in wine-growing regions and have links with relevant companies.

The project is an experience which aims to develop an entrepreneurial spirit among the pupils as they set up an enological company and supervise the economic, administrative and legal aspects of wine-making.

This project began with the KA201 004632, an enological project with certain similarities but in which changes have been introduced in the development, and in the mathematics and legislation have been adapted to the pupils' age. A new school and the University of Burgos have joined the group.

The new school is from Greece and their inclusion will increase the global vision of a European enological company; they will actively participate in the activities. The University of Burgos will coordinate all aspects related to quality, analysis, and legislation. What's more, as a result of their participation in this project, the University will introduce a new course, parallel to the Science degrees they offer, linked to secondary education teaching and the development of European school projects.

During the course of the project, the pupils will be divided into working groups, each of which will include members from the five participating schools and will specialize in one subject area. The objectives of each of these study groups are linked to the curriculum for this subject, and the work will be carried out and evaluated according to the curricular assessment criteria for that subject.

Nevertheless the areas are all totally interconnected, and the evaluation of the basic competences will help to evaluate the other competences acquired by the pupils. In short, taking into account the initial evaluation of each school and according to the quality criteria, the project is based on the following criteria:

 1. The pupils will form a part of a working group along with pupils from other countries, exchanging information and knowledge, using new teaching methodologies and learning environments.
 2. The transverse objective looked for is good atmosphere and relations.
 3. The work will be developed online; the support of ICTs is decisive.
 4. A blog will be created, where all the multimedia material generated will be published.
 5. A project will be prepared: this will be linked to the main subjects but will create in the pupils an entrepreneurial spirit.
 6. The project will be linked to various subject areas and will need the supervision of different teachers from all five schools.
 7. The pupils will be assessed according to the work required.
 8. The project will have various assessment systems.
 9. The education community, made up of the staff, the school leadership team, the pupils, and the pupils' parents will have access to updated information on the project via the blog or the school's web page.
 10. A system to control the quality of the work produced and an assessment will be developed by the coordinator and the University of Burgos.
 11. The experimental development of this project will be connected to the education of the university students.

There is one common area within the project in which all the students will be assessed: English Language.

The project is divided in five areas: biology, technology, mathematics, entrepreneurial initiative, and ICTs. Practices and activities associated to each of these areas will be developed; the pupils are expected to acquire the concepts in the project curriculum on which they will be assessed.

Finally, we once again underline that this project has been designed to provide a motivation for pupils who are in danger of academic failure (the project has a practical approach) and aims to make it easier for the five schools and their pupils to move into Europe, something which at present is only within the reach of a minority of pupils. The project is motivating, participative, and oriented towards entrepreneurial initiative.