IISS ‘Ricciotto Canudo-Galileo Galilei ’ is an Upper
secondary School formed by Liceo Classico and Liceo Scientifico and ITIS ‘Galileo Galilei’ it has 1300 students and 120 teachers and
other members of staff. It is situated in the southern part of
Italy, in Puglia, between Bari and Taranto. It is
formed by two Upper Secondary Schools 'Licei' one with subjects concerning
classical languages (Greek and Latin) and the other one with either classical
and scientific subjects (Philosophy, Science, Physics, Astronomy, Biology) and
a Vocational School. In the schools English
is the foreign language taught to students aged 13-19. Students belong to
families with
various economical backgrounds, but all share the
desire to have a good preparation in order to face the difficulties of
beginning a successful University life or start a good job. Students attending
the ‘Licei’ live
their school life without any particular social involvement, they tend to study
in order to reach good results but they show no social commitment and above all
they seem unaware of the economic problems or the
work market around them. Many students of the
Vocationa School ‘Galilei’ are at risk of social exclusion especially
when they start having problems with learning, understanding and social
interaction with teachers and the other students. Living in a strict social
context, they are accustomed to exchange ideas and share
experiences only with the restricted group of their
class so they live a limited experience of school life and they have little
exchanges with young people living in different parts of Europe. In addition, students
usually don’t use all their abilities and competences to understand better not
only the reality they live in, the opportunities in term of personal growth and
economic development, but also their traditions, the elements of strength
present in their region and above all they are not accustomed to
think in terms of personal contribution to their
community. The experience in the European project could be useful for improving
their knowledge of an outer reality, interact with students using technology,
realize products, bettering their approach to school, school-life, territory
and above all to understand the world they live in. In the end the experience
could give them the opportunity to understand better the social, economic
condition of their area and of other territories in Europe and the importance
of youth commitment in improving the community life and their self-
realization.
