The project kick-off meeting was held in Athens on 17–19 June 2014 as an event under the Greek Presidency of the EU. Following this, three Learning Communities have been chosen to take forward the school-based work:
- Istituto Tecnico Agrario Sereni (I.T.A. Sereni) and Instituto Comprensivo Antonio Rosmini, Rome, Italy
- A group of Schools in Łajski, Commune of Wieliszew, Poland
- Calderglen Learning Community, East Kilbride, UK (Scotland).
The Learning Communities identified some key issues as a focus for the practical work including:
- Sustaining school development
- Increasing the capability of the workforce
- Developing a curriculum and pedagogical approaches that motivate and engage all learners
- Increasing the learner voice in assessment and learning
- Working with parents and the local community
In 2015, the project team and participants (primarily researchers and school leaders from member countries) visited the three sites in order to explore the identified issues and support the learning communities to introduce relevant initiatives.
Follow-up visits to the three Learning Communities took place during 2016. The site visits involved presentations and workshops on key issues relevant to the Learning Communities. Project experts and staff from the Learning Communities discussed the successes and the challenges that informed further work and priorities.
Positive outcomes emerged from the project activities, in particular: the development of strategies to increase staff engagement; increased parental involvement; closer collaboration with the wider community (e.g. neighbourhood schools, universities); examination of pedagogy for deep learning; the development of 'growth mindsets' for success ; cross disciplinary teaching to provide a more relevant curriculum; focus on self-review and examining the 'quality' of inclusive practice; professional development for staff.
Throughout the project the participants were sharing ideas via an on-line forum. This forum served as a platform for communication and on-going support on three levels: within the learning communities, between the learning communities and among the 'international learning zone'.
The project concluded with the Raising Achievement International Conference in April 2017. This was a working Conference which took place in Malta, under the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).