M2: Final Transnational Project Meeting In Lisbon, Portugal

The second and Final Transnational Meeting (TM) was held in Lisbon (Portugal) from 9th to 11th July 2020. Meanwhile, during the months between setting up TPM dates and its realization, COVID-19 global crisis had happened and it affected project plans. During June 2020, staff from partnering schools discussed if meeting should be held live or online. Three out of four partners who were supposed to travel (Croatia, Poland, Romania) assessed that going to other part of Europe could result in some serious health risks and had travel restrictions. Following sense of insecurity and recommendations of some Europeans countries, as well as some additional factors like cancelled flights to Lisbon, it was decided that the meeting will be held online via video call, while representatives of Bulgarian school were physical present in Lisbon.

The main purpose of the meeting was to: – Finalize administrative work; – Plan further actions regarding finishing some project results and writing final report; – Reflect upon participation in the project and its impact on each school through presentation and discussion.

School’s project coordinator represented each school. During the first day of the meeting, partners were in contact via mails and WhatsApp. This time was used to resolve what was left of administrative tasks. Second day was the most important day because during the afternoon of July 10th, collective video call was held with additional participant – counselor from the Portuguese national agency responsible for monitoring European projects. This video meeting was more than two hours long during which Portuguese project coordinator listed what tasks are left to be done, continued with each school’s presentation regarding project’s impact on their school which was followed by short Q&A time, comment (of approval) from Portuguese national agency’s counselor and conclusion from project coordinator. Other Portuguese teachers who participated in one way or another in the project watched online as well as a Croatian teacher and a Polish teacher. This meeting was very useful as a status-check moment for each partnering school to catch up with duties that left behind due to additional workload that felt on teachers back during COVID-19 crisis. It was also insightful in manner of reflecting and recognizing project’s value and contribution to enhancing working methods and empowering community in each school that participated on the project. It was stated that the implementation of all the planned activities was on high level and showed European dimension. On the third day partner worked on the final report. We successfully finished the preparation of the final report and from that moment the responsibility to submit the final report belonged to each partner.

The Bulgarian delegation and Portuguese partners held a lunch and cultural visit to Obidos and Peniche.