'European Encounters' is the second Comenius Project that students and teachers from St. Michael Foundation have participated in. The aim of this project has been to bring students and teachers from different countries together and share their culture and views on a number of topics. The partner schools for this project were Friedrich-Feld-Schule (Giessen Germany), Prumyslova střední škola Letohrad (Letohrad, Czech Republic) and Agrupamento de Escolas de Soure, E3/ S Martinho Árias (Soure, Portugal).

St Michael Foundation was the co-ordinating school in the project’s final year. In 2007, the project came to the end of its three year term. Over the three years, students and teachers dealt with a number of topics relating to culture, history, the challenges that young people face and how to overcome them and the effect of modern technology. The themes for this year included “How do we see our neighbours?” and “Humankind is powerful. Nature is more so.”

In the former case, students reflected on how foreigners who live in their own country are seen by themselves and by others. They observed how people in other countries are perceived and made practical suggestions on how to build a tolerant multicultural society based on understanding, co-operation and mutual respect. With regard to the second theme, students observed and evaluated the human impact on the world and how nature has been affected. They made suggestions on how they can effectively contribute toward making the world a better place.

Students and teachers had three project meetings at San Ġwann, Malta (November 2006), Soure, Portugal (February 2007) and Giessen, Germany (April 2007). During these important meetings they shared the work done on the project. This included the presentation of a number of DVDs, power point presentations and talks on the themes chosen for this year. The teachers and students maintained contact throughout the whole year, regularly exchanging views about a number of issues relating to education and comparing the curricula and education goals of the different countries.