Job shadowing Iasi Romania 

We arrived in Romania after a long flight from Bilbao and we met two teachers Ms and Ms from Iasi National College . After a warm welcome, they took us to the hotel. We had lunch with these two Romanian teachers . During lunch, we talked about our accreditation projects and future collaborations.

Then, we had a nice walk around the city of Iasi to get to know the place and enjoy its historical history.

Today we visited  National College of Iasi. We had a guided tour around this school of 200 hundred years old by the history and deputy teacher Ms Turcanasu. The school has a lot of history in its walls. In 1916-1918 during the First World War the building was used as a Red Cross hospital. In 1984, after the start of the communist regime, the school underwent several name changes,  The buildings were rehabilitated between 1993 and 2003.  Meanwhile, it was declared national school in 1988.

We were given a warm welcome by the headmistress of school Ms Elena Calistri  the social teacher Ms Turcanasu  and the counselor of students Mrs . 

We had a very interesting conversation about school, number of students, school staff, the necessary requirements to enter in this school, because the average mark of the students in Iasi is very high and all the relevant information concerning the school. 

youtu.be/5r7TBGdwaSU?feature=shared 

Ms Turcanasu  guided us through the school and explained to us the history of the school (   we cannot forget that the school is 200 years old ) its ditinguished alumni, all the different facilities . We also met some students who were democratically voiting for school students representatives and we talked to hem about the procedure they carried out to choose them. We even talked to the two chosen representatives 

We were shown all the different activities the school carried out in all the Erasmus projects in which they were involved. They started  with 11 Comenius projects ( 2002-2014), five Leonardo Da Vinci ( 2007-2008).  At this moment there are three Erasmus projects , Accreditation ( 2021-27) and  another Ka2 ( 2002-24) You are the world, Choose to make a difference one, and another Ka2 Climate change, Action starts in a local way. 

After this interesting  guided visit to National College of Iasi, we had our first contact in a class. In the first class students were doing a national  test. After this class we visited an English class of Ms Alina Cracium  and the students asked us some questions about the differences between our system of education and the Romanian one. They were also curious about our school having a dress code or not. They also learnt about the Basque Country and our language.

After the students´ break,  we had lunch with Ms Turcanasu and MsC. Rusu guided  us through  the history of Iasi.  We visited different buildings of the city of Iasi: Metropolitan Cathedral, Iasi City Hall, el Manastir Trei Ierarhi, Bulevar Stefan Cel Mare, San Nicolas Domenec Church . A very fruitful and interesting visit to get to know the city and all the Romanian historical memory in situ as it is also worked in our Erasmus project 

This day we had a presentation of the Romanian educational system versus our Basque educational system. We were shown some slides about the different grades of Romanian school and we discussed the differences between both educational systems.  One of the differences which caught  our attention was that the students had to pass an exam at the end of eighth grade and according to their mark, they could choose the high school. In the National College of Iasi, all the students got from 9 to 10 the top marks.

Then we observed a History class of Ms Iuliana Bratescu . The teacher started the class  with a kahoot and after it,  she asked a lot of questions to start a discussion on the topic. There was a big participation of the students. After the discussion, they saw a film and they had to fill a paper about it.  At the same time we met a student from grade 10th  who explained to us what the  national exam consisted of and the type of tests students  had to carry out.

We met some students from grade 10th and Ms Lorina Iacob  who presented us the projects that the National College of Iasi  carried out in Erasmus about sustainability. We were very interested in upcycling. When their Erasmus partners came, they gave a second life to their clothes but improving them. They showed us all the different objects they had designed in their workshops.

We exchanged Instagrams with our students of English speaking.

Then we observed a Latin class.of Ms Maria Moisuc  We asked these students what motivated them to get good marks in high school when their mark to get to university was given by their university entrance exams.  And they answered us that this was because all of the students around had good marks and the money the government gave them for good marks around 80 euros. We have to point out that the National College of Iasi is  a prestigious one, the third one in Romania.

Then we observed an English lesson where students had to create stories with some given cards. They were very young students so it was a change for us as we had been with the oldest students. They worked in pairs and after their production they explained to the whole class.

In the afternoon some students from the social class of Ms Catalina Rusu explained to us the projects they carried out in this class, such as debating club, or even the one related to Romanian government parliament.

The inspector of education of the region who gave three hours at school explained to us the results of the national exam, the characteristics of the Romanian educational system and the actions they were thinking to do in a future reform. Then the Iasi television made an interview to the coordinator of the project. They wanted to know what the job shadowing  in Iasi meant, what differences there were between the two systems of education  and the  type of implementation we would do .

youtu.be/Ea9DMhm-J14?si=SbQPzY9pGm314GdA 

We observed different classes a French class in which the students were describing a picture and they had to create a booklet using different apps. We were also interviewed for the school magazine  and they asked us about Bilbao´s transformation, our Basque identity.  

We also attended a computer class of Ms Emma Padurariu where the students were programming . It was a very interesting day because we had contact with students who wanted to know about our culture, our language .

youtu.be/8BK9WGSi35g?si=wlG1ddRQCrd30Yf3 

We had a class with the association PACT - Actively Participation in  Your Community ( EURODEMOS) which works for the community of Iasi to raise active citizens and to make students aware of it. Two representatives and two volunteers explained to the students of the National College of Iasi the actions they carried out. One of the actions they were about to do was the participation of six students from the school and another ones from another schools of the country in the Bucharest Parliament and let the representatives of the govermet the younger´s complaints. 

We traveled to Bucharest and we visited the Parliament. We considered a very interesting visit as in our project we  work being an active citizen.  At the same time during our staying in Iasi the students and the teachers mentioned it in their lessons and we wanted to learn more.