Rascanya-Antonio Cañuelo High School, in Valencia, is a public center that offers compulsory secondary education, – Vocational Initiation Programmes in the branches of Electricity-Electronics and Manufacturing and Assembly. Vocational Training in the branches of Installation and Maintenance (intermediate and higher level). Physical and Sports Activities (higher level) and Electricity and Electronics (intermediate and higher level).

The center is located in Sant Llorenç neighbourhood, an area with a strong multicultural component that enriches this sector of the city. As a public center, it educates on equality and it is non-denominational. Rooted in the Valencian reality, its language and its humanistic and scientific culture, Rascanya-Antonio Cañuelo High School joins the profound changes that valencian society is experiencing. Multiculturalism, the application of new technologies, equality between sexes and sexual orientations, equality of opportunities for all, together with a deeply European conscience and a growing vocation for internationalization constitute a backbone of understanding teaching.

Since the inauguration of Rascanya-Antonio Cañuelo High School in 2005, we have always opted for
internationalization which, for us, is an important engine for institutional change and has a great influence on the conception of educational activities. Our participation in European programmes and contact with similar centers in other countries has been increasing over time. European awareness, sensitivity to the diversity of languages and internationalization are widely recognized by all the members of our school and today this form is one of the hallmarks of quality in our teachings.

From our Erasmus programmes department, made up of teachers from different professional and academic branches, together with members of the center’s board of directors, we have opted to make the internationalization strategy visible to all our students, families, members of the faculty and society in general. This department of Erasmus programmes is also in charge of designing the information, selection, validation and dissemination phases of the different Erasmus projects in which we are involved.

Participating in Erasmus programmes will help us achieve the following objectives:
– From the point of view of our students, as part of them come from a lower-middle sociocultural level with a lack of adaptation to changes and a lack of self-initiative, their participation in Erasmus programmes will contribute to reducing these deficiencies and also improving their self-esteem, increasing their linguistic abilities and their professional capacities, substantially improving the employability of our professional training cycles, as well as their empowerment in the personal and intercultural growth. It will also help us increase enrolment in professional training cycles and increase the interest of our students to continue their studies.

– From the point of view of our teachers, our objectives will be to expand linguistic and professional skills by observing, on a technical level, the methodology, materials and knowledge that we will obtain from teachers and schools that we visit during training by observation. In Vocational Training, Erasmus programmes help us to deepen our knowledge of the different professional training systems in relation to internships in companies. This helps us to improve relations with our own companies and to manage the quality of Dual Vocational Training in our center. Nor should we forget that Erasmus programmes are going to increase European awareness among our teachers.

– From the point of view of families, our neighbourhood and our city, participation in Erasmus programmes allows us to increase prestige, recognition and internationalization. All this experience increases excellence and quality, both methodologically and in relation to the management of company practices. It also helps us create a stable network of collaboration with partner European centers in our projects.
Finally, we cannot leave aside the objective always present in the philosophy of our center since its creation, which is the contribution to the strengthening of a true European citizenship, where teachers and students will discover the cultural values of the countries visited and become aware of the enormous potential of the European Community.