Creativity for Innovation - shared passions make for great collaborations

There is no beginning without an end, and after the start there is always a finish.

There are not enough proverbs to emphasise how the Creativity for Innovation project flew by.

Or yes, just one more: time flies when you’re having fun (and in this case: when you are learning a lot, with some great people around!)

Suddenly there it is… the completion phase. What started a few months ago in a sun-drenched Zagreb, now ends in an almost equally sunny Amsterdam. And what a journey – intellectually, but also literally! – it has been.

The Creativity for Innovation project was a European get-acquainted project where three organisations (Europass SRL, Inicijativa, and Storytelling Centre) shared their work and knowledge on creative teaching methods.

Europass SRL is a language and culture school that is also committed to the ongoing development of its teachers..

Inicijativa is an English language school, spread over several cities in Croatia, which focuses mainly on using the Callan Method to acquire language. Throughout the years, they have also been looking for new, alternative ways to make language education fun.

With our Alternative Ways method, we too have found ways of sidestepping standard language teaching. The aim is to provide more inclusive language learning, in which every student, whatever their background, can find themselves and above all feel good about themselves.

The merger of the three organisations therefore felt very natural. We all had the same goal: to keep looking for new ways of learning and creating. At each international workshop week there was a high level of optimism, enthusiasm and curiosity. We learned from each other and even better… we became a close group of friends across borders. Shared passions make for great collaborations.

In a small office in Amsterdam, the three project coordinators are now discussing the greatness of the project. “For us it has changed so much. Not only do the teachers use the different methods they have learned, but the working relationships have also improved tremendously,” says Jelena from Inicijativa. Layla, from Europass, agrees and says she has also received a lot of positive feedback about the new methods in her teaching.

We can be proud of this project. At the beginning of July, we jointly organised a final conference at which each organisation shared a presentation. Some 300 people had registered to follow along from different European countries. There was great enthusiasm in this digital conference as well. A nice ending to a successful project. The conference can be viewed here.