At the end of January a delegation from our school spent a few days in France, participating in an exciting project for jewellery schools from across the globe. We are thrilled to share our memories with you in a series of blog posts.
Day 1 – 24th January 2017
After securing membership of the Parlement Lycéen Européen last year, the British Academy of Jewellery attended the 25th meeting in France to discuss jewellery education and plan future innovative Erasmus exchange projects.
The 25th edition of the meeting, attended by 10 vocational jewellery schools from various European countries, was held in St Amand Montrond, France. For a few days, this small city in the middle of France became the epicentre of the jewellery world, bringing together the next generation of jewellers.
Over 45 students, designers and teachers from the jewellery sector got together to share their views, experiences and knowledge. This edition focused on discussing the future of European jewellery schools in current economic turbulence. The meeting aimed to bring the members together, and work collaboratively to ensure students continue to develop these ever so important European links.
The visit was packed with activities, with four exhibitions, various lectures and creative workshops, and a competition taking place over the four days. Students were also taken on a trip to Limoges, a French city well known for its enamelling techniques.
Each year the PLE organises a travelling exhibition of selected students’ work from all participating member schools. This year the exhibition will be on display in Madrid, Lisbon, Thessaloniki, Valenza, Namur, Antwerp, and St Amand, with its final destination at the BAJ in London, in the summer of 2017.
Our students also participated in an annual competition organised by the PLE, where they could win prizes in three different categories:
- Design – displaying the best drawings and renders,
- Jewellery – representing the best pieces of jewellery,
- Writing – publishing the best short articles written in response to an open brief.
With prizes going to various students across the different schools, the BAJ proudly represented their contributions.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for the school to share and enhance our respective teaching methodologies and curriculum. We will develop long-term partnerships with a view to engage in learner exchanges as well as potentially contributing to research projects surrounding jewellery education and the preservation of technical skills across Europe.”
Sophie Boons, Head of Teaching and Learning at BAJ
The delegations will also be working on setting up exchange program for jewellery students and teachers to travel in other European school to learn about new techniques and materials.
About the Parlement Lycéen Européen
The PLE was established in 1993 in France. The original idea was to create a link between the jewellery schools in Europe and other countries all over the world through working together on transnational activities.
Today, PLE have 23 member jewellery schools, and whilst most of them are located in European countries, like Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Scotland and Spain, there are also schools from outside Europe (located on different continents, in places like Canada, the Ivory Coast and Peru) that have a special status as observer members. Each member school is represented by two delegates, one student and one coordinator teacher.
Each school year, the PLE promotes and manages two different kind of activities aimed at distinct purposes: technical actions to act as training periods and exchanges in Europe, exhibitions and student press actions.
Some of the projects run under official European Union programs, like Erasmus+.