Environmental education (pupils10-14 years) conception of best practice for combating climate change taking into account national, local and cultural guidelines with special reference to the natural environment of the partner schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Environmental education (pupils10-14 years) conception of best practice for combating climate change taking into account national, local and cultural guidelines with special reference to the natural environment of the partner schools

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Environment and climate change; Natural sciences

Project Summary

Background of the project: Environmental education is one of the common challenges of the European Union and its member countries. Combating climate change is both a European and national strategic goal, as is the content of school curricula. Educators at schools are faced with the challenge of addressing the fight against climate change with children. In the age group of 10-14 year old students, the complexity and controversiality must be conveyed in accordance with the age. A positive attitude and a constructive or capable handling of environmental issues is needed. Only a few schools have anchored special environmental education in the concept. Our motivation in the area of ​​environmental education for 10-14 year old students is an exchange with the partner school in Spain and a joint new project in environmental education. An innovative, creative and sustainable joint project is to be developed from the various state, regional and local solutions. The new project and its measures in the school environment will contribute to raising awareness in environmental education, ensure the in-depth implementation of the curriculum content and promote European cohesion. The project also promotes language development and supports European integration.
The objectives of the project: after the various environmental education projects have been exchanged, a new joint project with the children is planned and implemented. It is important to include the socio-cultural background of the school location and the children, to force new collaborations with local providers, to address complex environmental issues and to counter them with concrete strategies for action. Furthermore, so-called ‘environmental competence’ should also be explicitly promoted (e.g. empathy, taking into account conflicting goals, etc.). The project implementation in English and the student exchange in Austria and Spain are intended to promote the foreign language development of the children and to identify the European dimension of environmental issues. Sustainable mobility is supported by CO²-neutral travel.
Number and profile of the participants: the core group consists of 10 school classes at the age of 10 – 14, who present their environmental education projects to each other and who are involved in the conception of the joint new project. Another 10 school classes at the age of 6 – 10 will be informed about the project and should be involved in focus weeks of climate change. A core team of teachers at both school locations consists of teachers from the subjects English, natural sciences and political education and will carry out the comon project management. A method booklet is available to the teams of teachers at both school locations and will be presented at a press conference in October 2022. The entire team of teachers from both schools will participate in the further development of the environmental education concept within the framework of educational conferences. Institutions and companies in the local environment of the schools (community, recycling companies, environmental protection organizations, natural siences museums etc.) will also be informed about or involved in the project.
Activities and methodology: the activities include getting to know each other through video presentations, the mutual climate-neutral school attendance and getting to know the environment-relevant school environment – also through joint excursions, a jointly developed new environmental education project to be developed in a participatory manner and comprehensive documentation in a portfolio (students ) as well as a manual (teachers) and finally a method booklet on successful environmental education measures.
The project results are a) the presentation of all school projects, measures and procedures in student videos, b) the exchange on site and c) new collaborative projects at both school locations are sustainably implemented and documented in student portfolios as well as d) cooperation with local system partners e) a methodological book on environmental education measures for teachers.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65765 Eur

Project Coordinator

Freie Montessori Schule des Vereins Freie Montessori Schule & Country: AT

Project Partners

• Col-legi Sant Roc