Spa Areas For Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Spa Areas For Europe

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

SAFE is a partnership project among three schools located in Spa towns, carried out for the purpose of developing cultural sustainability, which is an essential goal for the future of our planet and has a priority value because of the tourist vocation of the context in which the partner schools operate.
The project has involved about 350 students attending the 5th and 6th year of compulsory education (aged 9-12) and about 50 teachers; it has called for participation of about 80 parents and a Professor from University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. The leading professionals have shared their expertise in: planning, project implementation, results dissemination, monitoring and evaluating processes, networking, cooperative working, inclusion of students with Special Education Needs, using digital devices/environments and knowledge of the English language.
During the development of the project, three training events for all the teachers involved have been organised, the last of them, carried out in virtual mode, has allowed the participation of a number of students far greater than that which physical mobility would have made possible.

SAFE has aimed at:
– developing key competences of students, with particular regard to digital and English language competences;
– inspiring spirit of initiative, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills and, in an embryonic form, entrepreneurial competence;
– supporting the acquisition of a systemic and cooperative approach to the issues of sustainability and environmental heritage protection;
– promoting the ability to cooperate remotely, thanks to the opportunities offered by digital devices and environments.

The project has also aimed at raising the level of knowledge and skills of teachers on issues related to sustainability, use of digital resources in teaching practice and use of the English language. SAFE has tried to empower school inclusiveness, through the use of collaborative practices, the enhancement of personal attitudes and abilities, and the acceptance of diversity as an enrichment factor.

SAFE has achieved the following Project Outcomes:
1) Organization of Sustainable Tourism Weeks “STWs” realized in the partner Countries during the students’ meetings and told in a digital diary. The “STWs” have focused on the promotion of the territory where the schools participating in the project are located. Through a program based on approximately one week of work, students have undertaken 5 different sustainability itineraries (folkloristic, naturalistic, cultural, thermal, and gastronomic); during all the itineraries some digital contents, accessible through QR code and arranged by the students before the mobility events, have been used;
2) Production of video tutorials in order to illustrate good practices of circular economy and sustainable consumption (re-use, recycling, transformation, etc);
3) Realization of digital storytelling in order to promote locations, events and products and to initiate students towards entrepreneurial skills;
4) Creation of a website available in English and in the languages of the partner Countries containing sections for eco-news, photo gallery, product portfolio, archive of good practices.

The Project SAFE has certainly contributed to the development and qualification of the schools through an impact influencing in particular:
– the enrichment of teachers’ professionalism;
– the acquisition of competences related to the issues of sustainability and environmental heritage protection;
– the improvement of quality education;
– the enhancement of diversity;
– the interest, the participation, the commitment, the autonomy and the metacognitive skills of the students;
– the quality of collaboration and active European Citizenship;
– the internationalization of schools.

It is hoped that the project SAFE will continue its course even after its formal ending and that the project idea will live on and expand through further actions aimed at the same common goals. This evolving vision seems plausible if we consider that all the products collected during the project have merged into a database of the website, giving opportunities for future developments. Moreover, all the products realized (tutorials, storytelling examples, materials and documents reporting the “STWs”) are available on the website in OER (Open Educational Resources) mode; their free access will facilitate the repeatability and scalability of the initiatives. Furthermore, it will be possible to create a digital platform based on open access development techniques and modular programming architectures, which can be used to share additional models, materials, experiences etc. This will be an important tool of sustainability and of extension of the project SAFE, through new contents, new initiatives, new forms of cooperation and of co-construction of experiences.

Project Website

http://www.erasmussafe.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 105225 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Comprensivo Fiuggi & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. António Granjo
• Ivan Vazov High School