The New Crocodile Club Erasmus Project

Project Title

The New Crocodile Club

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: Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

The main aim of “The New Crocodile Club” project, coordinated by “Mario Cutelli” High School (Italy), together with its European partners – “Fritz-Greve Gymnasium” (Germany), “Agrupamento de Escolas de Golegã Azinhaga and Pombalinho” (Portugal) and “Jaunogres vidusskola” (Latvia), is to promote shared culture, identity and European citizenship.
The name of the project refers to a significant experience of the 80s and 90s, lived in the European Parliament. The“Crocodile Club” was a spontaneous group of members of the EP led by Altiero Spinelli whose aim was to reform the European institutions.
Inspired by the pro-European commitment of Altiero Spinelli, the project aims at promoting initiatives to encourage, transfer and sensitize young people to Europe since, as highlighted by the Youth Observatory in the Annual Report 2019, a conflictual coexistence between young people and Europe still exists.
The project, following the priorities set by the EU, will have as its main objective-function the enhancement of the social, cultural, historical and educational values of the shared European cultural heritage.
In particular, the project will underlie the following objectives:
– to increase European key competences, in particular by improving the knowledge of foreign languages, increasing the level of digital competence and the sense ofinitiative;
– to promote greater understanding and reactivity to social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural Europeandiversity;
– to ensure an increase of active participation insociety;
– to ensure a more positive attitude towards the “European project” and EUvalues;
– to enhance and improve understanding of education, training or youth practices, policies and systems in the different participating Countries;
– to enhance and improve the understanding of the interconnections between formal, non-formal education, professional training, as well as other forms oflearning.
To achieve these objectives, the “The New Crocodile Club” project will carry out four European school exchanges in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Latvia, within 24 months. The project will involve 72 European students, direct beneficiaries of the exchange, who will carry out targeted activities to learn about the history and processes of European integration, developed from the ancient myth of”Europe”, to the establishment of the first European Communities after the war and to the editorial staff of the European Constitutional Charter, contained in the Treaty of Lisbon.
During the week, the school exchanges will involve students aged between 16 and 18 who will participate in non- formal education thematic activities on the European Union, reflecting on sectoral vectors such as:
– the past – the ancient history, the first theories about United Europe, the founders of thought and the processes of European integration;
– the present – the seven-year Community programming, the Europe 2020 strategy, the functioning of the European institutions and European policies;
– the future – rethinking the European Institutional Treaties, the challenges, crises, opportunities and potentiality that the European Union will face in the following ten years.
During the project, the students will meet virtually on eTwinning (after each transnational exchange) by developing a parallel project to create a project mobile app. The mobile app will be called “Who Wants to Be European?”, the transposition of the famous TV quiz game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, in a quiz app on the knowledge of the European Union. The project output will ensure the project’s sustainability and will also help develop digital skills, using the notions learned during the exchanges.
The impacts of the project will be significant both on the participant and on the whole partner schools:
– 70% of participants will claim to know the EU better and more thoroughly;
– 60% of the participants will want to carry out other initiatives to promote European identity and culture;
– 45% of the participants will have improved their language skills, especially in conversation;
– 80% of participants will want to take part in other Erasmus + projects;
– teachers will organize 5 other eTwinning projects over the following academic years;
– the 4 project partners will boost their international network by 10% within 12 months after the end of the project and they will realizeat least 2 more Erasmus+ projects within the subsequent European calls.
– the “Who Wants to Be European?” App will get at least 10,000 downloads within 6 months after the end of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 111600 Eur

Project Coordinator

Convitto Nazionale “Mario Cutelli” & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Fritz-Greve-Gymnasium Malchin
• Agrupamento Escolas Golegã, Azinhaga e Pombalinho
• Jaunogres vidusskola