A Taste of Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

A Taste of 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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Ethics, religion and philosophy (incl. Inter-religious dialogue); Natural sciences

Project Summary

“A Taste of Europe”, a strategic partnership of three schools focused on the topic of food from three different points of view: science, nutrition and ethics. Taking the title literally the ATE project provided the chance for students from different European countries to be part of international cooperation and interdependent working processes. According to the participating schools´ focus and facilities the schools rotational took the lead for working processes. The project is based on the idea of open learning and interdisciplinary work. It included a wide range of subjects, such as science, business studies, nutrition, philosophy and psychology, arts, religious education, IT, etc.

The ATE project is a cooperation of three European schools with unique contributions to the project:
1) HLW St. Veit (Austria): Vocational school of tourism and commerce located in the rural south of Austria offers its approximately 500 students a wide range of education and training for future university studies or employment. The two streams are the Three Year Course in Office Management and Tourism and the Five Year Course in Commerce and Tourism. Additional qualifications include several certificates as well as extracurricular gastronomy courses. The school therefore acted as a tutor in the field of nutrition, gastronomy and open learning.

2) Regius College Schagen (Netherlands): Higher General Secondary Education and pre-university education. Located in the North of the Netherlands it offers approximately 1500 students from age 14 to 19 a wide range of education and training for future college and university studies. The Higher general Secondary Education takes five years to complete whereas pre-university education takes six years. Their curriculum depends on the profile chosen. The school acted as a tutor in the field of philosophy.

3) Oaks Park High School (UK): Located in the North of London Oaks Park High School is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic comprehensive school of 1500 students which caters for students with a very diverse range of backgrounds and abilities from age 11 to 18 at secondary and tertiary level. It offers an academic and vocational curriculum with GCSEs and Level 2 BTEC courses completed at age 16 and A levels and Level 3 BTEC courses completed at age 18. The school acted as a tutor in the field of science.

Project objectives were:
• To have a sustainable effect on the basic and transversal skills and attitude of students.
• To experience local similarities and differences in eating habits and attitudes.
• To understand and value plurality and individual backgrounds compared to other countries.
• To raise the students’ motivation to study science subjects more deeply.
• To create awareness on the ethical aspects of food and the responsibility of every consumer.
• To help our students to understand the importance of being part of European culture.
• To produce results that we will share and publish to disseminate our ideas and products.
• To enhance the integrating of new teaching methods and ICT-based teaching.
• To have a long-term impact on teaching methods, school profiles and curriculums.

These objectives were achieved by many activities carried out by students and staff:
• Logo Competition to create the official ATE logo divided in the local and one international competitions. The logo as created by an Austrian student.
• ATE survey: Comparative study of different aspects of food, our student´s knowledge and their interests. The survey influenced the development of the project.
• The project matched easily with the curriculum of all schools and was part of lessons in many subjects. All schools shared and published their results collected in three portfolios.
• All school invited representatives of local companies and initiatives. We organised lectures, workshops and field trips.
• Awareness campaign “DRINKINGwater!”: Methods included workshops, creation of posters and presentations, debates, water analysis, poems and texts, competitions, free water bottles for students and teachers, etc.
• Awareness campaign “Stop Food Waste!”: Methods included workshops, checks on school canteens and school kitchens, creation of flyers and poster series, debates, etc.
• ATE Recipe Book: The book was created and printed in Austria and shows a collection of recipes from all three countries for the target group of secondary school students. Recipes have all been tested, shared, photographed and published. The book has been handed out to students, parents, teachers, stakeholders, companies and school authorities.
• Dissemination activities: Information about the project on websites, school reports, newspaper articles, school events, presentations, posters, flyers, stickers, recipe books, final papers, etc.

All results and information about the ATE school partnership are published and accessible for free download on our project website and the Erasmus+ project results website.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 57100 Eur

Project Coordinator

HLW St. Veit/Glan & Country: AT

Project Partners

• Oaks Park High School
• Regius College Schagen