GEO-CIRCLE Erasmus Project

Project Title

GEO-CIRCLE

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Starting in 2017 nine partners have carried out a successful Erasmus+ project for secondary education in three European countries called ‘Geo Circle’. Hundreds of students, dozens of teachers and school staff and also dozens of regional associated partner organizations have been involved.
Sadly, due to Covid-19 no closing Conference could be held. Nevertheless, all partners were glad with their experiences and will continue to use the Geo Circle methods and insights in the future. The Geo Circle concept can be used by secondary schools all over Europe following the guidelines provided on the project website.

In the Geo Circle project 3 focus points were achieved:
A. Innovation in education (Geo Circle learning experience@school)
• Implementation the IVN method (Schools for Sustainability) and 8-C key competences. This was expanded with the 10 generic study skills (see chapter 5).
• Professional development of teachers, coordinators and management.
• Improved cooperation between beta and gamma school subjects.
• Professionalization of project content with local, regional and national associated partners.
• Entrepreneurship promoted through cooperation with higher education, non-governmental organizations, businesses and governments.
• Entrepreneurship of students in student consultancies.
• Improvement of foreign language (English) for students.

B. Schools in transition (Geo Circle@school)
• The innovative method of teaching was implemented by all school partners.
• Students assisted in making more sustainable school buildings.
• Students used computers for research and online communication during the project.

C. Internationalization (Geo Circle internationalization@home)
• Students got acquainted with sustainability and international circular economy issues.
• Geo Circle assignments and real life questions have been provided by associated partners.
• Innovative knowledge about circular economy has been shared among students through internationalization.

Methodology, participants, profiles
The Geo Circle project is based on the IVN method and 8-C key competences. Students work on real assignments from real clients (associated partners) and cooperate with students from partner schools in an international context to find solutions for their clients.
1. Main partners:
• IVN – project coordinator, expert sustainability questions, provides IVN method, evaluation tools and teachers/coordinators/management trainings.
• 8 School partners in three European countries – Specialized in (bilingual) pre-university, general secondary and pre-vocational education, with international orientation.
2. Associated partners:
• Non-governmental and various educational organizations, businesses, governments, all with interest in circular economy issues, like raw materials streams, biotic and abiotic cycles, recycling and upcycling, modular design, energy transition.

Activities and results
• 2017-2018. Kick off meeting with coordinators about method, didactics and project planning. Followed by a visit to all partner schools by IVN to involve the school management and provide teacher trainings for a large group of teachers. These activities have proven essential for implementing the innovation in education. Students explored the topic circular economy in their own region. All findings were presented and discussed during the student conference in April 2018. This set the broad outlines for the project in the coming years.
• 2018-2019. In June 2018 the ‘Geo Circle internationalization@home’ conference took place in Leeuwarden in relation to regional network building. Students worked on real life questions in consultancies in their Geo Circle projects this school year assisted by teachers with the help of associated partners, also with foreign students in a carrousel exchange. A coordinators meeting in April 2019 with a mid-term evaluation, discussions on real life assignments, working with associated partners, the method and how to implement the Geo Circle didactics.
• 2019-2020. The last project year started with a teacher training in Leiden refining method and didactics from a teacher’s point of view, and preparing the school project and the Geo Circle Conference. Based on input and experiences of the partners IVN worked on the final versions of the intellectual outputs. In March 2020 Covid-19 hit Europe and all partner schools were closed. In April IVN cancelled the closing events and discussed alternatives with all partners (email, telephone and several online meetings). The last school projects have been presented on the website. The evaluation has been carried out via email and an extra online meeting in November (see Annexe evaluation).

Impact and longer term benefits
All partner schools have stated that they will continue working with the Geo Circle method, involving associated partners in future real life assignments. And they value international cooperation, for teachers and for students.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 152137,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stichting IVN & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Kreisgymnasium St. Ursula Haseluenne
• Stredni zdravotnicka skola a Vyssi odborna skola zdravotnicka, Nymburk, Soudni 20
• GFP Neratovice
• Städtisches Gymnasium Haan
• Gymnasium Ohmoor
• Stichting Het Baarnsch Lyceum
• Marne College