CONNECTING AGES TO SHAPE FUTURE Erasmus Project

Project Title

CONNECTING AGES TO SHAPE FUTURE

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 dialogue; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

BACKGROUND As educators, we are noticing that the gap between young generations and elderly people is growing both from a cultural and from a human point of view. Our commitment through this project is to let students become aware of the importance to know, interact with, learn from, respect elderly people to the benefit of everybody.
Demographic changes are creating a new society. Ever fewer young people and young adults, ever more older workers, pensioners and very elderly people. This demographic trend is becoming a significant issue for governments and communities, particularly since older persons are mostly a neglected group, invisible to those who promote economic and social development. Our societies will have to invent new ways of liberating the potential of young people and older citizens
The 2030 Agenda’ transformational vision and the pledge to “leave no one behind” means that development agendas must include all persons, of all ages.
Creating moments of significant interactions through educational and leisure activities will be an important opportunity to let young people increase awareness on the objective of both learning important attitudes, knowledge and values from old generations and the issue of leaving no one behind.
Furthermore, although young people hardly consider it, the benefits from such interactions are not one-directional. Research shows that pairing young and older people has positive consequences for each. In interacting with the older generation, young people can get important advantages for their own growth as human beings and as concerned citizens.
This mutual benefit is the most compelling reason why we intend as educators to foster actions that connect young and old.
Finally, we are observing that schools are often isolated from their own territory. The project aims to a deeper interaction with other components of the Community, mainly those dealing with old people such as Rest homes, Universities of elderly, Senior Cultural centres, Music and Arts centres, which may significantly provide an added value to the education of young generations and their development as a whole.
DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES Teachers and pupils will be engaged in organising, implementing, acting interaction with old people through different activities, in different countries, involving various fields such as Music, Art, Technology, Literature, Sport.
NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Pupils are meant to be the main stakeholders in this project. The involvement will be conveniently split over curricular lessons, extra-curricular activities such as afternoon clubs for the work on the territory and for the arrangement of some peculiar activities such as recordings, filming, interviewing. About three hundred pupils on the four partner schools will be directly involved in the different project’s activities over the two years.
Teachers of different subjects – mainly History and Literature, Music, Technology, Art, Science and English teachers will work on the project’s activities.
Elderly people living in their homes or in Rest homes, playing more or less active roles in their communities in different forms will be directly involved.
Local institutions, organisations and media for activities of research, promotion and dissemination of the project’s results
METHODLOGY TO BE USED IN CARRYING OUT THE PROJECT: The involvement will be split over curricular lessons; extra-curricular activities such as afternoon clubs for the work on the territory and for the arrangement of some peculiar activities such as recordings, filming, interviewing; practical activities, workshops, meetings, exhibitions during mobilities.
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE RESULTS AND IMPACT ENVISAGED. POTENTIAL LONGER TERM BENEFITS:
Through this specific project on Intergenerational dialogue, we think that goals will be evident thanks to the important and fundamental interaction between schools and their territories. We expect that schools, and particularly pupils, will develop awareness of what is around them also in terms of elderly people of different social, cultural and health levels, institutions, private and public bodies, places, art, music, traditions and community as a whole. In the same way, an increased interest for the school is expected by the territory, thus reducing the tendency to perceive it as a world close within its walls. Our expectations in the long-term perspective concern some key aspects, such as the permanent collaboration school/territory/community for the prosecution of the process of the Inter-Generational approach started thanks to the project,the implementation of strategies and occasions for the continuation of the dialogue process, the arrangement of regular occasions of inter-generational meetings by creating direct involvement and awareness in young generations.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 127009 Eur

Project Coordinator

ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO STATALE “A. FOGAZZARO” DI NOVENTA VICENTINA & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. Correia Mateus
• Merenojan koulu
• Instituto de Educación Secundaria Los Montecillos