Cooperation on Mobility in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cooperation on Mobility in 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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Transport and mobility; Migrants’ issues; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Following two prior projects, in which three of the co-operating schools had already participated, the Erasmus+ partnership named “Cooperation on Mobility in Europe” or “COME!” set out to raise awareness of the various ways in which all forms of mobility and migration have shaped all European societies for the past few centuries. The project was conducted by four European schools, namely Colexio Compañía de María in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Spoleczne Gimnazjum Hispaniola in Warsaw, Collège Wilbur Wright in Champagné (France) and Gymnasium Bad Nenndorf (Germany) as the co-ordinating school. Each of these institutions provided a specific perspective on the topic of mobility and migration. Whereas France and Germany have seen a positive net migration rate over the past decades, which has also had an impact on the composition of the student bodies at the two schools involved in the project, Spain and Poland were traditionally countries which lost people because of emigration. Thus, the pupils Colexio Compañía de María and Spoleczne Gimnazjum Hispaniola tend to come from ethnically more homogenous backgrounds than those at the other two schools. Similarly, the schools are located in towns and cities which have all been influenced by mobility in very different ways. Santiago de Compostela, for example, has been a destination for pilgrims for centuries whereas Bad Nenndorf owes much of its development over the past few decades to the nearby motorway which is a main throughway for goods in Europe and also shortens the commute to Hanover substantively. Based on these considerations the project hoped to show that mobility has decisively shaped the lives and the life-styles of people in the four participating nations (and elsewhere) and can thus be considered the foundation of all European societies. On the one hand, the four schools thus carried out numerous activities highlighting the impact of migration in the past which usually took part during regular lessons. Students at all four institutions for example studied the origins of pupils’ last names, French students took a closer look at the slave trade (Check!) and German learners examined the forced relocation of Germans after World War II and conducted interviews with more recent arrivals and people supporting them. In this way students realized that over the centuries people have always moved from country to another where they were first considered as outsiders but – over the years – have seamlessly blended into the majority population. On the other hand, several activities focused on mobility and its importance for society today. All four schools for example conducted surveys to establish the commuting patterns of parents and looked at the distances covered in the production of consumer goods such as clothes or mobile phones. One highlight among these undertakings certainly was the postcard project during the summer breaks 2017. Every school chose two postcards designed by their students which were printed and distributed at all four schools. Students and faculty were then asked to send these back to their respective institutions from their summer holidays and eventually maps were put up showing these postcards and the distances they had covered.
In addition to these in-class activities four transnational meetings took place so that each school had the opportunity to host one short-term exchange visit. From each school eight students and two teachers travelled to these gatherings where they participated in activities linked to the partnership’s overall topic. The multinational group for example visited the Jewish Museum in Warsaw, walked around William the Conqueror’s castle in Falaise, hiked along the Way of St James and viewed the production of cars in Wolfsburg. After all these enterprises the learners created files and texts about these places so that central findings were available for all four schools. Eventually, all these endeavours led to project days at all four schools which took place in June 2018 (Check) and can be deemed a huge success. A considerable number of learners were involved in these project days and they could choose from a large variety of activities which covered almost all subjects and ranged from building a model airplane or re-creating the experience at Ellis Island Immigration Centre to learning European dances and making objects for artistic mobiles. These objects, by the way, were then sent to all four schools and the resultant mobiles can serve to commemorate the project in the same way as signposts which were put up at all schools during the short-term exchange visits. Apart from that, the project partners hope to ensure a lasting effect from “COME!” as many activities mentioned above were documented on Instagram, Facebook and TwinSpace where one can find – among other things – a manual with activities for a mobility themed project day as well as a video showing said project days at all four schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 86515 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnasium Bad Nenndorf & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Collège Wilbur Wright
• CPR COMPAÑIA DE MARÍA
• SPOLECZNE GIMNAZJUM HISPANIOLA