Cultural & Coastal Tourism- The sustainable management of both in order to create and improve employment Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cultural & Coastal Tourism- The sustainable management of both in order to create and improve employment

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Creativity and culture; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

CGNM, Balbriggan, is a co-educational, multi-denominational school. We have an CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) system in place where all subjects are taught through the medium of Irish, our students’ second language. Currently there are 330 students and 25 teachers .Our school ethos places great importance on the value of inclusion and equal opportunity/access to educational opportunities for all. The decision to provide for students with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder at Coláiste Ghlór na Mara in 2018, was made by the Board of Management of the school in conjunction with the Principal.We believe that it is of great importance for our students to engage in transnational European projects, in order to pursue opportunities for learning inside and outside of the classroom, which would benefit them both academically and personally. We see the significant benefits the Erasmus+ programme has for our students and teachers, especially for our students who experience educational and personal disadvantage. We want to encourage the Erasmus+ culture, that we have created.

The subject of our project is “Cultural & Coastal Tourism-The sustainable management of both in order to create and improve employment.” In CGNM we will include an Erasmus+ subject in our timetable in Transition Year (TY). The Francisco de Holanda School Group (AEFH), conduct an Erasmus+ club where their students will study the project content. Our students’ writing, communication, language and ICT skills will be developed. Students of mixed abilities and backgrounds will be included. We will communicate in English during our regular Zoom meetings. We will select a coastal/cultural heritage or tourist element for study by the students which will form the preparation for online meetings.Information will be uploaded to the schools’ websites as well as in an Erasmus+ blog. In CGNM, the decision was made to include Erasmus+ as part of TY (students aged 15-17 years), as schools are not required to comply with a rigid curriculum during this year providing the freedom to engage in subjects and experiences outside the normal exam curriculum.

The key school staff engaged in the Erasmus+ programme are the Programme Co-ordinator and the TY teaching team, with particular responsibility for two teachers who will teach the Erasmus+ classes and assist the Co-ordinator in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project and programme. 72 students in total (18 per country over 2 years). The teachers and co-ordinators will be involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of our project and its conclusions. Student exchanges will aid the personal, educational, social and emotional development of students.The progression of the project will be shared with the school and wider communities over the course of the 24 month duration, through our school websites, social, local, national and European media. We wish to promote the study of our common cultural, heritage and coastal elements. Our target is to provide the town councils of both Balbriggan and Guimarães, with a new youth-driven marketing campaign as to how both areas, could manage and market cultural and coastal tourism in a sustainable and inclusive way thus creating employment and tourism opportunities long into the future. Our objective is to cultivate the EU ethos and values by creating and fostering personal relationships among students from both schools.

We want to encourage and promote the culture of Erasmus+ in our schools in order to enrich the lives of our students whilst developing the skillset of our teachers engaging in the project. CGNM and partner school teachers, will adopt and maintain the resulting new methodology thanks to the exchange of good practices. CGNM staff have great interest in and would like to develop our usage of eTwinning in order to train our students to develop their ICT skills and online learning in a secure environment. We will learn from or colleagues in AEFH, about the use of eTwinning thus further encouraging the exchange of good practice and strategic partnerships. It is our intention to use the eTwinning platform to document the implementation of our project and use it to aid in dissemination. We will create and maintain strong links between the schools with a view to the application of a further Erasmus+ project upon completion. We want to provide an opportunity for our students to experience what it means to be a European citizen. Our students experiencing disadvantage will have access to travel opportunities through Erasmus+ that they otherwise would not have. Dissemination of project results will happen among the student body, teaching staff, parents, patrons and Boards of Management. Results will be evident on our school website, Erasmus+ blog and social media. Final Report will indicate our project results and conclusions .

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65796 Eur

Project Coordinator

Coláiste Ghlór na Mara & Country: IE

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas Francisco de Holanda