European Climate Change Curriculum Erasmus Project

Project Title

European Climate Change Curriculum

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The European Climate Change Curriculum (ECCC) will develop a new and innovative approach to learning about climate change in a European context.

Limiting climate change has moved to the top of the political agenda in many European countries. Before the European Parliament elections of 2019, 35% of EU citizens stated that climate change was one of the most important reasons for voting. Every week, tens of thousands of European youths gather to voice their frustration with the lack of real action that will meet the targets as stated in the Paris Accords. In order to empower the next generation of European citizens to cooperate and develop international and innovative solutions, they need to know the challenges and ideas of other countries and how the problem is dealt with on the EU level. All project partners agree that there is a profound lack of a truly European approach to teaching about climate change. In all the partnership countries (Denmark, Spain, Serbia and the Netherlands) the public debate and the few teaching materials almost exclusively have a national approach to the topic. Therefore we want:

– To empower secondary school learners across the EU and neighboring states to become true factors of change with regard to climate change.
– To give these learners an opportunity to learn about the vast diversity of the impact of climate change across Europe and how approaches to possible solutions also vary.
– To create a powerful partnership of secondary schools and green NGOs that will create a whole new approach to thinking about climate change.

We want to achieve this through five concrete objectives:
– Objective 1: To develop and publish an innovative European Climate Change Curriculum (ECCC) e-book of 120 pages (IO)
– Objective 2: To develop and launch the ECCC virtual platform where teachers and learners can collaborate (IO)
– Objective 3: To prepare and execute a learning activity of 3 days in each of the four partner countries. The activities can easily be reproduced outside the partnership.
– Objective 4: To disseminate the project among a wide range of relevant stakeholders (through four multiplier events)
– Objective 5: To upgrade and expand the professional skills and international network of the partner organizations.

Participants:
The project consortium will consist of five environmental NGOs and four secondary schools from Denmark, Spain, The Netherlands and Serbia. We have chosen a cross-sectorial partnership to ensure that the project products reflect the highest possible standards when it comes to both pedagogical methods and content. The NGOs are all very experienced with developing educational materials about politics and climate change. They are also experienced with completing projects in consortiums and implementing advanced dissemination strategies. The secondary schools all have a clear focus on climate change and are all well known for their academic standards and the commitment of their staff. In total, 27 representatives from the partner organisations will be directly involved. 128 learners from the four schools will also participate and test the project’s products.

Primary target group: The project managers, teachers and 15-18 y.o. learners directly involved in the project.

Secondary target group: European secondary school teachers and 15-18 y.o. learners who will actively use the e-book and virtual platform. We envision the curriculum and virtual platform to be used in the context of a range of subjects: Social sciences, geography, physics, business topics and psychology.

Tertiary target group: Professional networks of teachers, teacher trainers, external NGOs, public authorities relating to education and climate change.

Methodology to be used in carrying out the project: This project will be completed as a cross sectorial collaboration. Our pedagogical methodology is characterized by peer-to-peer learning and authentic learning, participatory approaches and ICT based methodologies.

Results and impact:
– An easily accessible European virtual network for the ongoing debate about climate change.
– A deeper, more nuanced understanding of the various national circumstances for dealing with climate change through the use of the ECCC e-book.
– A deeper and up-to-date understanding of the role of the EU in climate negotiations.

The impact of the materials can of course also be measured in very quantitative terms:
– 1000 downloads of the book during the project’s lifetime
– 3000-5000 downloads between oct. 2022 and oct. 2024.
– 80% satisfaction rate on user questionnaires (average of content, pedagogy, functionality etc).
– We expect the ECCC virtual platform to be used on a weekly basis by all partners within the project period and by 800-1200 unique monthly visitors during the 36 months immediately after the project period.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 284535 Eur

Project Coordinator

OPLYSNINGSFORBUNDET DEMOKRATI I EUROPA FORENING & Country: DK

Project Partners

• Roskilde Gymnasium
• Gimnazija Bora Stankovic
• Stichting Natuur en Milieu Overijssel
• Onderwijsstichting Esprit
• Foreningen tænketanken CONCITO
• Centar za razvoj gradjanskog drustva PROTECTA
• FUNDACION ECOLOGIA Y DESARROLLO