Exploring sustainability in the food sector Erasmus Project

Project Title

Exploring sustainability in the food sector

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The project was carried out in the aftermath of a severe economic crisis which brought to light fundamental problems of the prevalent economic model. It led to a widespread feeling that our economy is inherently fragile and potentially harmful because it favours patterns of behaviour which neglect sustainability at the expense of short-term profit. In order to secure a future for young people and to protect our planet it will be necessary to promote business models which take into account ethical and social considerations. This means that traditional business teaching, which still very much revolves around the idea of profit maximization, needs to be complemented by teaching about how to combine business and sustainability.
The project tried to raise the participants’ awareness of the need to shape a sustainable economy taking into account entrepreneurial as well as consumer patterns of behaviour. It also aimed at providing young Europeans with business competencies which they will find useful when working for alternative businesses or for starting alternative businesses in the future. Using the example of the food sector, the project setup opened room for the observation, discussion and appraisal of alternative business models and gave students the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial skills by planning and implementing a sustainable European company.
The project involved about 140 full-time business students aged 16 to 19 and 24 teachers from four partner schools in Germany, Turkey, Finland and Italy. The coordinating school, Berufskolleg Viersen in Viersen, Germany, is a vocational college boasting extensive experience as a coordinator of international projects. Sisli Anadolu High School is a high-profile secondary school in the centre of Istanbul, Turkey, whose cooperation with the Ministry of Education, NGOs and private companies has helped its staff gain profound knowledge about sustainability. ISIS ‘Oscar Romero’ in Albino, Italy, is a secondary school with an integrated Vocational Commercial School. It has a longstanding experience of European projects and has lately focused on projects about biodiversity and organic food. Etelä-Tapiolan Lukio, a renowned upper secondary school in Espoo, Finland, offers an International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and has specialised in social sciences and economics. It has a special interest in entrepreneurship with courses devoted to enterprise, guest speakers on the subject and participation in the annual ‘Young Entrepreneurship Programme’.
Using a CLIL (content and language integrated learning) approach, the project participants created a setting in which students took over the role of European business people planning and organising the opening of a supermarket chain for fair food products and the creation of their own brand of innovative food products. The focus of the first year of the project was on building up expert knowledge about the concept of sustainability and the alternative food sector in the four partner countries. Project activities included desk research in the form of STEEPLE analyses (i.e. taking into account social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical implications) as well as field research, for instance surveys about consumer needs and behaviour with regard to sustainable kinds of food. The students thus explored and compared the markets for organic and fairly traded food in the four countries. They also established criteria for the production and sales of ‘fair’ food and rated potential suppliers of organic raw material in their home countries according to those criteria.
The focus of the second year of the project was on the small-scale production and marketing of real organic food products under the students’ own brand name. Each school manufactured food items from regional organic raw materials. This work package included trying out various production processes and documenting them, calculating costs, taking feedback from potential consumers, developing pack designs, QR codes and advertising materials. The innovative products were presented at a ‘supermarket opening event’.
Throughout the project period, these business-related tasks were prepared and accompanied by visits, workshops and meetings with experts so that students gained more and more knowledge about the European sector for organic food and its differences from the conventional food sector.
The project resulted in a host of concrete results such as business reports, presentations about market research, actual food products including packaging and product descriptions as well as publicity materials. Moreover, it had an impact on the participants’ awareness of issues concerning the production and marketing of food.
The impact of this project is going to be seen at the participating schools even in the future because the students planned measures to implement the promotion of sustainable food at their schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 72585 Eur

Project Coordinator

Berufskolleg Viersen des Kreises Viersen Sekundarstufe II & Country: DE

Project Partners

• ISTITUTO DI ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE STATALE OSCAR ARNULFO ROMERO
• Etelä-Tapiolan lukio
• Sisli Anadolu Lisesi