Family Learning To Drive Demand for A Circular Economy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Family Learning To Drive Demand for A Circular Economy

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; Natural sciences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The circular economy is seen as an integral but interdependent part of a just transition to a low-carbon society. While early legislation that framed the initial development of the circular economy was primarily focused or waste and re-cycling it is now essential for the success of the ‘use, reuse’ model at the heart of the circular economy that different service provision and ownership models are embraced by consumers. Education and awareness raising are two of the key next steps if the circular economy is to become a widely followed and sustainable option for Europe. While the full potential of the circular economy for Europe has yet to be identified or quantified, there is momentum in circular economy practices in Europe, but action is needed to sustain this movement and the meaning and nature of the circular economy needs to be understood more widely.

Consumers are, and will continue to be, major influencers in the development of the Circular Economy in Europe. With the explosion of social media and the huge numbers of ‘digital natives’ who are almost permanently engaged in online activity the power of consumers to effect change is greater than ever before. What is now needed are consumer education programmes that address issues of national and international importance like moving to a circular economy model. Project partners are of the opinion that the family is the perfect setting to launch a concerted educational campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the circular economy; of what a circular economy should look like; of how businesses should operate in a circular economy model; and of how consumers should behave to ensure that the best outcomes for people : profit : planet are achieved.

Effective family learning requires that different sub-sets of the family are considered in the design of any proposed learning materials. For this Family Circle project, it is the intention of partners to create resources for 4 different sub-sets namely:
(1) children between the ages of 6 and 12 – these resources will comprise a monthly themed comic strip that introduces some of the main ideas driving the development of the circular economy;
(2) teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 – these resources will comprise a series of challenge based educational resources that will be pitched at introductory and intermediate levels;
(3) youth between the ages of 17 to 25 – these resources will comprise a continuation of the challenge based educational resources but on this occasion pitched at advanced and expert levels;
(4) parents, guardians and grandparents – these resources will comprise a series of workshop based, group learning exercises.
All resources developed will be themed around different elements of the circular economy

Partners believe that this educational programme will only be successful in the long-term if the skills of adult educators are also developed to allow them to produce their own comic strips and challenge based educational resources. Training to develop these types of materials on available open source software programmes will be the focus of the proposed in-service training for adult educators

Project Website

https://familycircleproject.eu/en/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 269979,2 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gästrike återvinnare & Country: SE

Project Partners

• Pandokrátor Ltd.
• The Rural Hub CLG
• OSRODEK SZKOLENIOWO-BADAWCZY INNEO
• STORYTELLME, UNIPESSOAL LDA
• CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD-CARDET
• EUROPEAN CENTER FOR QUALITY OOD
• Lancaster and Morecambe College