Finca Erasmus Project

Project Title

Finca

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

Background and context:

In addition to a good school-leaving certification and well-founded specialised knowledge, key competences such as intercultural competence, motivation, self-initiative and self-confidence are of major importance for success in today’s working world.

The German-Spanish School Partnership proposal “Vocational preparation and education exchange Finca el Olivar” wants to play a part in contributing to this:

Teachers and pupils achieved supplement and deepen their teaching with real learning experiences based on communication and exchange. This should also lay the foundation for long-term school cooperation.

Consistent theme of the exchange progamme was sustainable agriculture and ecological trade using the example of olive cultivation. Spain is one of the most important producing countries while Germany is the largest food importer in the Europan Union.

Cultivation, care, harvesting, distribution and consumption have been addressed and experienced. The pupils – with the support of the pedagogical staff – planned an exercise company, which will primarily distribute olive oil produced in Spain to Germany. However the project of a real learner company is still planned.

The young people acquired real and relevant knowledge, skills and insights into the functioning of economical and ecological micro- and macro-processes as well as insights to the socio-cultural relations of both countries.

This also applied to the teaching staff at both schools who are developing new teaching and learning materials. The integrated and comprehensive subject and teaching approach combines general language acquisition and communication with tangible acquisition of knowledge.

The overarching goal was to motivate and empower young people to consciously and actively shape their learning and lifestyle, to recognize their individual and social potential and to connect them with professional perspectives.

Specific achieved goals:

• Acquisition of basic knowledge for teaching staff and students on organic olive cultivation: cultivation und care, processing and
harvesting, marketing and consumption.

• Development of practice-oriented teaching modules on the main topic, including communication skills and foreign language acquisition for teaching staff and learners.

• Participatory (conceptual) development, preparation and establishment of a student practice company in the partner countries for
organic olive cultivation

Target groups:

The two core groups of the participating schools were students from grade 8/9 and teachers of the Helmut von Kügelgen School in Fellbach, near Stuttgart and the Waldorf School Geroa Eskola in Trokoniz, near Bilbao.

Mobility were organised by schools in each partner country with additional field trips to cultivation and processing sites and to classic olive cultivations in Navarra and Andalusia.

The two mobilities directly and actively did involves 29 pupils and 4 teachers and will reach more than 300 people from, both school and extracurricular activities, and further public presentations.

Activities and results:

• Establishment of a communication and information platform for both partner schools with linkage as an integrated part of the practice
company to establish a continuous exchange and the continuation of cooperation (see e-twinning)

• Exchange of teaching staff on the topics: method, didactics, language and ecology. Further exchange options and on-site visits outside and beyond the project funding did take place

• Further development of the curriculum for bilingual subject teaching (CLIL) with a focus on bilingual modules and youth education in
the environmental sector

• Offer to all students in project grade 8 and 9 as part of regular instruction to enter the student company and participate in the activities

• Implementation of olive oil product distribution in the participating countries has been projected and is waiting for execution.

Impacts:

• In Fellbach, the further development of the vocational college will benefit from the student company. The Spanish partner will
substantiate this model and projected involvement in regular teaching with the project execution.

• By disseminating the results and distributing the products of the practice company, there are opportunities for further use by schools
and educational partners.

The networking between Spanish and German young people will also be continued outside the world of school via social media or through private / sponsored visits to the partner. The teaching staff of both partners has been supportive – as coaches or enablers – and by encouraging the learners.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 48468 Eur

Project Coordinator

Helmut von Kügelgen-Schule gGmbH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• GEROA Eskola – NHO Asociación cultural –