Fit for Europe: How to motivate students to participate in social and ecological projects Erasmus Project

Project Title

Fit for Europe: How to motivate students to participate in social and ecological projects

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Environment and climate change; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Schools all over Europe are faced with the challenge of getting their pupils prepared for a sustainable Europe which is based on democratic values and the three dimensions of sustainability: social issues, environment and economy.
The condition for a successful implementation is an extensive participation of all. This is exactly where the Erasmus+ project starts: The four schools, Oberschule Salzhausen (Germany), Scoala Gimnaziala Peter Thal (Rasnov, Romania), Sofiedalskolan (Gävle, Sweden) and Zespol Szkol nr 1 in Henryka Sienkiewicza (Bialy Bor, Poland) want to learn from and with each other and develop strategies for participation in joint social and ecological projects. For this purpose, the existing offers of the schools will be analysed and the motivation of the pupils will be queried, for example by surveys:
• What kind of offers does the school have?
• What motivates the pupils to commit?
• Which role do parents play?
• Are there any impediments like an unfavorable timetable?
• Do the pupils have the opportunity to bring in their own ideas?
Based on the results, comparative criteria are established to expand the schools´ offers for ecological and social projects. In addition, European and ESD topics will be included in the main school programs in the long term.
The school partnerships play a key role in this process: The comparisons make it clear to what extent the individual schools differ in terms of the participation of pupils. In this focus on their diversity each school will get ideas for the further development of their own offers. In the context of four student exchanges, each school will send its own students (class 6-8) and teachers to the partner schools. This international students and teachers team prepares the surveys, learns from the partner schools and, consequently, optimizes the catalogue of school criteria. In addition, an intensive exchange takes place via the platform TwinSpace. The big goal is to develop an ESD-project „Fit for Europe: How to motivate students to participate in social and ecological projects“ for each of the four schools.
The kick-off event for the new school partnerships will be an European festival, inviting students, teachers, school staff, parents, external school partners and representatives of the home communities to celebrate together. In the further course, workshops and discussions on the subject of Europe, democracy and tolerance take place as part of the regular school program.
The Erasmus+ project is designed with a long-term perspective on anchoring ESD in the school program of the participating schools in order to ensure long-term commitment of students in social and ecological projects. All project results will be available to the interested public and other schools. In addition, the school partnerships continue beyond the project duration with a follow-up application.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 120022 Eur

Project Coordinator

Oberschule Salzhausen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• SCOALA GIMNAZIALA PETER THAL
• Sofiedalskolan
• Zespol Szkol nr 1 im. Henryka Sienkiewicza