Food for thought Erasmus Project

Project Title

Food for thought

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; Health and wellbeing; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

Context and objectives:
This project is designed to investigate the ethical process of European food production and consumption with regard to improving young people’s awareness of where food comes from, how it is consumed and most importantly, how it is wasted.
A common area of social capital was identified as being lacking in large areas of Europe. It became clear during the planning of this project that there is a lack of participation among young people in society regarding food ethics. Society in general but more importantly young people, are becoming increasingly unaware of where their food originates and how it makes its way from ‘field to table’. A main objective is to explore whether a more ethical approach to the production, consumption and waste of food in Europe can lead to a healthier lifestyle and heightened awareness, while at the same time contribute to a sustainable and cost-effective food cycle.
The project consists of 4 themes:
• European production methods
• Food packaging
• Policies behind determining expiry dates
• European food waste
“Reinforcing the development of key competences” is central in our thinking regarding the project. Keeping the European key competences of lifelong learning in mind, special attention will be given to the key competences concerning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and social and civic competences.

Participants:
Mosa-RT College Heilig Kruis – Sint-Ursula B (Belgium), I.S. Giovanni xxiii Cosentino (Italy), Escola Secundária Vitorino Nemésio (Portugal), I. E. S. Maria Galiana (Spain)
24 subject teachers (6 from each school)
120 students from the participating schools
36 students for each transnational learning activity (144 in total)

Activities:
European Production Methods:
Individual school partners will delve deeper into the food production methods of their own region and country. Each partner is to identify a readily available and highly consumable area of regional food production that is considered to have unethical or unsustainable practices.
Food Packaging:
This activity allows students to realize if they really can influence policy change of companies and their products that are seen to be unethical or unsustainable. It is designed to raise students’ awareness with regard to food packaging.
Policies behind determining expiry dates:
This activity will investigate expiry dates and how they are determined.
European food waste:
This activity focuses on expiry date food waste at household and supermarket level.
Methodology:
All of our activities will be implemented by a wide range of innovative teaching methods both in and outside of school, incorporating:
Critical thinking, digital competence, collaboration and team work, communication skills, personal and social responsibility and metacognition.

Results and impact envisaged:
– Increased participation among young people in society.
– Students, their families and teachers gain a healthier lifestyle by being critical of what type of foods they choose to buy and continue doing this long after the project is finished.
– Reducing household food waste.
– Enabling young people to explore the possibility of influencing local, national and European policies and decision making processes concerning ethical food production
– Empowering young people while at the same time teaching them the skills of dialogue, compromise and diplomacy when working with external stakeholders.
– Providing an active contribution to social capital through the promotion of a sustainable food cycle which boasts of quality and cost-effectiveness.
The main area of impact is intended to change the students’ perception of food in general and their attitude towards its consumption. By doing so we hope that the students will change their attitude permanently and consequently their behaviour in all matters regarding food in the long term

Long term benefits:
The paramount resource in maintaining our findings are the participating students themselves; in other words, a human resource. At the heart of this project is the element of empowering young people and confirming their role in society. We hope that this project really does get students and their families to look at food in a more ethical manner. They will have gained a greater understanding of the food chain from a European perspective and will be able to implement their new-found knowledge by changing the way they consume food. This change will be an ethical one; it will improve their health, improve their conscience regarding the treatment of livestock and hopefully lead to more sustainable food chain for all actors involved. If our participating students and their families do this, it means our project ethos could live on indefinitely through the choices participants make.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 108880 Eur

Project Coordinator

Mosa-RT College Heilig Kruis – Sint-Ursula B & Country: BE

Project Partners

• I.S. Giovanni xxiii Cosentino
• iesmariagaliana
• Escola Secundária Vitorino Nemésio