Learning sustainability – sustainable learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

Learning sustainability – sustainable learning

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: Environment and climate change; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

The trilateral Erasmus+ project “Learning sustainability – sustainable learning” between Germany, Denmark and Spain deals with global climate change, which is continuously progressing, increasingly present and appears inevitable. The primary goal of the project is an intensive examination of the causes and possible consequences of climate change in order to subsequently achieve changes in individual behaviour for an environmentally conscious and environmentally friendly lifestyle. In this context, country-specific characteristics of the participating partners will be focused in order to gain a comprehensive insight into various problems of climate change and to enable reciprocal learning with regard to individual behaviour.
The students participating in the project are between 15 and 18 years of age. They attend the upper school of the participating schools with a focus on economics, health, foreign languages, computer science or in the case of Denmark innovation. For the project, they deal with three pillars (1) dealing with waste, (2) their own consumer behaviour and (3) mobility. While dealing with waste focuses on waste prevention, waste separation and recycling, the consumer behaviour pillar deals with issues such as food waste and CO2 emissions related to food consumption. Finally, the mobility pillar raises awareness in the area of environmentally harmful or environmentally friendly means of transport. All three pillars are dealt with in a country-specific manner and aim to impart knowledge and expertise, to make one’s own behaviour visible and to adapt it specifically in the future in the sense of an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Eventually, the intention is to enable students to act in an environmentally conscious and responsible manner as members of society.
The overall aim of the project is to improve foreign language skills, intercultural competence, critical (self-)reflection, planning, organisational and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, these are key qualifications that are important for the employability of students and will make it easier for them to apply for an internship, training or study place. Finally, skills in the field of social media and film making will be trained.
Four mobilities are planned. Starting with the first mobility in Germany, which will focus on basic project organisation and further training in the fields of climate change, sustainable action and social media, three short-term exchanges are planned in each of the participating countries. The first exchange in Denmark will focus on waste separation, prevention and recycling, which will be developed using innovative working methods. Learning outcomes will also be achieved through visits to companies and institutions that focus on sustainability. The mobility in Spain is pursuing an analysis of the consequences of climate change there. For this purpose, interviews are conducted with local business owners in order to make the extent as well as the temporal course of the weather disasters visible and evaluable. In addition, students will be analysing the waste disposal of municipal businesses, taking part in excursions to cities and nature reserves and running workshops on CO2 emissions, consumer behaviour and mobility. With regard to mobility in Germany, the focus is on the development of approaches to solutions, their presentation and publication; innovative working methods are once again used for this purpose. A central element here is the production of a country-specific short film that presents the individual effects of climate change, offers incentives for environmentally conscious action and is presented to other actors, e.g. representatives of the Herford district, in order to communicate the demands of the students.
In addition to this short film, photomontages and keyword clouds on current and future environmental problems, the elaboration of concepts for the reduction of CO2 emissions, the creation of country-specific Instagram profiles, which express recommendations for environmentally conscious living with regard to dealing with waste and one’s own consumer behaviour, and the creation of CO2 footprints present work results to be achieved. The results are collected on internet-based platforms such as eTwinning and Instagram. This enables the results to be shared across countries and made available for broad reflection. The publication of the results and materials on the PEP also serves to disseminate the results.
As a result, the project aims to enable students to deal with climate change in a competent and reflective way, to support them in their personal development and to make them mature, self-confident Europeans.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 63610 Eur

Project Coordinator

Friedrich-List-Berufskolleg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• International Business College
• IES NUM1 JAVEA