MANY SMALL PEOPLE WHO DO SMALL THINGS CAN CREATE A BETTER WORLD AFTER COVID-19: BUILDING A DIGITAL AND ECO-FRIENDLY EDUCATION IN AND OUT THE CLASSROOM Erasmus Project

Project Title

MANY SMALL PEOPLE WHO DO SMALL THINGS CAN CREATE A BETTER WORLD AFTER COVID-19: BUILDING A DIGITAL AND ECO-FRIENDLY EDUCATION IN AND OUT THE CLASSROOM

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 : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

COVID-19 has taught us that our societies that we thought were invulnerable, aren’t, and that many of our ways of doing things, valid until recently, are not useful before the reality that arises after one of the harshest pandemics experienced in decades. But it also taught us one more thing: the more we weaken the environment, the greater the danger of new pandemics, diseases, and uncontrolled infections, since the loss of biodiversity acts as a catalyst for the spread of viruses and infectious diseases. Thus, it is essential to create among all of us a European society that is resilient, sustainable, and adapted to the reality that has arisen from coronavirus, and in order to achieve this ambitious goal, schools and students must become one of the main exponents of this change.

The project we present is based on the idea that “Many little people, doing little things, can change the world”, meaning that in order to rebuild the European society that we need after the severe COVID-19 pandemic, we must all work together to change our environment, and no one is more capable of achieving it than students. Their desire, their enthusiasm, and their innocence are the key to launching a process of training and digital action that makes our neighborhoods more sustainable and helps them live in the new reality.

This is why we propose the creation of ECOexcellence Schools, schools that show their commitment to building the new post-COVID-19 society by implementing innovative changes in:
– The management and organization of the school, aiming it towards sustainability through new processes of digitization of management and communication, promotion of renewable energies, and waste treatment. This will become the Intellectual Output O1: METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF A SUSTAINABLE AND DIGITAL CENTER.
– The implementation of teaching methodologies and curricular contents in classrooms, based on sustainable digitization, environmental training, responsible consumption, and the fight against COVID-19, which will all turn into the Intellectual Output O2: COURSE FOR TEACHERS: TEACHING BASED ON DIGITALIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY FACING COVID-19, which will favor the digital training of teachers and guide their pedagogical action towards sustainability and learning-action, promoting their students to become ECO-friends and contribute effectively to the sustainability of their immediate environment.
– The development of awareness, solidarity, and training projects for residents of nearby neighborhoods to promote the use of measures against COVID-19, responsible consumption, sustainability in daily activities, and help alleviate the consequences of the virus.
– The creation of international support and cooperative work networks to face this global challenge in a coordinated manner.

The ECOexcellence seal will define those schools that do not only focus on the training of future generations, but have implemented digital and sustainable management and teaching processes, decisively contributing to the protection of the environment, solidarity, and the fight against the pandemic in our neighborhoods and cities, and have implemented a method that encourages high school students to put what they have learned into actions, becoming the promoters of change in the dynamics of consumption and waste management in their neighborhoods. This working method will effectively raise the awareness among students, not only of the importance of caring for the environment, but of their essential role in achieving it, enhancing their self-esteem and many non-formal skills that sometimes schools are not able to promote well enough.

We will encourage the participation and involvement of students thanks to the “ECO-friendly student” badge, a digital certificate that acknowledges them as the protagonists of the project, and endorses their development of non-formal and environmental skills and competences.

In order to achieve all of this, we will generate a strategic partnership that will work together for 24 months, among 6 entities like PATRONATO DE LA JUVENTUD OBRERA (Spain), MYLLYHARJUN LUKIO (Finland), ZS A GYMNÁZIUM S VJM (Slovakia), LYCEE PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE ITEC BOISFLEURY (France ), LICEO CLASSICO STATALE GIULIO PERTICARI (Italy), and GESAMTSCHULE AN DER ERFT (Germany), who will carry out 4 Transnational Meetings, 1 teachers training activity, 1 blended mobility of students, pilot tests of the materials created, national activities for the development of tangible results, an intensive use of the e-Twinning platform, and lastly a large Multiplier Event in Valencia (Spain).
With this, we propose an impactful project that will not only improve the efficiency and sustainability of schools, but also train the students to become the agents of change of the future, and raise their environment’s awareness to allow this positive change.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 162820 Eur

Project Coordinator

Patronato de la Juventud Obrera & Country: ES

Project Partners

• LICEO CLASSICO STATALE GIULIO PERTICARI
• Myllyharjun lukio
• Gesamtschule An der Erft
• Institut Technique de l’Enseignement Catholique-Boisfleury
• ZS a Gymnázium s VJM