MEAL Erasmus Project

Project Title

MEAL

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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

We have noticed that our pupils had a more or less important problem with their eating habits, mostly due to a bad knowledge of the local food resources and of their seasonality.
They had no European conscience because they had little or no knowledge of Europe.
Our project aimed at making up for these lacks by doing activities common to the different European partners who HAD been chosen for their geographical, agricultural, cultural and linguistic varieties. We have promoted the knowledge of Europe through the knowledge of our own territory and its agricultural resources.
All these activities enabled us to open up the school to digital technology. The tools used to communicate between the different partners, to collect and share information were a concrete way for the pupils to use computers, tablets, video cameras, interactive whiteboards …
These activities through the use of digital learning / e-learning still give the pupils the pleasure to learn and to go to school.
The different partners were France (Saint Jean en Royans, a rural area in the Vercors, a primary schoolwith 6 classes), Germany (Tübingen, a middle-sized town turned on ecology and sustainable development, primary and secondary school), The United Kingdom (Belfast, an industrialized city, a school for children with special needs), Romania (Stei, a small agricultural village, primary and secondary school)) and Latvia (Sigulda, a town with harsh climatic conditions, primary school).
The common activities were on 2 major lines : the first one dealt with the inventory of the local food resources, the traditional recipes thenthrough exchanges those of the other countries. The second one focused on the reasons why the European Community was created, on its symbols and its actions.
We led the project through planned exchanges : transnational meetings, trips with the pupils, exchanges of documents thanks to the use of digital equipment, our common blog.
We have noticed an improvement in the knowledge of the local resources and a better knowledge of what is Europe.
The benefits expected in the long run are a change in the families’ food habits, an open-mindedness, more tolerance and more autonomy through the contact with people from different cultures, a change in their eating habits with an increasing daily consumption of fruit and seasonal vegetables, a better European conscience thanks to all that they have learnt,, a different way of grasping school and an opening on the digital technology. All this represents an asset for our pupils and the following generations in the long run.
This wonderful experience enabled us to continue our exchanges on different themes (such as local celebrations, traditions …. ) with our partners thanks to digital means of communication acquired during the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 218060,85 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ecolepasteur & Country: FR

Project Partners

• clarawood special school
• Siguldas pilsetas vidusskola
• Scoala Gimnaziala “Miron Pompiliu”
• Französische Schule Gemeinschaftsschule