Partnerships, promoting Civic Awareness and Change Environmentally. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Partnerships, promoting Civic Awareness and Change Environmentally.

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: Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Environment and climate change; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

The core purpose of this project will be to assess waste management systems with a particular focus on single use plastic within rural and urban areas. Our data gathering will inform future strategies to minimise environmental impact. Actions will be student led, working towards a cleaner more conscientious Europe, as demonstrated by a range of modified systems preventing wasteful use of materials whilst mitigating their impact through better management. Key to this will be for students to develop a range of skills: technological, problem-solving, presentational and inter-personal skills alongside integrated social skills essential for employment. These will enhance teaching and learning through collaborative tasks, across a range of subject areas: developing young European citizens who understand the shared environmental challenges facing us. Students will also develop a deeper understanding of the rich and varied socio/cultural and historical context of the partner schools. Collaborative learning will be established through the exchange of key vocabulary whilst conducting in depth research to broaden their knowledge of the area they are visiting. We will use results from our data gathering to inform all our students at home and transnationally, convincing them of the need to become part of the solution. They will develop as reflective and proactive individuals and will demonstrate an improved understanding of their role and their civic duty in the fight against climate change. Initially some 200 students will be involved directly in the project but approximately 2,200 students will participate in a cross-cultural experience, many of whom rarely get this opportunity. A recent survey conducted by the BBC showed that West Dorset is in the bottom quartile with regard to opportunities and access to amenities for youngsters. In addition pupils at Beaminster with SEN are much higher than national (33.8% compared to 10.6%). Some of these factors promote low aspirations: a similar scenario for the German school from Hamburg, however this will contrast with the more privileged background of our French partners. The context of the projects will necessarily draw on a range of subject knowledge and skills as well as providing a tangible reason for learning another language, encouraging participation and second language study at all partner schools with the potential for improved aspirations. Student mobility projects will provide an arena to showcase students’ developed skills through the exchange of good practice: collecting and collating data, establishing working relationships, implementing and analysing new practices, responding to feed-back, developing presentation skills. Groups of between 60 and 80 students will be responsible for analysing data and presenting reports on exchange visits.. Large numbers of students will take part in data collection, actively litter picking, participating in surveys or collecting waste material, to be sorted and to provide initial findings on which the first activities will be based. By involving large numbers they will be encouraged to understand the issues first hand, and will better understand their role in the solution. As a result students will then plan, prepare, deliver, assess and negotiate their proposed activities to achieve their objectives. Students will seek expert advice from local businesses and action groups to promote civic engagement and to aid them in meeting their objectives. They will be sub-divided into action groups looking into: promotion, implementation, finance and research of the project. The development of ICT skills will be intrinsic to the project. Key to its success will be the ability to disseminate the information between groups, primarily via a range of technology based tools. Information will be student led, with the core group of year 7/8 students being responsible for working with news groups and through assemblies, keeping all abreast of projects and progress, explaining plans, outcomes, successes and the need for continued participation. With regard to the broader communities this will take place via radio broadcasts, school newspapers, the local media, social networks and the eTwinning platform. Continued reflection and formative assessment will allow students to monitor effectiveness: it is to be expected that not all intended outcomes will be realised. This will build resilience as it is the students’ response to the results which will be crucial to the success of the activity. Success will also be informed by consultation with all stakeholders across all communities. It is our intention that the legacy of this project will be in place for years to come through an established network of groups at a transnational and local community level to improve the outlook for the environment within Europe and globally.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 363,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Beaminster School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Collège Charles de Gaulle
• Brüder-Grimm Schule Hamburg