Standing together for the future of our planet -getting active in Europe for the protection of our environment Erasmus Project

Project Title

Standing together for the future of our planet -getting active in Europe for the protection of our environment

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; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

Our project is to give people with disabilities the opportunity to travel around Europe, to get to know people from other cultures and to make contacts. All participating pupils have intellectual disabilities and are not able to travel abroad from home. However, they are very interested in Europe. At their schools, everyone is committed to environmental protection in different ways, so this can be found as a connecting element in the joint activities. The pupils see that we live in different countries and can still pursue the same goals. They work directly together to protect the environment in all countries.
There are 4 schools from Belgium, Germany, Poland and Hungary. Each school sends 6 pupils and 3 accompanying persons, all of whom are trained in the care of people with disabilities (special needs teachers, pedagogical specialists or therapists).
The mobility process is deliberately structured in all countries according to the same scheme:
1 day: a cultural event
1 day: an experience in nature
1 day: a joint work for the environment on site
1 day: workshops for the production of products that help to protect the environment
1 day: a festival of all guests and hosts together in the host school with the presentation of the results

Each country offers a different experience of nature: in Hungary they discover and research life on the countryside, determine trees and plants, in Poland they explore and analyze the rivers, in Belgium they taste food from their own garden and deal with bees while getting to know and protecting moors and waters in Germany. In every country they make a contribution to environmental protection.
The planned activities are aimed specifically at our students. The topics are always dealt with in a highly action-oriented manner (manufacture of products that promote environmental protection, such as cover sheets made from oilcloth, bee hotels, vegetable nets, and by visiting natural sites / paths). Our students learn from practical experiences and vivid materials. They work a lot in partner work or small groups. The accompanying persons support the pupils with testing, production and presentation. Depending on the needs, the support consists of manual guidance during the manufacture of a product, repeated, step-by-step explanations of the procedure in the 1: 1 situation, implementation of trial treatments to clarify the procedure as a model. The pupils are closely monitored in all activities. We are aware that everything is a great challenge for them, starting with the courage to leave home and get on a train or plane. This is also the reason for the high assistant key (2: 1). The pupils are prepared in advance in workshops for the trips.
We expect to expand key competencies in the pupils e.g. carry out trips, get to know people with similar problems and let the encounter enrich them, overcome language barriers, get to know other cultures and build tolerance for new and different things through positive meetings. Through the common activities for environmental protection, we want to awaken civil society engagement in the students and deepen awareness of climate protection, which is already existing in everyone through the various environmental protection activities at schools. With the products they get practical ideas to protect the environment and they can experience self-efficacy by passing them on to others as experts. Last but not least, the pupils should experience Europe actively and experience themselves as an inclusive part of it. By traveling, they learn to measure distances and find that the landscapes are different everywhere.
The pupils of the respective host country experience the production of the products in the workshops in the preparatory working groups and are then helping others as experts during the mobilities. They create building instructions beforehand, which they make available to all students via eTwinning. They offer these to all visitors at the final festival and community festivals and present their results to the community together. These are also documented on the Twinspace and the website. A digital dictionary with speech output in all languages ​​involved will be created, which will always be expanded over time. This way, even non-reading pupils can learn something from the languages ​​of the host countries and communicate better with each other. Exhibitions take place in various public institutions.
The topics worked out at the training courses benefit the teachers as multipliers and thus the entire colleges, as the participants expand their knowledge of special education, test new media and develop concepts for the certificate “eco-school” together.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 139694 Eur

Project Coordinator

Schule am Deister & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Rum-Kastely EGYMI
• Zespol Szkol Specjalnych w Kowanowku
• Zentrum für Förderpädagogik