Together for Green Deal – Von und mit europäischen Partnern lernen Erasmus Project

Project Title

Together for Green Deal – Von und mit europäischen Partnern lernen

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Eventually the project “Together for Green Deal” has come about as an effort to bring European students together to cope with huge challenge of climate change and sustainability. Looking at the topics of von der Leyen’s “Green Deal” we were amazed how many ideas we were collecting to make this context interesting and motivating for our students and ourselves. Hence the project was to focus on the link between a political, an educational, i.e. scientific and economic, and a personal level.
First, our objectives would clearly include that students would act more responsibly, buy better and be less wasteful, but at a second glance we had to turn this perspective into action and into experience and into innovative thinking. Thus, we had to make young people meet, learn, study and discuss. We were lucky to find our Spanish partner school via the eTwinning search forum and the teacher team from Barcelona approved of our project draft right before schools were shut down and the situation due to Covid-19 became more uncertain.
Now, the list of activities provided for in this project seemed so natural and genuinely available at the stages of planning, when still now the relevance of the context has not changed, but still there might be necessary adjustments to the methodology and digital alternatives to meeting and travelling. We will see, we will have to adapt.
To give a quick overview of our activities, it was our goal to do two encounters in Germany and Spain at the school’s respective location in rural Höxter and urban Barcelona. Yet another two encounters were supposed to firmly ground all the work on the different aspects on the European goals for Green Deal and global goals in general. That is why students should visit European institutions and visit Brussels and Luxembourg. The different activities comprise meeting political representatives, a visit to a zero waste shop in Paderborn, a bike to with a local politician. Then there is the aspect of eco-design and packaging for which we want to seek support from an NGO and visit a start-up companies. In Spain, students are meant to explore topics of sustainable agriculture and beauty.
Moreover, the project has been shaped by objectives on various levels. Soon, we would like to establish eTwinning projects into our foreign language learning curricula and use the platform for school projects too. Mid-range goals would be to promote individual learning at our respective schools and help students discuss their concerns about the future in our school not just when they choose to demonstrate on Fridays and skip lessons in protest. In this regard, the idea is very much rooted in the present. Long-term goals for our schools would be to create a more international and European stance and appeal as well as initiate and establish a more project-oriented student exchange programme.
Speaking of project-oriented learning we try to encompass various ways of teaching methodology with a clear focus on digital learning but still provide students with creative and productive activities. We would always base an aspect of the topic on an example of how to, e.g. make sustainable fashion or re-design packaging. Can you really make your own cosmetics? And there are so many questions around the topic of agriculture starting from the creation of a raised bed as a school garden or looking at possibilities of urban gardening. Digital learning should always have a context, and that is how we wanted to finish off the project with multimedia storytelling “TiempodeActuar – Time for action” in which students present their visions of the future and have both schools stage a panel discussion. The aim is to create awareness, publish the results of the project and take part in a political debate.
Last, in starting Erasmus at our schools in Barcelona and Höxter, we hope to have the chance to do project-oriented student exchanges on a regularly basis and motivate students’ individual interests and support them to seek individual experiences abroad for language learning and moreover, a topic of relevance and ia study purpose.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 64202 Eur

Project Coordinator

König-Wilhelm-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Institut Les Corts