Under the European Stars Erasmus Project

Project Title

Under the European Stars

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: Health and wellbeing; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Our project is called “Under the European Stars” for two reasons. Firstly the highlight of each of the mobilities will be a chance to camp out under the stars in different parts of Europe, secondly it refers to the fact that we all share the same stars like we all share the same problems that we will be tackling in this project.

All of the partner schools have noticed an alarming trend amongst students in the last decade of a decrease in attention, in resilience, in mental health, in time spent outdoors and in facing new challenges with confidence. We believe that digital addiction is a major issue causing this and our project is focused on strategies to help students to become aware of the issues surrounding it, reflect on their habits and behaviour, develop tools to help them face challenges and have new experiences and adventures that will inspire them to take the message forward in their lives and pass it on to other young people.

Our focus is on reconnecting with nature, creating digital awareness and healthy use of screens and social media, student’s resilience – their ability to overcome difficulties and challenges in life, developing a growth mindset – getting out of the comfort zone and into the stretch zone and mindfulness – the ability to control emotions, find inner peace and develop awareness of self and other. This will all be done in the context of friendship, international cooperation, cultural awareness and that very important element……fun.

This project is focused on pupils between the ages of 14-19 in our partners schools in Finland (coordinators), Spain, Croatia and Hungary. It is an inclusive project where pupils will be selected to take part through an impartial selection process that will give all pupils who are interested the same opportunity to take part. Students are from varying social and economic backgrounds as is reflected in the range of schools involved in this project.

Before each mobility the pupils who will take part in that mobility will take part in a programme of self development activities based around our areas of focus. They will receive videos and tasks that they will have to do personally and then discuss in international groups online. This will allow for a much deeper experience when students are taking part in the mobilities. After each mobility students will teach what they have learnt and the tools they have used using videos to leave a legacy for other students who are facing the same issues as will be addressed in this project.

Our mobilities will make the very most of the nature in the region of our host schools. Students will take part in practical activities where they will learn skills relating to our objectives in and out of school. Each of the mobilities will have a 3 day, 2 night expedition out in nature where pupils will be disconnected from their screens and will be able to put into practise everything they have been learning on the project. These expeditions will be challenging socially, physically and emotionally. We will guide our students through them in an inclusive way ensuring that everyone is out of their comfort zone but it is accessible for all. They will have to reflect on their experience throughout, use the tools they have been shown and become aware of their behaviour and habits moving forward.

We expect this project to create profound change within the students and teachers who take part. It will be empowering for the pupils to know that they can complete a challenge of this nature, they will improve their linguistic and cultural skills, they will understand their use of technology better and how it impacts their life and their health, they will reconnect with nature and value the importance of getting outside. They will develop a set of tools that will help them to overcome difficult situations, look to grow and develop as people who face new challenges with excitement and confidence. They will then share this message via social media to reach out to other young people who are facing the same issues and share the knowledge they have benefited from on this project, potentially reaching hundreds or thousands of young people.

The staff who work in this project will develop their understanding and ability to work with Erasmus projects in the future, they will develop materials, best practise and resources for teaching related to the themes of this project and will be able to continue helping many generations of pupils in the future.

In summary, this is a relevant and innovative project that will deal with important issues facing students all over Europe in a way that is exciting and appealing to them. The teachers who have developed it have worked together before on a health related project where they were able to mature and develop this idea to create the truly unique project that is “Under the European Stars”.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 124968 Eur

Project Coordinator

Liedon lukio & Country: FI

Project Partners

• Prva gimnazija Varazdin
• El Centro Inglés – Much More Than Education
• Szegedi Tömörkény István Gimnázium és Művészeti Szakgimnázium