Wege zur Freundschaft – Europa auf dem Internationalen Bergwanderweg der Freundschaft erleben Erasmus Project

Project Title

Wege zur Freundschaft – Europa auf dem Internationalen Bergwanderweg der Freundschaft erleben

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

“Ways of friendship-Exploring Europe on the International friendship trail” is a project in which 3 schools from D, HU and PL participate to develop and maintain friendships. The project emphasizes the value of real and personal friendships for a single person as well as for the European community in contrast to occurring social tendencies. The objective is to counteract the arising right-wing populism within Europe and to make all participants aware of the achievement of a European Union without physical borders. Hiking on the “Internationaler Bergwanderweg der Freundschaft Eisenach-Budapest” (EB) doesn’t serve an end in itself, however it is used to overcome prejudices, develop friendships, surpass oneself, assume responsibility, be active and act in a sustainable way.
12 students, who are between 16 and 18 years old and their teachers, focus on communicating and sharing theoretical knowledge while working in an extra-curricular workgroup in each country. Each country sends 8 students who are accompanied by 2 teachers to work during the mobility phase.
The responsible teachers have knowldege in project management due to former Erasmus+ KA1 activities and they enhance it due to participating in the C1 activity. The involved teachers have qualifications in PE, Health Care and foreign languages as well as qualifications in sharing intercultural competences which enable them to substitute each other. One HU teacher has a special qualification in hiking which is a beneficial for all.
The project includes 2 joint activities (C1, C5). The focus is set on project management skills for European exchange projects as well as on sharing intercultural competences. The C1+C5 acitvities are necessary to ensure that all teachers have common knowledge concerning project management and furthermore it enables them to function as multipliers at their school.
The project is divided in sharing theoretical knowledge (P1-P9) and its practical realization in trilateral teams during the mobility phases (C2-C4). Students work step by step on the topic friendship and its different aspects like relevance of friendships. Moreover, students are expected to assume responsibility for each other while planning the legs in their home countries and their functioning as hosts during the mobility phase. All created pictures, video clips and written documents are used to create project outcomes like the hiking guide, to evaluate and to distribute the project (e.g. rising the awareness level of the EB).
Students work in an extra-curricular workgroup at their home schools in which they for example familiarize themselves with different aspects of friendship with the help of learning in stops; develop workshops for the mobility phases; plan tours of cultural and historic importance amd plan international evenings. The work in this extra-curricular workgroup is the condition of success for the realization of the mobility phases and achievement of the project aims. Students are given the possibility to develop sustainable friendships due to team-building measures during mobility phases. Intermediate project results are disseminated with the help of different presentation techniques. Various evaluation techniques for example interview, questionnaire and feedback are introduced and used. The participants communicate via Skype, WhatsApp and email with each other. The trilateral teams are also expected to work with each other during the P activities in order to finalize their project products. Furthermore, students report about their experience by sharing them on a project homepage, in a blog and on Instagram.
The following key results and its long-term benefit are expected:
1. Hiking guide/Friendship guide (printed version) is produced by students and is inspired by the series of Süddeutsche Zeitung edition “Glücklich in…”. It contains pictures and useful information about the EB. However, this guide is written from a very subjective perspective and refers to students’ experiences and their adventures in terms of friendship. In addition, students’ statements about defining friendship are also published. The guide/this project result achieves a high level of sustainability, disseminates the project and increases the popularity of the EB. Moreover, this guide will be used for future class trips, field trips and PE courses at schools. Other schools, associations and interested people can purchase this guide.
2. A poster campaign is carried out by students and will be permanently presented at schools. Each poster is created by a trilateral team and illustrates the meaning of friendship for the team and includes a slogan about friendship.
3. Travel journals are used as diaries and help students to reflect/evaluate the project.
4. Project homepage/Blog/Instagram (online) document the project. Students’ impressions, experiences and project results are shared online. The tools will stay online even though the project has come to an end.

Project Website

https://sites.google.com/kdfg.info/wege-zur-freundschaft

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 81373 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ludwig-Erhard-Schule Berufsbildende Schulen Salzgitter & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Kispesti Deák Ferenc Gimnázium
• Zespol Szkol – Centrum Edukacji Zawodowej i Ustawicznej im. Mikolaja Kopernika