Young – open – united: Growing up in times of change Erasmus Project

Project Title

Young – open – united: Growing up in times of change

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: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Environment and climate change; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

YOU Young Open United: Growing up in times of change

While the European Union faces fundamental changes, voices that polarize the political discourse and stir insecurity are getting more influential. Our students feel that in many respects their lives will not follow traditional patterns. Quite different to the challenges former generations faced they will have to be prepared to move to another country to complete their education, acquire expertise or find a job that allows them to use their individual skills and prosper. In addition, they will have to break with prevailing comfortable but harmful habits and find sustainable ways of organizing their daily lives. Our project aims at giving them orientation to meet these challenges, making them discover the opportunities a strong EU offers and thus strengthening their resilience against populist slogans. We also want them to take an active part in shaping their future.

Project year one focusses around the question of: “What am I going to do after school?” How can I shape my professional future and where can I find guidance?” While these questions ultimately require individual answers, the problems and challenges involved as well as the opportunities are international. Our partnership comprises countries with very different problems. We can therefore make the students see among their peers how job related migration causes families to live apart from each other, how valuable European programmes are in shaping skills and how all partners benefit from each other in different respects.

Project year two aims at fostering the students’ sense of belonging to Europe as culturally exciting union that shares a heritage from which they can draw strength and inspiration. This shared spirit is fundamental for the final project phase of exploring and defining sustainable lifestyles as integral part of young European culture in a transnational document on the students’ vision of sustainable life in the EU.
All project results will ultimately result in a guide book: “How to survive in …..” created by young people for young people. In the course of the project all partners contribute chapters about their town/ region. As online edition it will remain open for additional entries after the end of the project as an interactive tool to be implemented in the schools’ curricular.
The guide book “How to survive in ….” will be composed in a funny, loving, possibly ironical or cartoon like tone according to the students’ preferences. The intended design for an online version are interactive maps, pictures and text links showing city guides for students on Braga, Budapest,Copenhagen, Rome and Stuttgart.

Intended chapters are:
1. Culture compasses for newcomers
2. Finding orientation: Tips and tricks for entering the job-market
3. Lifestyle: Finding a place to live, getting around, clothes, food, going out
4. Europe in our town

Overview: Project steps
Year 1
1. School/ education in the different countries: How does it enable us to meet life’s challenges?
2. Life after school: apprenticeship, university, gap year?
2.1 How to find orientation?
2.2 Young people’s fears, hopes and challenges
2.3 What kind of support do we hope for (school, community, state, EU)?

Year 2
3 Identity- culture- lifestyle
3.1 My cultural heritage and my European identity
3.1.1 A culture compass
3.1.2 Promoting a European identity
3.2 How we would like to live
3.2.1 Sustainable life: What initiatives are there in our town, our country, Europe?
3.2.2 Sustainable life in the political discourse
3.2.3 Our vision: Sustainable life in the EU

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 133350 Eur

Project Coordinator

Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Stuttgart-Sillenbuch & Country: DE

Project Partners

• LICEO STATALE FARNESINA
• Budapest V. kerületi Eötvös József Gimnázium
• N. Zahles Skole
• Agrupamento de Escolas de Maximinos