The project “One for all, all for GREEN” is based on mutual interest of the participants towards more environment conscious life and is devoted to work on topics related to nature, green tourism and eco tourism. It is composed of seven countries: Hungary, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. All of the participating countries are aware of the dramatic situation caused by Global warming and are aware of the fact that transportation, travelling and tourism are also contributors to the greenhouse effect. Our main goal is to analyse current trends in tourism and promote future trends which are inter-twinned with culture, traditions environment and heritage. By involving international cooperation we will compare cultural and eco-tourism with standard tourism and solve tourism related problems finding new creative methods and techniques. The main issues are to provide students and teachers with a deeper understanding of responsible tourism and to widen their knowledge in subjects connected to culture, history, traditions, gastronomy, environment protection, English language and ICT while integrating students who come from different cultural backgrounds The project promotes a development away from typical consumer oriented tourism towards tourism that focuses on cultural and environmental encounters and requires more responsibility form the key figures in tourism: tourists and specialists in tourism alike. Doing the project tasks and activities (visiting each other ‘s countries, making mini–tour guides and itineraries, creating presentations and booklets etc.) will prepare our students to become open-minded, culture-conscious citizens and skilled travellers who are consciously protecting the value of their touristic environment. International cooperation - common methods based on cooperative learning - will let us build a group and will promote collaboration. The project will put schools into the cooperation with local, national and international institutions and organisations and it encourages cross-curricular approaches. In order to get the partners to work towards a common purpose, staff will interact effectively with each other creating international teams and sharing experiences while providing unique opportunity for partners to input their own expertise and learn from each other. The project will have both intangiable results ( new content learned by the participants ,improved learning in relevant subject areas , new skills acquired )and tangiable results ( concrete products ). We will use the outcomes as a measure of to what extent the project has contributed to the learning experiences of those involved and the quality of education on offer in the schools participating. The partnership will have a positive impact on the participating institutions by building a community consisting of teachers and students who have a strong commitment to and sense of ownership in the project. By creating and carrying out several creative dissemination techniques and activities it will also enable a wider community ( stakeholders, parents, school authorities, hotels )to benefit from our partnership in the long run.
The project “One for all, all for GREEN” was based on the participants’ mutual interest in the environment and tourism. Green Tourism is relevant in all schools because it encompasses a range of subjects, including natural science, physics, geography, ICT, and Environmental Protection, as well as tourism. All of these curriculum areas were relevant to the project which in itself, focused on a relevant and topical issue. The idea for the project evolved from the needs of the different partners.All of the partner schools are situated in tourist areas so they are all directly affected by the adverse effects of tourism activities. At the same time, both tourism and the conservation of the environment are essential for the future well-being of our students, so it is important that they are aware of how they can contribute to limiting the deterioration of tourist destinations. Our goal was to analyse current and future issues in tourism and identify possible solutions which still retain the culture, traditions, heritage and environments of our partner destinations. Through international cooperation, we wanted to compare eco-tourism with traditional tourism in different countries, and in so doing, try to find solutions to common problems in new and creative ways. The main aim of the project was to provide students and teachers with a deeper understanding of responsible tourism, and to widen their knowledge and skills in connected subjects such as culture, history, traditions, tourism, gastronomy, English language and ICT. The project partners were from 7 countries - Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Turkey - but after Year 2 of the project, Turkey dropped out due to political reasons. The project consisted of a variety of activities including visits to each other’s countries, the development of mini-tour itineraries, the creation of presentations, the development of a website and participation in a green school course. All of these activities helped prepare students to become open-minded, culturally aware citizens, and skilled travellers who are conscious of the importance of protecting the environment. In Year 1 the activities were mainly introductory as partners became aware of what the project was about. The outcomes of the first year reflected this, and included a “Cultural Equivalency” task; a “Green Dictionary” task; a National Parks/Rural Tourism brochure; a list of “Travellers' Dos and Don’ts”; a logo design; a website and an Erasmus corner etc. In Year 2 of the project, individual partners worked closely with a hotel in its region. Through this collaboration, students were able to take a closer look at environmental issues and problems caused by tourists and the tourism infrastructure. The partner hotels were investigated to identify ways in which they were trying to adopt green principles, for example, using energy saving light bulbs, recycling, reducing water consumption, improving energy efficiency and implementing other environmentally friendly ideas. The principal task for Year 3 was the production of a Tourist Information Pack, which asked students to gather information about Algeria. Subsequent activities involved creating a Marketing Plan, an Eco-Tourism Package Tour Itinerary for Algeria and a Promotional Package. Cooperation with other schools helped us create a European model of education which contributed to our students’ understanding of the European community. The project also provided an opportunity for parents and the wider communities to actively engage with our schools and to become more conscious of the European dimension of education and pedagogy. At the same time, the project helped them enrich their understanding of the cultural and economic impacts of tourism. Overall, this partnership helped improve ourselves as individuals and as institutions, while at the same time contributing to the internationalisation of education. The project had tangible and intangible results: students enjoyed new experiences, acquired new skills, improved their knowledge and encountered new learning techniques. New teaching resources have been developed and shared between partners and students from different cultural backgrounds have had the opportunity to work together. The project outcomes are a measure of the extent to which the project has contributed to the learning experiences of those involved and to the quality of education being offered in their schools. The partnership had a positive impact on the participating institutions by building a community of teachers and students who had a strong commitment to, and sense of ownership of the project. By effectively disseminating the activities and the results of the project, our wider communities – stakeholders, parents, hotels etc – also benefitted from the partnership, and these benefits will have a long-term impact, thanks to the website, teaching materials and other resources which have been created.