The Partnership consists of six schools from different European countries: Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Italy. Participating students ranging from 6 to 18 years (from the primary school up to the end of High School with various vocational and technical qualifications, from Hotel Management and Catering School to the Technological Institute, therefore our project is vertically designed). Most partner schools have previous experience in Comenius projects, from which teachers have benefited both professionally and personally and are highly motivated to work collectively in Europe. All teachers share common problems and objectives: the recovery of pupils at risk of dropping out of school, with poor basic skills that preclude on one hand all chances of success in further study, on the other hand the access to occupations which the type of qualification or diploma could instead allow them to. Studies and research show how important it is to interest in advance children, adolescents, in the idea of higher education and bring them closer to the idea of the work and the work itself. The project therefore will focus on providing students with the skills for their future, making use of experiences already established in some schools, the development of innovation and the transfer of good practices in the field of education between the participating schools.The Project aims to develop a course of education centred on the improvement of basic skills and training, aimed at the knowledge, study in depth and enhancement, in Europe, of a specific local food product, a traditional one with reference to the territory of individual schools.The project activities will be aimed at:- Improving the basic skills of students in the Language skills, in Science, Mathematics and digital skills- Self-directing the students with little motivation to study and with some difficulty in recognizing their skills from which to draw then a right choice for the future; helping them overcome the discomfort in not understanding the reason why they study.- Developing themes present in school curricula with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, integrating teaching with practical workshops based on specific contexts and real problems- Improving the knowledge of one’s own territory through collaboration with external stakeholders- Directing their attention to know the work in the context of local food chains in the EU;- Strengthening the awareness of the role that environmental, scientific and cultural components can have in the enhancement and competitiveness of food products;- Contributing to the creation and strengthening of European networks based on greater mutual knowledge of the different identities , agricultural traditions and local food.The route will be structured through specific action steps: 1) identification and knowledge of local food product; 2) research and analysis of the components of cultural, scientific, environmental and economic issues related to the food product chosen;3) creation of a promotional campaign that will find its conclusion in the event of European quality food "I eat a masterpiece", where individual schools present and promote their local food products.Cooperative learning, experiences of observation, the lab teaching method, discussions, alternating individual, collective and in small group learning will form the methodological background for all project activities to learn in depth, so that the learner is able to make use of the knowledge in the different contexts of use. Among the concrete results we point out: a Manual, knowledge basis of the food product identified by schools, accompanied by research and photos; the Diary in the students’ native language and a synthesis in English ; paper and digital documentation of educational courses held by teachers as an example of good practices; creation of a platform for the dissemination, Videos, DVDs, promotional material, press articles in native language and English.The project will also aim to create links between the local and European schools, between schools and businesses in the food industry for a wider impact and so that it continues over the two years of the project being that in the mutual interest of the stakeholders. The progress and commitment will be closely monitored in order to measure the impact on attitudes towards learning and relevance of the key skills for training and future employment.
The Partnership consisted of six schools from different European countries: Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Italy. Most of the partner schools had previous experience in European projects, however all shared common goals and were highly motivated to work collectively in the KA2 Partnerships for schools of the Erasmus plus program. Our Project was a vertical one, entitled “Green Skills for Social Agriculture” and held as its main target to develop skills and competences among students belonging to the age range between 6 and 18 that is, primary to upper secondary level. The main focus was to prevent students’ early school leaving, providing them motivation for studying, basic skills improvement, and links between primary and secondary education in order to encounter some ways for their future studies. Throughout our partnership, we were exposed to traditional local food products, with reference linked to each country’s territory, namely the apple from the project coordinator school in Diósd, Hungary, the grapes from Sandanski, Bulgaria, the olives from Volterra in the Tuscany region of Italy, the oranges from Seville, Spain, the honey from Oradea, Romania and the mastic from Athens, Greece. Valuable knowledge has been gained by each participant exploring and analyzing the food product’s cultural, scientific, ecological and economic components, getting acquainted with associations of local producers, studying ways of sustainable cultivation and agricultural traditions and participating in a wide range of activities, exchanging eating customs and organizing cooking workshops, particularly enjoying the cultural aspect and presentation of every local food. The project activities aimed at improving the basic skills of students mainly in Literacy, Maths, Science, Foreign Languages and ICT. One of our main objectives was to encourage all students to participate, either with low motivation or learning difficulties, providing them the opportunity to gain self-esteem and recognition among their classmates as well as overcoming their discomfort for usually being ‘not present’. For the topics and activities chosen by all partners upon agreement were used interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methods and cross curricular approaches, integrating teaching with practical workshops based on specific context and thematic areas. Our first encounters with the local chosen products and their territory background history came from various sources, while collaboration with stakeholders, promotion and worldwide dissemination of their valuable properties, enhanced our knowledge and drew our attention to aspects totally new to us, strengthening our awareness of the role that environmental, scientific and cultural components play in the enhancement and competitiveness of agriculture. The first short term goal of the project was the identification and knowledge of each product. An in depth analysis followed with research into the components of cultural, scientific, environmental and economic issues related to the food product, culminating in the creation of a promotional campaign through various forms of media for the closing event of the European quality food festival held in Sandanski, where individual schools presented and promoted their local chosen products using the creative ideas and innovative ways that they had worked on throughout the second year of the project. During the two- year expansion of the project, the students worked each time, either for a set of goals through various creative activities or for every mobility’s specific planned workshops e.g. logo competition, conducting surveys and video conferences, interviewing stakeholders, carrying out promotional campaigns or making educational field trips. They worked both individually on a local level and in cooperation, networking with their partners on site or during their scheduled mobilities, exchanging opinions and good practices. Dissemination of our work was of utmost importance throughout the two years starting from the local level of the schools, for students and parent community, extending it to the municipality as well as the educational authorities before going public with press interviews with stakeholders as well as with radio commercials and shows on a national level through the media. The project’s expected outcome however, beyond the wealth of benefits it brought to everyone involved, is continuity, well after its two-year duration which can be achieved with the creation of links between local and European schools as well as between schools and organizations that share a mutual interest in our topic. The school community planned and organized activities leading to the realization of products -in recorded (videos, radio shows, commercial spot, song) or digital form (e-books/photo albums) aiming at a wider impact outside the local environment and setting the grounds for sustainability.