In a world increasingly being dominated by a globalised and uniform culture, we wonder whether European young people are aware of sharing values and a heritage with deep roots in the past. Are they aware of the fact that they are European? How do they envision their future in Europe? Currently many mobilities are developed but it is crucial that in the education of young people the following aspects should be boosted such as an initiation trip (to know the world to know yourself), the immersion experience, emotional intelligence to broaden their cultural knowledge and personal fulfilment, and last but not least, the collaboration with other European schools. The Project Erasmus + “New Ulysses: In Search of the Lost Common Heritage”, in which 3 schools are involved, Rezé (France), Catanzaro (Italy), and Albacete (Spain) shows that these schools share similar needs and goals in their educational environment and which complement each other, being able to contribute with didactic approaches and resources to the rest of members, creating a broad network of mutual sharing and European cooperation. It includes three short-term mobilities (10 students from each country) and three long-term ones which will last two months (5 students) but 600 students in addition to families, official bodies and local companies. Each of these mobilities are titled NEW ULYSSES IN SEARCH OF 10 TRACES IN... (France, Italy or Spain). Just like Ulysses who undertakes a journey which provides him with great personal values, our young people will follow an itinerary to discover the European Heritage as well as shared values and its own European essence. In each mobility 10 traces of the European heritage will be analysed (natural elements or landscapes, monuments, archaeological remains, legends, folklore, the Mediterranean diet, occupations that are being lost, literary and artistic productions, and so on). Those traces will be discovered and spread by groups of students using new technologies, practising languages and motivating and creative activities. For instance, webquests will be used (an enquiry-oriented lesson from a web) so that they will take an interest in some heritage curiosities. They will also create a model or a virtual map using Thinglink. Visits, conferences will take place as well as workshops to design T-shirts or fabric bags using visual arts to disseminate their work and develop creativity. Other resources to show the traces of the European heritage will be the use of Prezi (presentations), the creation of a touristic guide e-book format, Padlet (a virtual bulletin board of ideas) or Pixton (tools to create comics). Among the activities that will be carried out exhibitions in libraries and official bodies have been included. They will be about the products and results of our work so that we will be able to spread the European values, among other outreaching activities, in this way the project will have a local, national and European impact. Among mobilities the students will carry out activities fulfilling collaborative documents using eTwinning, Twinspace and other platforms and the project visibility will be disseminated over time in networks, blogs as well as websites. The intention of our project is to enable our young people to appreciate the European heritage, developing attitudes of respect for it, making them aware of its value and of the fact that they are European. Based on that knowledge, they will improve the acquisition of basic competences as well as cultural and social skills. Concerning the resources that will be used to address the Heritage issue, we can say that they will come from the new technologies and new communicative approaches in education that will provide them with the motivation and interest for the knowledge and dissemination of the European heritage. These three pillars address the European priorities and the needs of the three schools in which some difficulties have been observed. That is to say, in the knowledge about Europe and an opening-up towards it, in the acquisition of key competences in which low values are obtained because of students´ discouragement or due to the fact that some schools are located in less-favoured regions and are away from large cities. Finally, students might find difficulties in the use of new technologies that make people move away from the knowledge of their environment, to become a part of a globalised community, underestimating its great potential in the educational field. Apart from these similarities, we should enhance how the three schools complement one another concerning technological resources, approaches and diverse contributions of the heritage close to them, as well as their experience in European initiatives. The Italian school is staffed by teachers who frequently use eTwinning, being one of the teachers, an eTwinning ambassador and the French school has never taken part in this kind of initiatives.
In a world increasingly dominated by a globalised and uniform culture, are young Europeans aware of sharing values and heritage rooted in the past? Are they aware that they are European? The Erasmus+ Project "New Ulyses: In search of the Common European Heritage" has brought together 3 schools, from Rezé (France), Catanzaro (Italy) and Albacete (Spain) with similar needs and objectives in their educational context but which have complemented and enriched each other with new didactic approaches, resources and a close European collaboration in the study of European Heritage He has carried out 14 long-term mobilities (6 French, 4 Spanish and 4 Italian between 16 and 18 years have studied for 2 months in Spain, France and Italy) and 2 short-term mobilities of 1 week for groups of 16 students (spanish, french and italian) in France and Spain. A third short-term mobility to Italy has been cancelled 2 weeks before the trip due to Covid-19 but the virtual communication through the associated E-Twinning has made it possible to meet the initial objectives of the project. Each of these mobilities has been called NEW ULYSES IN SEARCH OF 10 FOOTPRINTS IN FRANCE/ITALY/SPAIN. Just as Ulyses takes a journey that brings great personal values, so our young people have completed an itinerary to discover European Heritage, shared values and their own European essence. In each mobility we have analyzed 10 traces of European heritage (natural elements or landscapes, monuments, archaeological vestiges, legends, folklore, Mediterranean diet, trades that are being lost, artistic and literary productions, etc.). These footprints are discovered and disseminated using new technologies, practicing languages and with motivating and creative activities: games of tracks on the Internet, models or virtual Thinglink maps as well as visits, talks, T-shirt design workshops using plastic arts applications, resources to show the traces of the European heritage such as Prezi presentations, creation of e-book tourist guides , padlet idea walls, Pixton comics, etc. Activities have included exhibitions in libraries and official structures to show the products and results of our work in order to disseminate the European values of belonging to Europe, with which the project has a local, national and European impact. Between the periods of mobilities, students also progress in the New Ulyses project with collaborative documents using eTwinning, Twinspace and other platforms and their visibility will be extended in networks, blogs, web pages, etc... With our Project, young people have reflected more on European Heritage and have developed attitudes of respect for it in order to value it, the awareness that they are European has been stirred up in them, the acquisition of basic competences and social skills has been improved and the use of new technologies for learning and communication has been developed. These 3 axes respond to European priorities and to the needs of the 3 centres where difficulties are observed: in the knowledge of Europe and in its openness towards it; in the acquisition of key competences where they score with low levels due to demotivation of the students and/or because the schools are located in disadvantaged regions and far from large cities; and finally difficulties in the use made of new technologies by young people, which makes them move away from the knowledge of their own environment, to integrate only into a globalized community, underestimating their great potential in the educational field. Despite the Covid 19 effect, which has arrived in the 3 last months of life of our project and which has prevented us from carrying out the last mobility to Italy, the results and impact of NEW ULYSES are and will be very positive.