SAFE is a partnership project between four schools situated in Spa towns that, through cooperation and sharing of good practices, aims to develop a cultural sustainability, which is an essential goal for the future of our planet and has a priority value because of the tourist vocation of the context in which the partner schools operate. The project will involve about 450 students (aged 9-12) and about 50 teachers. It calls for participation of about 80 parents and some Professors from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, which have volunteered to cooperate. Top professionals will share their expertise in: planning, project implementation, results dissemination, monitoring and evaluating processes, networking, cooperative working, treating students with Special Education Needs, using digital devices/environments and knowledge of the English Language. The project requires 3 teacher meeting (24 people per meeting), 4 student meetings (44 students and 8 accompanying teachers per meeting). SAFE aims to: - Develop key competencies of students, especially in digital competency and English-language competency; - Inspire initiative, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills and, in an embryonic form, Entrepreneurship Competence; - Support a systemic and cooperative approach to the issues of sustainability and environmental heritage protection; - Promote long-distance collaborations made possible by the opportunities offered by digital devices and environments. The project also aims to raise the level of knowledge and skills of teachers on issues related to sustainability, use of digital resources in teaching practice and use of English. SAFE hopes to empower school inclusiveness, using collaborative practices, the value of personal attitudes and abilities, and the acceptance of diversity as an improvement factor. Project Outcomes: 1) Organization of Sustainable Tourism Weeks “STWs” realized in the partner Countries during the student meetings and told through the use of a digital diary. The “STWs” will focus on the promotion of the territory of the receiving school: through a 5-day program, students will undertake 5 different sustainability itineraries (folkloristic, naturalistic, cultural, thermal, and gastronomic) making use of prearranged digital contents accessible through qr code; 2) Production of video tutorials in order to illustrate good practices of circular economy and sustainable consumption (re-use, recycling, transformation, etc); 3) Realization of digital storytelling in order to promote locations, events and products in order to widen students’ entrepreneurial skills; 4) Creation of a website that can be consulted in English and in the languages of the partner Countries. This website will contain sections for the eco-news, photo gallery, product portfolio, archive of good practices, forum for debates and exchange of experiences. Project SAFE hopes to contribute to the development of schools and the qualification of their educational syllabus by influencing in particular: - The improvement and value of teachers; - The betterment of quality education; - The encouraging of cultural diversity; - The interest, the participation, the diligence, the autonomy and the metacognitive skills of the students; - The quality of collaboration and active European Citizenship; - The internationalization of schools. Project SAFE hopes to continue its course even after its formal ending. It has faith that its purposes will live on and expand through various actions inspired by this work and aimed at the same common goals. This will be undertaken through the use of a database on the website that will allow for future developments. All the products realized (tutorials, storytelling examples, materials and documents reporting the “STWs”) will be available on Twinspace and on the website in OER (Open Educational Resources) mode; their free access will facilitate the repeatability and scalability of the initiatives. After that, it will be also possible to create a digital learning platform, using open access resources and modular programming, for the sharing of new models, materials, experiences etc. This will be an important tool for the sustainability and for the expansion of the present project, through new contents, initiatives, forms of cooperation and of co-construction of experiences.
SAFE is a partnership project among three schools located in Spa towns, carried out for the purpose of developing cultural sustainability, which is an essential goal for the future of our planet and has a priority value because of the tourist vocation of the context in which the partner schools operate. The project has involved about 350 students attending the 5th and 6th year of compulsory education (aged 9-12) and about 50 teachers; it has called for participation of about 80 parents and a Professor from University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. The leading professionals have shared their expertise in: planning, project implementation, results dissemination, monitoring and evaluating processes, networking, cooperative working, inclusion of students with Special Education Needs, using digital devices/environments and knowledge of the English language. During the development of the project, three training events for all the teachers involved have been organised, the last of them, carried out in virtual mode, has allowed the participation of a number of students far greater than that which physical mobility would have made possible. SAFE has aimed at: - developing key competences of students, with particular regard to digital and English language competences; - inspiring spirit of initiative, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills and, in an embryonic form, entrepreneurial competence; - supporting the acquisition of a systemic and cooperative approach to the issues of sustainability and environmental heritage protection; - promoting the ability to cooperate remotely, thanks to the opportunities offered by digital devices and environments. The project has also aimed at raising the level of knowledge and skills of teachers on issues related to sustainability, use of digital resources in teaching practice and use of the English language. SAFE has tried to empower school inclusiveness, through the use of collaborative practices, the enhancement of personal attitudes and abilities, and the acceptance of diversity as an enrichment factor. SAFE has achieved the following Project Outcomes: 1) Organization of Sustainable Tourism Weeks “STWs” realized in the partner Countries during the students’ meetings and told in a digital diary. The “STWs” have focused on the promotion of the territory where the schools participating in the project are located. Through a program based on approximately one week of work, students have undertaken 5 different sustainability itineraries (folkloristic, naturalistic, cultural, thermal, and gastronomic); during all the itineraries some digital contents, accessible through QR code and arranged by the students before the mobility events, have been used; 2) Production of video tutorials in order to illustrate good practices of circular economy and sustainable consumption (re-use, recycling, transformation, etc); 3) Realization of digital storytelling in order to promote locations, events and products and to initiate students towards entrepreneurial skills; 4) Creation of a website available in English and in the languages of the partner Countries containing sections for eco-news, photo gallery, product portfolio, archive of good practices. The Project SAFE has certainly contributed to the development and qualification of the schools through an impact influencing in particular: - the enrichment of teachers’ professionalism; - the acquisition of competences related to the issues of sustainability and environmental heritage protection; - the improvement of quality education; - the enhancement of diversity; - the interest, the participation, the commitment, the autonomy and the metacognitive skills of the students; - the quality of collaboration and active European Citizenship; - the internationalization of schools. It is hoped that the project SAFE will continue its course even after its formal ending and that the project idea will live on and expand through further actions aimed at the same common goals. This evolving vision seems plausible if we consider that all the products collected during the project have merged into a database of the website, giving opportunities for future developments. Moreover, all the products realized (tutorials, storytelling examples, materials and documents reporting the “STWs”) are available on the website in OER (Open Educational Resources) mode; their free access will facilitate the repeatability and scalability of the initiatives. Furthermore, it will be possible to create a digital platform based on open access development techniques and modular programming architectures, which can be used to share additional models, materials, experiences etc. This will be an important tool of sustainability and of extension of the project SAFE, through new contents, new initiatives, new forms of cooperation and of co-construction of experiences.