The partnership of the ‘Let’s Move!’ project members was established in a networking seminar, TCA Education for Democratic Citizenship in Erasmus+ School Exchange (18.-21.10.2018), in Germany. The contact seminar (TCA) was aimed at school leaders and teachers planning to apply for an Erasmus+ School Exchange Partnership and looking for partner schools. Sport and physical education was a topic that drew in the partners of the project at hand, and very soon a joint interest and views were established, and thus a group was set up. The six participants of the ˋLet’s Move!’ project are Grundschule Dürrenzimmern (Germany), Volksschule Graz-Gabelsberger (Austria), ’ecole Albert Wingert (Luxembourg), Stichting voor Openbaar Voortgezet Onderwijs van Wageningen en Omstreken (The Netherlands), Perttilän koulu (Finland) and St Joan Antide School (Malta). A link from the northern part of Europe to the South of Europe crossing the continent was created. Meetings will be held in each school with group of visiting teachers and pupils. The pupils participating this project will be of mixed ages, varying from 6 to 14 years of age. This was a point agreed upon at the early stages of planning the project. The cooperation between primary and secondary schools is an unique feature. We think that more cooperation between primary and secondary schools is needed and hope to share the experiences with other teachers. The participating schools differ from each other as well: a school located in the city, in the countryside, in the suburban area, a Montessori school, an all-day school, and a school of inter-year classes. The schools have different concepts, and the children attending these schools have a variety of different cultural, religious, social and economic backgrounds. There are also students with special needs, demands and challenges. Contents and activities for the project were developed already at the seminar. Partnering the project there are schools that have previously been involved in a Strategic Partnership project as well as schools that haven’t. The partners who are already familiar with the bureaucracy involved in the project will be able to tutor and guide the inexperienced partners. ‘Let’s Move!’ will be managed democratically in the spirit of the project’s key theme. Germany (Grundschule Dürrenzimmern) will act as the project coordinator while the other members will have their responsibilities that have been decided on together. A group page and a project journal have been created on eTwinning platform which acts as the main communication platform throughout the project. Each school is represented by a managing teacher or teachers. They will be responsible for making sure that all necessary information is available to school staff and pupils, for keeping up the agreed schedule of the project, and for documenting the project development on eTwinning. It should be emphasized that the project is carried out by the teachers and pupils together. The project objectives are increasing movement and pupil’s activity during the school day, promoting a healthy lifestyle, learning about different European cultures, and developing and strengthening the concept of democracy through sports, games and activities, especially. The impact of this project should be that the participants have learned about other European cultures, learned to make choices that lead to healthier life, and that these choices are part of the families lives, too. The concept of democracy should be understood and experienced by the participants through various activities and participation in democratic decision making. Movement, exercise and activity should be an integral and natural part of every pupil’s school day. Visiting different schools will be an amazing opportunity to learn and make contacts. The long term benefits are that the children will lead healthier lives in the future, they will become part-taking and active citizens, individuals with contacts around Europe, first-hand knowledge about different cultures, and active and motivated attitude towards learning. The activities introduced in this project are those that increase daily movement, special events and happenings and the concrete products of the project. Planning school days so that movement is encouraged, choosing physical and active ways of learning, including games, activities into classes increase daily movement. ‘Green Month’, ‘The Olympic Games’, ‘Chess Tournament’, ‘Collecting Kilometres to Meet My Friends’ are happenings in which pupils learn together to achieve set goals, and learn about joint decision making and democracy in reality in creating and voting for ‘Let’s Move!’ logo and ‘Clapping Game’. A book of healthy recipes and a book of Europe will be the end products together with a survey about healthy lifestyle and exercise done in the beginning and in the end of the project. The survey will present data about the participants’ attitudes and habits.
Our motivation to carry out a project with a focus on movement and democracy remained the same throughout the project. In the course of the project, the aspect of healthy nutrition slipped somewhat into the background, although this was certainly also due to the pandemic. During the school closures, which affected each country for a different length of time, the schools were no longer able to influence the children's diet except through tips via email or tips via an online conference. All schools have tried to steadily increase the amount of guided physical activity time during the project and all participants plan to maintain this increased physical activity time after the project ends. All schools have noticed a positive effect on the pupils' motivation to learn and their performance. The topic of democracy has also been increased in all schools through increased participation of the pupils in processes that affect them. For example, there is an increase in voting on certain issues. The communication between the pupils of the different schools during the mobilities worked excellently, but also the pupils of the schools where there were only teachers came into an exchange with their colleagues from the different countries. Through the videos of the different schools, a bond developed between the pupils. In this way they got to know each other, they saw each other's schools and thus experienced a living Europe. The pupils got to know Europe as something very positive, were able to develop their geographical knowledge and learnt new sports games that they can also take to the next schools. All participating schools have planned to continue to maintain some kind of Olympic day. All participating schools have now incorporated more guided physical activity time in their schools and are trying to make further progress here. Democracy lessons are also taken very seriously in the participating schools and are carried out with different means depending on the grade level. The lessons we have developed together are also used as a basis for further lesson ideas. The project's sports games book has given the children at the various schools further ideas about which sports they might like to try. The clappings are used in the schools for various occasions. Likewise, the pupils are now greeted in the different countries in the languages of the participating schools. Friendships have developed between teachers from the individual schools that will last beyond the project. Some schools are thinking about school partnerships beyond the project in order to stay in touch at school as well.