The countries involved in the project have developed mass tourism in strategic geographical areas – coastal cities and capital cities. However, alternative forms of tourism have not been developed enough in the often economically deprived mainland areas, the potential of which is enormous. These regions have rich cultural heritage either in the form of landmarks, intangible cultural heritage ( UNESCO list), customs, old crafts or traditional gastronomy. Even the students who live in these regions are not completely familiar with that. It is necessary to carry out this project to make all students of the participating schools aware and proud of their own cultural heritage and that of other countries, in order to preserve it, pass it on to new generations, share it with others and help develop the regions they live in. If they appreciate it, they will be able to develop a sustainable approach to it. Being proud of our roots and home region, however, should not mean staying isolated from the rest of the world. That's why this Erasmus + project focuses on cooperation and exchange. This collaborative work has started with an eTwinning project called STEP. When working on the eTwinning project STEP, we noticed that, for some places, it was difficult to find resources about what our regions offer in terms of tourism in English or in any other foreign language, online or at the tourist information center. Therefore we decided to focus on the attractiveness of our region: cultural heritage, agro-tourism, sustainability... . We would like to carry on dealing with the question of sustainable and responsible tourism in depth, by organizing field activities, as close as possible to the realities and opportunities of each partner’s region. Each partner, when hosting a transnational mobility, will have his heart set on sharing the cultural wealth of his region, on presenting his expertise on the selected sub-subjects, in order to enrich the perspectives of his guests. The latters, on the other hand, will complete this approach by submitting ideas and ways of improvement from their own experience and their creativity. It is our intention to take a practical and concrete approach to the topic. Therefore the project provides a framework for cooperation and the possibility of direct contact on several levels: students work out the content together, teachers optimize their pedagogical knowledge and the public is informed through publications, presentations, exhibitions, etc. The subtopics (inclusion, cultural heritage, sustainability, entrepreneurship) the project deals with, will benefit the students by offering them higher awareness of their local opportunities, motivation for languages, opening to others (from different countries or handicapped people), and by contributing to the European common values, making them responsible, open-minded and resourceful citizens. We also want to promote European awareness and make the students realize that being part of a society depends on being flexible, understanding different cultures, mastering foreign languages and being prepared for learning / working in cooperation. We want to help students who do not have the means to travel to visit other countries and get to know other people and cultures so that we can challenge stereotypes and break down barriers. We also want to encourage language learning and communication competences. In this project, we want the students to understand that they can be actors, and engage themselves in a society and as a challenge, they can take an active part in building a career, shaping their future in a Europe which is becoming ever more global. We want to strengthen the link between school education, local environment and working world, connecting general and vocational schools in the project, and also strengthening the student's self esteem and socio-emotional skills. We want to inspire students to take actions improving their attainment at school, feel more included into our education system as well as in the society, and thus reduce the risk of early school leaving. The project results will help imagine, develop and advertise the tourism potential of the partners’ areas for alternative tourists, hoping all this would lead to help economic growth and higher opportunities for our students, also taking into consideration the preservation of the environment.
The Erasmus+ STEP+ project (Sustainable Tourism Erasmus+ Project) is the continuation of the etwinning STEP project, dedicated to sustainable tourism. For three years, it enabled students and teacher teams from four European schools (Croatia, France, Italy, Poland) to collaborate on topics related to sustainable development and entrepreneurship in the field of sustainable tourism. The schools in the partner countries are situated in different geographical surroundings, in order to adapt the reflection to the diverse reality of the territories: a mid-mountain town (Champagnole), a historic town (Bergamo), a medium-sized town of a rural region (Slavonski Brod), and a medium-sized town in an industrial territory (Jelcz Laskowice). Four major themes were discussed: the issues of climate change in the partner regions, and in particular in the context of the economy of a mid-mountain ski resort (transnational meeting in Champagnole); the need to preserve cultural heritage, a real tourist asset and indicator of our regional identities (transnational meeting in Slavonski Brod); raising awareness of the inclusion of people with disabilities, with the issue of accessibility to tourist sites (transnational meeting in Jelcz Laskowice); entrepreneurship in sustainable tourism, and the importance of marketing (transnational meeting in Bergamo). The approach consisted in alternating research time on the topics covered, time for remote discussions (via the eTwinning platform and videoconferences) or face-to-face (transnational meetings), and time for collaborative work (via digital tools or in physical mobilities). The participants were thus made aware of the challenges of sustainable development, through an active and collaborative approach. The activities carried out emphasized creativity, interdisciplinarity, introduction to the codes of promotion and marketing (creation of slogans, video clips, logos, promotion on social networks, etc.) The productions were varied: oral presentations, slideshows, models, collaborative dictionary, recipe book, quiz, logos, videos, commercials…. The participants therefore strengthened their cultural openness and tolerance (on their own heritage, and on that of their European counterparts), their spirit of citizenship (preservation of the environment, increased attention to disability issues), and their language skills (mainly in English, but also in the national languages of the project). Through simulations of mini-enterprises, they were introduced to entrepreneurship, and encouraged to consider the cultural and natural heritage of their respective regions as valid tourist attractions, which need to be preserved.