In this period of great global climate and environment instability, the role of education within society has never been more important. This brings us to our project theme, which references this vital and significant efforts to be made in both educational systems and the individual students and teachers, as well as the necessary resilience needed to not only survive, but also thrive. As our project title states, schools have to face challenges and offer strategies and paths to provide students with alternative viewpoints and attitudes to cope with them. Although all partner countries belong to the European Union and a globalised society and have similar ecological aspects to face, each country has chosen the most relevant and urgent aspect for its country and for its school respectively. - Energy and resources; Lithuania - Clothing and footwear ; Belgium - Mobility; transport and travel; Quatre Cantons - Food and beverage; Hungary - Sustainable tourism : Greece All the aspects chosen are of social character and belong to civic education and we will deal with them following the basics of strategic planning: Understanding the problem Contextualizing the problem Intervening in the problem. These steps constitute action strategies to reach the main goal of the project: sensibilising, acquiring criteria and positively acting in relation to the social challenges dealt with. By following the methodology of strategic planning, each of these strategic actions are divided into dissemination and educational activities, implementation indicators and impact indicators. Therefore, and in spite of dealing with different aspect, the whole project aims at teaching secondary school students to discuss issues affecting the youth in their communities as well as explore, learn and discuss issues related to the practice of civic engagement. It seeks to develop their skills in communication, debating and critical thinking and engage them into interacting with members of each other’s communities through the following possible interventions: workshops, arts, citizen journalism, outdoor learning, etc. It further seeks to create a motivational environment for young people’s interaction and mutual exchange of best practices. The proposed Project's objectives are as follows: • Developing or improving the level of key competencies and skills of young people necessary for active citizenship and participation in life of their respective countries; • Creating an environment conducive of young people’s interaction and mutual exchange of experiences – through a variety of activities including workshops, case writing projects as well as games, role-plays, discussions, debates, collaborative activities, as well as informal interaction in the free time; • Providing young people with an opportunity to discuss issues affecting their lives in their respective countries and their communities as well as to share the best practices of their interests articulation and convincing the policy makers and/or decision-makers in their point of view; • Establish contacts and interact with members of each other’s communities through the following possible interventions • To develop sustainable partnerships and networks which will lead to future cooperation and future projects.
The whole project aimed at reaching three main goals or objectives: 1. Raising awareness in our young people of each environmental issue providing them with an opportunity to develop their understanding and discuss it affecting their lives in their respective countries and their communities. 2. Providing and acquiring criteria to intervene, through a variety of activities including workshops, case writing projects as well as games, role-plays, discussions, debates and collaborative activities. 3. Positively acting, thus developing and improving the level of key competencies and skills of young people necessary for active and committed citizenship and participation in the life of their respective countries. Thus, through these objectives we wanted to teach our secondary school students to discuss issues affecting the youth in their communities as well as explore, learn and discuss issues related to the practice of environmental issues and civic engagement. At the same time, the objectives sought to develop their skills in communication, debating and critical thinking and engage them into interacting with members of each other's communities.
In this period of great global environmental and climate change, the role of education within society has never been more important. This brings us to our project theme, which references these changes in both educational systems and the individual students and teachers, as well as the necessary resilience needed to not only survive, but also thrive for sustainable development and better future. Thus, having in mind the role of education in this matter, we agreed that schools must face environmental changes and offer strategies and paths to provide students with alternative viewpoints and attitudes to cope with them. This is the main reason why we decided to design a project which aimed at dealing with such issues and offer activities to raise awareness and offer strategies to put into practice. As all partner countries belong to the European Union and a globalized society, we have similar environmental issues to face and sustainability has become a cross-curricular priority. In this respect, several relevant and urgent areas of study were identified and each country was in charge to raise awareness in students to make them understand the value of adopting a more sustainable way of living. The defined areas were the following: - Clothing and footwear : Belgium - Food and beverage: Hungary - Sustainable tourism : Greece - Mobility; transport and travel: Spain - Energy and resources: Lithuania