The project "Social Inclusion Through Environment" was founded after teachers in partner's schools realised the need for their pupils to be better concerned by two main issues - social inclusion and environmental awareness. For a few years, our schools have woken up to pupils with learning difficulties and fewer opportunities as well as the arrival of migrants all over Europe. Moreover, the environmental awareness is not enough pronounced in our daily lives even if this topic is part of the European educational programs. As a consequence, all European pupils and teachers have to face the same situations. We noticed that our four schools could do better to improve today's situation by suggesting innovative actions. The objectives of the project are mainly: - teach our pupils how to be more tolerant and more united in the differences, - learn new innovative methods and good practices of social inclusion, - discover new possibilities of environmental protection, - help our pupils better understand European citizenship, - make European citizens with knowledge and skills needed, - communicate in English, - improve digital skills by using ICT methods. The project will be undertaken for two years with the four partner countries Denmark, Germany, France and France and will include two mobilities per year including between 8 and 11 pupils (aged 14 to 18) and two teachers of each school. The four schools are all different, but want to achieve the same goals. It is precisely the diversity of the two types of school that offers a great opportunity, as the younger pupils can learn from the older pupils and vice versa the older pupils can benefit from the new ideas of the younger students. From the experience of past projects between the schools, this aspect in particular has become apparent. In order to do this, we will organise several and different activities in each country. In Germany, the participants will learn how to use the "Day of Integration" as an opportunity to promote social integration through languages. They also will get an insight in the German extensive recycling principle inside and outside the school. In France, we will set up a workshop to write our international charter in which pupils and teachers will undertake actions to preserve environment. We want to show partner countries how to link inclusion and protection of environment by visiting a bike centre which works also in partnership with a organisation whose purpose is professional inclusion of migrants. Denmark will focus on the inclusion of many different people including immigrants but also the elderly. Furthermore, here is the focus on young people's involvement on making changes. Slovenia will insist on increasing participants awareness towards social issues, such as including immigrants, foreigners and also people with special needs. They will develop pupils' sense of initiative by exploring our impact on the planet and organising events, where pupils will exchange their no longer used clothes and other accessories. The role of project work will be an essential element: Through the carrying out of activities, the pupils will both learn and work together but also have fun. The first step will be an analysis of our areas which can be more immersive and engaging in inclusion and environment in our schools. Local surveys made by each partner will also help us to analyse and compare statistics. We will use the expertise from each school and external partners and share it with communities and regions. Moreover, workshops will be organised in every mobility. At last, so that the results can be disseminated, we will collect, compile and share information on the TwinSpace platform. Furthermore, headmasters, teachers and pupils will disseminate the results when having meetings with other partners. All of them will make sure that during the project and especially after the project, the results will be shared to other interested and local organisations. After the project, it will be the responsibility for each school to make sure that the benefits will remain visible and usable to pupils and teachers. To ensure that project materials are easily accessed and utilized, the project will be promoted and advertise via regular links to the community through social media, newsletter emails, host school seminars and final presentations. Staff from our schools will be invited to professional development events. The project will be further promoted through national education websites, blogs and TwinSpace. Moreover, as all the work will be done in English, it will give pupils the opportunity to develop their abilities in speaking this language which is the most important to communicate in Europe. We hope that all the activities set up during the project will last and will lead to the carrying out of other actions in the field of inclusion and environmental protection.
The project "Social Inclusion Through Environment" was founded after teachers in partner's schools realised the need for their students to be better concerned by two main issues - social inclusion and environmental awareness. For a few years, our schools have woken up to students with learning difficulties and fewer opportunities as well as the arrival of migrants all over Europe. Moreover, environmental awareness is not stressed enough in our daily lives even if this topic is part of the European educational programs. As a consequence, all European students and teachers have to face the same situations. We noticed that our four schools could do better to improve today's situation by suggesting innovative actions. The objectives of the project are mainly: - teach our students how to be more tolerant and more united concerning differences, - learn new innovative methods and good practices of social inclusion, - discover new possibilities of environmental protection, - help our students better understand European citizenship, - make European citizens with knowledge and skills needed, - communicate in English, - improve digital skills by using ICT methods. The project was undertaken for two years with the four partner countries Denmark, Germany, France and Slovenia and included two mobilities per year with between 8 and 11 students (aged 14 to 18) and two or three teachers of each school. Due to Covid we have applied for a prolongation of one year. The four schools are all different but want to achieve the same goals. It is precisely the diversity of the two types of schools that offers a great opportunity, as the younger students can learn from the older students and vice versa the older students can benefit from the new ideas of the younger students. From the experience of past projects between the schools, this aspect in particular has become apparent. In order to do this, we organised several and different activities in each country. In Germany, the participants have learned how to use the "Day of Integration" as an opportunity to promote social integration through languages. They also got an insight into the German extensive recycling principle inside and outside the school. In France, we set up a workshop to write our international charter in which students and teachers will undertake actions to preserve the environment. We wanted to show partner countries how to link inclusion and protection of the environment by visiting a bike centre which works also in partnership with an organisation whose purpose is professional inclusion of migrants. Denmark focused on the inclusion of many different people including immigrants but also the elderly. Furthermore, there was the focus on young people's involvement on making changes which was evident when we had the poster happening. Slovenia insisted on increasing participants' awareness towards social issues, such as including immigrants, foreigners and also people with special needs. They developed students’ sense of initiative by exploring our impact on the planet and organising events, such as a “thrift shop” event at school. The role of project work was an essential element: Through the carrying out of activities, the students both learned and worked together but also had fun. The first step was an analysis of our areas which could be more immersive and engaging in inclusion and environment in our schools. Local surveys made by each partner helped also to analyse and compare statistics. We used the expertise from each school and external partners and shared it with communities and regions. Moreover, workshops were organised in every mobility. At last, so that the results can be disseminated, we collected, compiled and shared information on digital platforms. Furthermore, headmasters, teachers and students disseminated the results when having meetings with other partners. All of them made sure that during the project and especially after the project, the results were shared to other interested and local organisations. After the project, it was the responsibility for each school to make sure that the benefits will remain visible and usable to students and teachers. Moreover, as all the work was done in English, it gave students the opportunity to develop their abilities in speaking this language which is the most important to communicate in Europe. To ensure that project materials are easily accessed and utilised, the project was promoted and advertised via regular links to the community through social media, newsletter emails, host school seminars and final presentations. Staff from our schools were invited to professional development events. The project was further promoted through national education websites, blogs and the Erasmus+ project results platform. We hope that all the activities set up during the project will last and will lead to the carrying out of other actions in the field of inclusion and environmental protection.