In the context of global warming, we have chosen to build, over two years, this project "young people, guardians of European forests", whose theme is focused on "discovering, promoting and protecting the heritage that the European forests constitute ". Five schools are participating in this project: the Touchard-Washington high school in Mans, France, the secondary and vocational middle school Matías Ramón Martínez de Burguillos in Spain, the national middle school Johannes Honterus de Brasov in Romania, the secondary school of Eleja in Latvia and 2 Geniko Lykeio high school in Rethymnou in Crete. A total of 120 students will participate in these mobilities. They will be aged 14-18 years old, showing an open mind, and motivated to get actively involved in the activities. Students experiencing financial or social integration difficulties, or learning difficulties, will participate in this project which will represent for them a real opportunity to open up to the world and develop their skills. This project will enable students to acquire important skills such as commitment, responsibility, creativity, curiosity, cooperation and the spirit of mutual aid in order to promote the development of a citizen spirit and a European conscience, essential values for these 21st century future adults. The theme of the forest was chosen with the aim of raising students' awareness to the major challenges they are facing and will face. Europe, which has been shaped for thousands of years by agriculture and urbanization, is today one of the few regions in the world whose forest area is increasing. What are these forests? What values do they represent? How are these forests so precious but threatened? Awakening curiosity on these crucial questions, allowing students to answer them and share their discoveries and learnings with their loved ones, their educational communities and more broadly with the general public are some of the objectives of this project. For this, the students will be fully involved in this project. They will be committed in all the different steps of the implementation, always making sure of integrating all of the students, whether they go to mobilities or not. Cooperation and team spirit will be built at group level, within each school but also in the partnership.. The different activities imagined by the five partners are related to the particularities of their respective regions: -The city of Burguillos in Spain being located near five natural reserves classified by UNESCO, is a ressource to give young people the opportunity to learn about the observation of the biodiversity of the forest ecosystem and the impact of preservation choices. -The city of Brasov in Romania, overlooked by the Tampa nature reserve is intimately linked to the forest that surrounds it. It is the setting for many tourist, cultural and artistic activities related to the Forest. -The town of Rethymnou is located in Crete. And, even if the problem of global warming will be found many times at the heart of the project, the geographic location of Rethymnou makes it a place where awareness of its impacts on the forest can be major for all partners . -The city of Le Mans in France is located in a region where the forest is the result of a drastic management. Today and for several years, urban planning choices have tended to enhance this surrounding forest and give it a larger share. Meetings with stakeholders in urban planning will provide essential tools to become a stakeholder in societal choices. -The forest in Latvia is a major economic resource. Thus, the participation of the Elejas high school in the project is an opportunity for the students to discover the human resources of the forest and the need for rational management. The multidisciplinary and practical approach to each of these activities will allow students to work on their creativity and increase their general, scientific and artistic culture, through productions (“biodiversity in Europe” magazine, symbolic trees, articles, etc.) including dissemination (press, internet, open house, etc.) which will help promote the project and our establishments. This project is a great opportunity to fight against dropping out of school by stimulating motivation, by restoring confidence in students thanks to the originality of the approaches, by giving everyone the opportunity to express their potential and talents. It will also help develop in our students an individual and collective awareness of current issues as well as the values of respect and sharing.
Over a period of two and a half years, the EFYK project enabled young Europeans of five different nationalities to build a common culture around the central theme of discovering, promoting and protecting the heritage of European forests. Five schools took part in this project : the Touchard-Washington high school in Mans, France, the secondary and vocational middle school Matías Ramón Martínez de Burguillos in Spain, the national middle school Johannes Honterus de Brasov in Romania, the secondary school of Eleja in Latvia and 2 Geniko Lykeio high school in Rethymnou in Crete. The activities implemented within the framework of this project led these young people, aged between 14 and 18, to develop their capacities for commitment, cooperation and mutual aid, particularly between young people of different nationalities. In this way, a real sense of belonging to the community of the European people could be seen in many of them. Some of these young people had financial or social integration difficulties, or learning difficulties, and their participation in this project was a great opportunity to open up to the world. For all of them, the EFYK project gave the chance to live an experience of sharing and exchange, notably by offering a real immersion in the life of other young Europeans. The forest, in all its aspects, was a unifying theme that aroused curiosity and motivation, leading these young people to become fully and actively involved during and even outside of school time. Several partnerships with external actors have been developed and have enriched the learning both from the point of view of knowledge but also from the point of view of training and orientation opportunities that forests represent. The theme of the forest has also made it possible to raise the pupils' awareness of the major issues they are and will be facing. This project has enabled them to understand the issues at stake, particularly in terms of preserving biodiversity, urbanisation choices, forestry and the exploitation of forest resources. By helping them to better perceive these issues, these young people will probably be better able to respond to them when they have to make choices as citizens. Moreover, the pupils were able to share their learning and to make known the richness of such an Erasmus project through exchanges within the schools, with external partners, with their relatives or more widely with the general public. Each mobility was an opportunity to develop one aspect of the forest in particular and, despite the COVID-19 pandemic which hit in the middle of our project, we managed to implement the 5 planned mobilities by requesting a 6-month extension. In Burguillos, Spain, the mobility gave the young people the opportunity to learn about the biodiversity of the forest ecosystem. The mobility to Rethymnou in Crete, because of its location in the Mediterranean basin, was an opportunity to work on the impacts of global climate change on the forest. The mobility in Le Mans, France, highlighted the importance of informed choices in urban planning and how these choices can enhance the value of forests as a source of well-being and fulfilment for the inhabitants. The meetings with the actors of urban planning also enabled the students to acquire the tools necessary to become involved in the choices of society. As the forest in Latvia is a major economic resource, the participation of Elejas high school in the project was an opportunity for the students to discover the resources that the forest constitutes for mankind and the need for a reasoned management in order to preserve and perpetuate this heritage for the generations to come. The city of Brasov in Romania, overlooked by the Tampa nature reserve, is intimately linked to the forest that surrounds it. This latest mobility was an opportunity to highlight the assets that the forest represents from a tourist, cultural and artistic point of view. The multidisciplinary and practical approach of each of these activities allowed the pupils to work on their creativity and to increase their general, scientific and artistic culture, notably through the productions whose diffusion (press, internet, open doors...) has participated and will continue to participate in the influence of the project and of our schools. Finally, we have seen how much this project has been a source of motivation for the pupils, particularly thanks to the originality of the approaches, giving each one the possibility of expressing their potential and talents. It has allowed us to develop in our students an individual and collective awareness of current issues as well as values of respect and sharing.