After the standstill and perceived paralysis during the Covid-19 pandemic, we hoped participants would realize through personal encounters and practical projects that their commitment to cohesion in Europe can make a difference on a wide variety of levels: in the area of maintaining peace, mutual consideration and acceptance of responsibility, political participation, protection of the environment and sustainability. We wanted to create awareness of our shared European values and the strength we can develop in collaborative, intercultural work. In doing so, we also aimed for new enjoyment of the foreign languages to be learned (mainly English and Spanish) and a strengthening of digital skills.
We've been conducting Erasmus+ projects for several years. Our students are so enthusiastic about Erasmus that they inspire younger students to also want to be a part of the projects. We are a city school and teach numerous children who have many siblings and are from different migration backgrounds. Since the political unity and peace in Europe was shaken by the Ukraine war, we welcomed quite a few refugees at our school. The war shows how essential it is to help our children understand the importance of European cohesion and the values of the EU. The climate crisis is worsening and during the pandemic we additionally experienced a feeling of impotence. What is more, people were forced to retreat to digital tools and remain in the closest family circus. All this motivated us to do a project where the participants had to actively engage with each other and could realize that everyone of them could make a difference regarding the strengthening of the community, assuming responsibility and protecting the environment. Even though we can only make small steps in such short projects we know: every step counts! And we experienced a new enthusiasm of active participation in our school community.