Our goals were: increasing the ecological awareness of project participants, motivation to learn among students and teachers, social inclusion of students with special educational needs and fewer opportunities. The mentioned objectives were consistent with the following priorities of the Erasmus+ program: horizontal: environment and combating climate change and social inclusion; sectoral ones: developing key competences, promoting a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning foreign languages, supporting teachers, principals and other educational staff in their professional development. It was the first Erasmus+ project for Polish and Croatian schools, we wanted to gain experience in this area.
We conducted research in partner schools to identify the needs on which we based the project assumptions. We observed the need to increase ecological awareness among target groups in terms of learning how to segregate waste, take care of the environment, re-use materials and save energy and water. We wanted to develop students' key competences such as: developing social skills, communicating in a foreign language, innovation and creativity, and cultural awareness. We believed that by participating in the project, students and teachers would increase their motivation to learn and search for new solutions. We saw the need for students with special educational needs and fewer opportunities to participate in the project to strengthen their sense of self-esteem and belonging to the school and local community. We also wanted to promote equality and counteract discrimination. We believed that cooperation in an international group would have a positive impact on improving communication in a foreign language. The variety of activities, including remote cooperation, would contribute to the improvement of participants' digital competences, and the implementation of the project would effectively support the development of schools.