1. We wanted to deepen the understanding between our organizations, exploring both organizational and cultural differences between the Netherlands and Portugal. This mutual learning process strengthened our partnership while looking at different approaches to (world citizen) education. 2. Our goal was to develop an accessible digital platform specifically designed for high school students (13-14 years) to learn about SDGs through non-formal education methods. The platform (www.classroomeurope.eu) makes global citizenship education more engaging and interactive. 3. We aimed to improve students' understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals and world citizenship through digital learning experiences. The platform offers complex content that makes global issues more approachable for students. 4. By creating an easy-to-use educational tool, we wanted to reduce teachers' preparation time while providing SDG education resources. The platform offers ready-to-use materials that allow students to navigate their learning journey independently, making it more efficient for teachers to incorporate SDG education into their curriculum in both countries.
The project originates from research across 22 schools in the Netherlands and Portugal in 2022-2023. We discovered that while citizenship education is mandatory in both countries, schools lack tools for teaching about SDGs and world citizenship. The partnership combines Global Exploration's youth engagement expertise with Eagle Intuition's teacher training experience to address it. The research revealed three key needs: 1) teachers require concrete tools for teaching SDGs and world citizenship, 2) students need more engaging, non-formal learning methods for these topics, and 3) schools lack (digital) solutions that make these subjects accessible and interactive. This project directly responded to these challenges by developing a digital platform that provides structured, yet flexible learning tools. Our existing school networks in both countries provided an good testing ground for this educational tool. In the end, we developed a digital platform making SDG education for both for teachers and students. Next to this, the two organisations could learn a lot from each other, gving each other insides regarding both organisations but also different cultural perspectives and SDG implementation in both countries.