ChangeABLE – Out and about for climate ability

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Project number: 2025-1-IE01-KA220-ADU-000353702

Lead partner: GAP Ireland

Call for proposals:

KA220-ADU – Erasmus+ Cooperation partnerships in adult education 

Call 2025, round 1

Duration: 

36 months

The project: main goals and results

This project stems from the urgent need to address the intersection of climate action and social inclusion, particularly for individuals with disabilities. As climate change poses significant threats to our environment and communities, it is essential to ensure that all voices—especially those often marginalised and most affected by climate breakdown—are included in the conversation and action plans.

The project empowers individuals with disabilities to engage in campaigning and advocacy for inclusive climate action. The project partners will: 

  • enhance capacity through tailored training programs
  • collaborate with local advocacy organisations to design impactful campaigns
  • create spaces for dialogue in identified forums
  • develop resources to support similar organisations supporting individuals with disabilities in needs analysis, campaigning, and advocacy.

Results:

  • Strengthened partnerships among partner organisations 
  • Participants will show increased capacity and resilience in their ability to engage in climate action.
  • Individuals with disabilities will be involved in needs assessments
  • Development of tailored learning programs based on identified needs in each country.
  • Participants will work with advocacy experts to enhance their campaign design and implementation skills.
  • Targeted training and support will significantly improve individuals’ abilities to engage in climate action discussions and advocacy.

Resources and guides

  • A resource guide for developing climate advocacy learning programs
  • A campaign report, recommendations, and guidelines for inclusive climate action
  • A report outlining findings and recommendations for supporting individuals with disabilities in public engagement and advocacy

All reports and guidelines will be published in Easy Language in all three project languages.

Target groups and beneficiaries

Primary stakeholders:

  • Individuals with disabilities (direct participants): will build resilience to climate change, learn to voice concerns, engage in climate action campaigns, and work collectively on climate issues.
  • Individuals with disabilities (non-participants): will have opportunities to join in later phases, benefiting from campaigns and advocacy led by direct participants, improving their lives and those of their families.
  • Frontline care and support workers: will increase their knowledge of climate change’s impact on individuals with disabilities, improving their ability to support clients in climate-related actions.

 

Secondary stakeholders

  • Vocational education bodies
  • Advisory board
  • Associate partners
  • Advocacy and lobbying groups
  • Local authorities
  • Other services for individuals with disabilities
  • Cultural spaces
  • Communities & community groups (e.g., sports clubs, churches)

 

Partnership

  • GAP Ireland (Ireland) – Lead partner
  • Prosper Fingal (Ireland)
  • InEuropa (Italy)
  • Coopattiva (Italy)
  • agado (Germany)
  • die reha (Germany)

Financial Contribution

€ 400.000,00

GoodFood – Sustainability in Catering Schools

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Agreement Number: 2024-1-DE02-KA220-VET-000248007

Program and Call

KA220 VET – Cooperation partnership in vocational education and training (VET)
Call 2024, round 1

The project: objectives and results

Food is one of the central issues in the climate change agenda. It has become increasingly evident that for production and distribution to evolve in a sustainable direction, food choices must also become more conscious. Markets are also beginning to change: consumers in the food industry are becoming more sensitive to the ethical and environmental implications of their behaviors, and food service companies need professionals ready to respond to these needs. It is critical that future industry professionals are fully aware of the importance of their choices and that they acquire sustainable habits and bring them into the workplace.

For this reason, GoodFood aims to create resources and educational materials that help hospitality schools in the sustainable training of future chefs. The goal is to help students develop sustainable habits that they can apply not only in school, but also in their future workplaces, through building specific knowledge and skills, as well as implementing real sustainability action. GoodFood aims to help students become active members of society, contributing to the equitable and sustainable development of their communities.

The partnership includes 4 members of the international sustainability network Global Action Plan International (already part of the Erasmus+ Foodtalks project dedicated to canteen sustainability), 3 hospitality schools from Spain, the Netherlands and Germany, and an Italian foundation that is very active in the field of food sustainability that will also help reach out to some Italian hospitality schools.

 

Project outcomes include:

– a methodological framework applicable in any European hospitality and catering school;

– a framework of actions dedicated to hospitality schools, replicable in any European school;

– an online platform with training content on health, environment, social justice and economy (manuals, questionnaires and other resources);

– online tools based on the train-the-trainer method, focusing on empowerment, behavioral change, and conscious choices in terms of environmental and social impacts;

– case studies related to hospitality schools in each partner country that can serve as inspiration for other schools.

 

Target groups:

Direct target:

– Students

Through the project, they will learn how to integrate sustainable habits into their activities at school, in extracurricular projects and in the future workplace.

– Teachers

GoodFood will support them in enriching their curriculum through the exploration of topics such as empowerment, behavioral change and conscious choice, with a critical approach aimed at addressing food issues holistically.

– School organization

The project will also assist leaders and staff in developing strategies and perspectives based on an equitable and sustainable food system that can overcome existing barriers and support students’ educational experience.

– Companies in the food service industry (not only restaurants, but also hotels), directly affected as hosts of trainees from hotel schools and future jobs for female students. It will be here that students will put into practice the sustainable knowledge gained in school.

 

Indirect target:

– Local stakeholders active in terms of sustainable development

They will become the hotel schools’ natural partners through concrete actions, specific projects and targeted partnerships.

– Food suppliers of the school system (local producers and distributors)

They will be invited to participate directly in the school’s sustainable path.

– Families 

Students, teachers and managers will be their reference points for sustainable food habits.

 

Project phases:

Programme development (methodology, content and platform)                                                                              

  • Stakeholders engagement
  • Design and development of contents
  • Design and development of the online platform
  • LTTA Transnational meeting

 

Implementation and evaluation

  • Contents’ testing and workshop
  • Implementation of the materials at national level in the 4 countries
  • Evaluation

 

Project leader:

agado Gesellschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung UG (Germany)

 

Partnership: 

  • Stichting Global Action Plan Nederland (Netherlands)
  • InEuropa SRL (Italy)
  • ASOCIACION PLAN DE ACCION GLOBAL PARA LA TIERRA GAP ESPANA (Spain)
  • Berufsschulzentrum Ansbach-Triesdorf (Germany)
  • Fondazione Castello di Padernello (Italy)
  • IES ESCUELA DE HOSTELERIA DE LEIOA BHI (Spain)
  • Stichting Regionaal Onderwijs Centrum Noord-Oost Brabant (Netherlands)

 

Duration

24 months (1st December 2024-30th November 2026)

 

Budget

400,000 €

STAND UP FOR EUROPE!

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Project title
Stand up for Europe! Argumentation training against undemocratic slogans: European extension and updating

Project Number
2023-2-DE04-KA220-YOU-000175190 

Lead partner 
Akademie Klausenhof gGmbH (Germania)

Programme and call
Erasmus+ – KA2 Cooperation partnerships in Youth (KA220-YOU), Call for Proposals 2023

 

About the project

Brief description

The project stems from the collaboration of 6 partners (2 from Germany, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Turkey, 1 from Slovenia and InEuropa from Italy) for the creation of practical and theoretical materials for the development of training and facilitations activities and workshops for young people aged from 13 to 30 on thematic linked to democracy and European values. Specifically, the training materials will be the starting point for learning how to respond to antidemocratic slogans and discourse in a constructive way.

The training material will be freely accessible through a theoretical guide and a practical manual, a handbook of Good Practices on how to implement and promote common European values in their respective national contexts, and an online self-learning tool (short videos) to reflect and to activate the critical thinking and the peer-to-peer confrontation. Project materials are available on InEuropa website and on the official website in Italian, English and in the partners’ languages (German, Turkish, Slovenian, and Hungarian).

The main goal of the proposed activities is to provide resources to react in a proper way to antidemocratic and populist slogans that relate to daily situations with family, friends, at school, in public spaces, etc.

STAND UP FOR EUROPE! will mainly focus on:

  • Values and Identity
  • Dilemmas and Conflicts
  • Antidemocratic Slogans
  • Power, Privilege and Discrimination

The materials constitute the evolution and the update of the Klaus-Peter Hufer method – “Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen “(Argumentation training against populists’ slogans) in a European sense, widely used in Citizenship Education in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, enriched with topics, methods, and contributions specific to Europe thanks to the collaboration and contribution of the six project partners.


Target groups

The project is aimed at teachers, educators, and trainers enabling them to provide the young people and young adults they work with on a daily basis the resources to respond critically and constructively to hateful, anti-democratic, and populist attitudes, verbal (and physical) attacks, and populist, extremist, sexist, and stereotypical arguments (against migrants, Jews, people with disabilities, women, disadvantaged people, and queer people). 

It is also aimed at:

– Activists and volunteers in youth movements/political parties

– Employees of NGOs, initiatives, and civil rights movements, with a particular focus on young people 

– Stakeholders and politicians 

– Anyone involved in youth education

 

Through STAND UP FOR EUROPE! we want to:

  • Spread awareness of European values and strengthen respect for them
  • Develop a training program aimed at preparing young people to respond effectively to populist, anti-European, and discriminatory arguments, both online and offline.
  • Develop a method for spreading awareness of European values and their protection through the collection, comparison, and integration of effective training methodologies.
  • Defend human rights.
  • Contribute to the recognition of violations of fundamental European values through an effective training tool for use in digital contexts, oral discussions, and everyday scenarios.
  • Encourage personal reflection on respect for fundamental values and raise awareness of the use of stereotypical and discriminatory arguments and behaviors.
  • Stimulate self-assessment through the use of scenarios with which it is easy to identify.

 

What is Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen?

Stammtischparolen are populist statements and slogans with which numerous groups of people (often social minorities, but also representatives of the “elites”) are discriminated against. Usually, they are also directed against “the” European policy. These slogans are dogmatic, rigid and prejudice-based: in these speeches, there are very strict categories (“we” and “they”), which defend their positions aggressively and with an exclusionary attitude. 

Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Hufer is a trainer, a lecturer, an author and scientist. He himself works as an adult educator and as an applied professor. His Argumentation training* teaches effective techniques and tricks for responding to populist slogans in conversations (e.g. with facts, irony, critical inquiries, etc.). In its interactive form, the argumentation training offers the opportunity to try out and experience in exchange with the seminar group how to react appropriately to such slogans. Hufer’s training has been frequently used in educational work for many years, also in youth education or in training for employees and volunteers of NGOs and other institutions, parties, companies, schools and organizations. 

* Klaus-Peter Hufer: Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen. Materialien und Anleitungen für Bildungsarbeit und Selbstlernen. 10.  Auflage 2018, 120 Seiten, Wochenschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main

 

Partnership

University of Augsburg, Germany 

InEuropa srl, Italy

KatHaz, Hungary 

Doga School, Turkey 

Socialna Akademija, Slovenia

 

Duration
24 months (from 01/03/2024 to 28/02/2026) 

Total Budget
€ 250.000

SURF – Sustainable Rural Future

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SURF – Sustainable Rural Future

Agreement number: 2023-1-ES01-KA220-ADU-000151613

 

Program and Call

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2023 Round 1 KA2

KA220- SCH – Cooperation partnerships in Adult Education

Ongoing project

 

Short description

The project aims to improve knowledge about climate change in rural communities through the creation of an educational itinerary (integrating formal and nonformal education) in order to foster learning for green transition in rural areas. In addition, SURF seeks to promote the development of integral solutions and connect people through the consolidation of a European Rural Network. The project will use the participatory action-research (PAR) approach in order to emphasize the participation and action of community members in targeted rural areas to create a learning pathway that strengthens existing capacities and provides solutions to local problems by involving local communities in decision-making.

 

Objectives

The main objective is to create an innovative training itinerary for adults to increase the opportunities of rural areas in the context of green transition and climate change adaptation by:

– Improving rural communities’ knowledge of climate change;

– fostering social participation to involve communities in decision-making processes;

– contributing to sustainable rural development;

– creating a European rural network to promote information exchange.

 

Main activities

The most relevant activities for achieving the objectives are:

– Creation of an online platform containing all project materials;

– training course on climate change adaptation in rural areas and participatory research-action approach;

-local training events for implementation of the PAR approach to identify opportunities, challenges, difficulties of rural communities;

– creation of a Good Practice Guide;

– formation and consolidation of the European Rural Network.

 

Expected results

Tangible results: online platform; updated content; discussion forums; climate change educational materials; online course on the PAR approach (manual, course and training); guides; webinars; workshops; a connected rural network; events.

Intangibles: discussions among people with similar concerns; ongoing social participation in different locations; increased knowledge and skills of educators and local community members.

 

Coordinator

– Fundación de la Comunitat Valenciana para una Economía Baja en Carbón – Low Carbon Economy Foundation (ES)

 

Partenarship

– InEuropa Srl (IT)

– Universitat Jaume I De Castellon (ES)

– Center Za Trajnostni Razvoj Podezelja Kranj – CTRPK (SI)

– Univerza V Ljubljani (SI)

– Associazione A.R.C.E.S. (IT)

 

Duration

The project will last 24 months (4 December 2023 – 3 December 2025)

 

Budget

250.000 €

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® WORKSHOP – EUROPEAN YOUTH FAENZA

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Project: Europe for young people: values, methods, tools

Implementing partner: Unione Romagna Faentina

Funded under: Call for the promotion of European citizenship 2022 (Bando per la promozione della cittadinanza europea 2022)

Period: November-December 2022

Objective: to promote a learning journey about European values, rights and opportunities, as well as young people’s participation in public administration choices and European planning, intended for middle and high schools in EU territory.

These are the main activities:

  • Workshops on European values called “Bricks4Rights,“ carried out using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology, intended for middle schools, identified through the schools participating in the initiative.
  • Seminars presenting European opportunities and informative workshops. Meetings partly dedicated to high schools, partly aimed at local youth, identified through youth associations and by individual registration.
  • Workshop on digital communication of cultural heritage. Meetings held by the European Route of Ceramics Association, a Council of Europe-certified Cultural Route, coordinated by the City of Faenza. Again, the meetings are geared towards young people.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Workshop Number: 4

The experience of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshops, called “Bricks4Rights – European Values and Rights,” allowed students from secondary schools in the Municipality of Faenza (third year students) to undertake a unique experience, being stimulated to reflect and open up through sharing and confrontation on issues such as citizenship, their own identity and the identity of the European Union today.  The LSP methodology is a tool that has still proven to be innovative and effective in channeling individual energies and knowledge into discussion and reflection on a given topic. Through the workshops, not only was the purpose of raising awareness toward European values and rights achieved, but also the (no less important) purpose of bringing out feelings, passions, and thoughts.

SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

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SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

Agreement number: 2023-1-DE03-KA220-SCH-000158255

Program and Call

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2023 Round 1 KA2

KA220- SCH – Cooperation partnerships in School Education

Ongoing project

Short description

Education for sustainable development gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change. The call for teachers is to develop strategies, tools and methodologies to achieve such key competencies to address the required complexity. Managing and solving sustainability problems require people with systemic competences who are able to see the whole in the individual, presenting a breadth of vision for a complex world. Since Systems Thinking (ST) is one of the key competencies in the education for sustainable development, it is crucial to train in-service teachers on the ST approach to give them the possibility to implement ST at school in science education classes. The SHINE project aims at bringing the ST approach in Natural Science education involving in-service teachers and students in the target age of 8-16 years old. SHINE aims at introducing the ST approach at school by training in-service teachers and by developing, validating and testing innovative didactic tools to effectively introduce and practice ST with students in natural science and ecology education. ST offers a new language in understanding how the world works, it enables students to see the parts of the whole and the network of relationships simultaneously, and consequently it tries to reveal the structure that creates change by questioning how events occur over time.

Objectives

SHINE’s overall objective is to prepare future citizens to face climate change challenges by promoting the introduction and mainstream of ST skills in natural science education. To reach this objective, SHINE sets 5 specific sub-objectives:

  1. Educate in-service teachers on ST principles and how to apply them in natural science;
  2. Support students in developing ST approach by introducing game-based learning and innovative didactics approach in science education;
  3. Sustain scientific skills and the deep learning of complex topics such as ecosystems and climate change;
  4. Promote collaboration among different school grades (8-16 y.o.)

Main activities

–  Development of a training course for in-service teachers replicated in each partner’s country and involving at least 25 natural science teachers.

– Design of a serious game (digital/board with different levels of difficulties accordingly with target age) to support students in practicing and experimenting ST applied to climate change issues.

– Creation of a digital toolkit containing specific didactic modules to introduce ST at school in natural science classes, assessment tools to evaluate the students’ improvement in ST reasoning in a long term perspective;

– Organisation of a set of digital and in-person transnational events to boost both students and teachers from partners’ countries to cooperate in understanding and finding possible common answers to the climate change effects occurring now and in a future perspective.

Expected results

  • Effectively supporting teachers in implementing and assessing ST at school with students of different ages by training them on the approach and co-producing specific didactic tools.
  • Applying ST in natural science and sustainability disciplines for assessing the student’s progress in a long-time perspective.
  • Enhancing the promotion of more engaging didactics and boosting the active involvement of students by cooperation “inter pares”
  • Facilitating and mainstream the introduction of ST into education as a way to deepen science principles and especially as a lens for understanding problems such as climate change and environment protection.

Coordinator

Hochschule RheinMain (DE)

Partnership

– InEuropa Srl (IT)

– Libera Università di Bolzano (IT)

– Tallin University (EE)

– Virtual Campus Lda (PT)

Duration

The project will last 36 months (1st October 2023 – 30th September 2026)

Budget

The grant is € 400.000,00

ATTUNE

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ATTUNE 

Activate the University for Climate Change

Programm and call

Erasmus+, KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education, 2022, Round 1

Ongoing project

Brief description

ATTUNE is a programme that directly addresses Climate Change on the university campus and promotes as well as encourages action by all members of the university community. It is an innovative learning programme that contributes to a university becoming increasingly sustainable. The project is aligned with the new New European Bauhaus initiative that connects the European Green Deal to our daily lives to build a sustainable and inclusive future.
The original ATTUNE programme formed part of a project Re-Activate+, which GAP Spain conducted in the Basque Country. This project aimed at changing people’s habits using the Ecoteam approach, branching out into other communities (schools). In 2018, the first version of the programme was launched at the Leioa campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV) and its success compelled other UPV campuses to adopt programme, followed by other universities around Spain.

University life goes beyond formal educational activity. Campuses are not only places where people gather to study and work, but also affect many other areas, such as recreational & sports activities, mobility, consumerism, food, leisure, etc. Universities also impact on the local population and directly influence the sustainability of the area where they are located. The university community is an ideal environment to influence behavior to produce a more sustainable society.

ATTUNE recognizes that each university is different, not only in the way it functions, but also in its objectives in responding to the Climate Crisis.

ATTUNE specifically addresses the following priorities:

– common values, civic engagement, and participation: the programme is designed to involve and engage all members of the university community – students, teachers and staff – based on common values that help to mitigate the impact of climate change.

– promotes interconnected higher education systems: whereby the programme not only unites faculties and campuses of the participating university, but also other universities in the numerous existing networks.

Objectives

The main objectives are:

  • to enable members of the university community to move from knowledge to action;
  • contributing to the Green transition: in addition to their traditional functions (teaching, research, etc.), universities can also be a role model for environmental sustainability based on their infrastructure and operations. To ensure that they become increasingly sustainable, it is vital that all the community participates in the process.

Other objectives include:

  • Create a methodological framework that can be used by any European university
  • Develop actions adapted to the university community so that they can act against Climate Change in their daily activities
  • Test & validate the programme in 5 European universities that will act as an example for other universities in their networks

Activities

ATTUNE is structured in two different phases to promote change in habits:

  • Phase 1: during the first academic term, the entire university community (students, teacher and staff) are invited to join an online program –  structured as a set of questionnaires and manuals – focusing on environmental and social issues relating to sustainability. The objective is to reduce the carbon footprint in the context of daily activities on the campus
  • Phase 2: the second and third academic term is based on creating 1 or more “research-action” teams that focus on a particular issue, such as waste, mobility, etc. They research the problem, design an action program and deliver the action program to the rest of the university community. This “research-action” team is made up of students, lecturers, and staff. At the end of this Part results and impact measures are collected and then shared with the stakeholders and the public at large.

The materials and structure of the program, which are based on projects previously implemented by GAP Spain, are in place and don’t need to be re-invent.

The main activities are:

  • 3 Meetings: The kick-off meeting in Bilbao, LTTA in Italy and dissemination event in Germany
  • Development of contents, materials, and methodology
  • Online platform development in 6 languages. The structure will involve 2 parts: Implementation and validation process by testing in the participating universities, and the development of guidelines which will include several manuals
  • ATTUNE programme set up & running in 5 universities.

Expected results

The main expected results are:

  • Proven & workable methodology: a valuable tool to mitigate the impact of the Climate Crisis in the European higher education sector
  • Reliable data: the validation process will generate a wealth of data which can be collated and analyzed
  • Motivated participants: the users will experience behavioral changes
  • Online platform: a working tool that can be adapted to different cultures and easily translated to make it more accessible and local.

The programme can be repeated on the campus over many years. So, it’s not a one-off program for the university.

Coordinator Asociación Plan de Acción Global para la tierra GAP (ES)*

Partnership

  • InEuropa Srl (IT)*
  • Agado Gesellschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung UG (DE)*
  • Fundacja GAP Polska – Plan Globalnego Dzialania na rzecz Ziemi (PL)*
  • Mikado Danismanlik Hizmetleri Ltd. Sti. (TR)*
  • Università degli studi di Siena (IT)
  • Universidad del País Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (ES)
  • Ozyegin Universitesi (TR)
  • Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej IM.MARII GRZEGORZEWSKIEJ (PL)
  • Stiftung Universität Hildesheim (DE)

*GAP organisations

The GAP organization in each country will lead the programme and work closely with the university, either through its sustainability office or the team / person responsible for sustainability in the university. The university role will be one of promoting the programme and encouraging participation and action, while the GAP organization provides the material and delivery systems.

Duration

The project has a duration of 26 months.

Budget

The grant is € 400,000.00

e^4 — tools in higher Education for an Embodied & creative Energy Education

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e^4 — tools in higher Education for an Embodied & creative Energy Education

Programme and Call for Proposals

 ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2021 Round 1 KA2

KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education

Open project

Brief description

Given the urgency of environmental and technological change in the face of challenges such as climate change, the main need recorded is raising awareness of possible solutions and necessary measures, also given the challenge of educating the coming generation in these matters.

On this scenario, e^4 aims at both supporting and reforming teacher education at academic level in matters concerning energy, by training University professors charged with teacher education (Initial Teacher Education, prospective and in-service teacher education at primary and lower secondary school level) in new imaginative teaching methods to facilitate the transfer of energy-related scientific knowledge to students. Academics will be able to develop lectures based on teaching approaches encouraging imagination and creativity to science education, so to transfer these practices to future and in-service teachers. They, in turn, will be able to integrate these approaches in their school lessons, in order to adapt to the new generation’s learning capacities and needs, and to educate and sensitize their students to take care of the environment and to help tackle climate change and promote conscious technological change.

Moreover, we feel the need for Univerisities charged with teacher education (Educational Science Faculties) to reach out to the wider community and become meaningful partners in a network with companies, organisations and institutions working on our energy future.

Objectives

  • Develop and/or enrich higher education curricula (in teacher education for primary and lower secondary school levels), following a didactic approach based on “tools of imagination”, to facilitate the transfer of energy-related scientific knowledge to primary and lower secondary school students;
  • offer professional learning opportunities, for academics charged with teacher education, in innovative pedagogies and approaches to teaching science courses (including the use of appropriate aids and materials);
  • promote learning and teaching partnerships between universities charged with teacher education and the private energy sector;
  • upskill future and in-service science teachers with new approaches to teaching to encourage student girls for scientific careers and fight against gender stereotypes in STEM;
  • support the strengthening of science skills of EU citizens and professionals to make conscious choices and use creativity and a critical mindset to contribute to lower CO2 emissions towards EU 2050 targets.

 

Main Activities

  • Creation of a multistakeholder network which connects private/public entities working in the energy sector with academic institutions charged with teacher education.
  • Creation of innovative didactic material for teacher education to upskill university professors and school teachers with new narrative and imaginative approaches to teaching and science education.
  • Web platform supporting the network and the material.

Results

  • Increased competences and skills of partners’ staff.
  • Increased competences in teachers of primary and secondary schools: future and in-service teachers from the different partners’ countries will be engaged in testing the didactic material and activities through local and transnational pilot testing. 

We expect the project to produce a change in teaching approaches at all levels:

  •  At university level, improving academics’ science teaching approaches, also blending online and in presence courses, improving the efficacy of their courses both at university and jointly with the private and public energy sector.
  • At school level, helping student teachers and in-service teachers to be more motivated for and engaged in new imaginative teaching methods, will lead to innovation in school curricula. Teachers will be able to adapt their teaching approaches to the new generation’s learning capacities and skills needs through the application of creativity fostered by imaginative tools. 

Lead partner

LIBERA UNIVERSITA’ DI BOLZANO (Italy)

Partners

– InEuropa Srl – Italy

– Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika W Toruniu – Poland 

– Esciencia Eventos Cientificos Sl Aragón Zaragoza – Spain

– Universitat de Valencia – Spain 

– Sustainable Innovation Technology Services Ltd Mid-West Castletroy – Irleland

– Università degli Studi Di Modena e Reggio Emilia – Italy 

– Dublin City University – Ireland

Duration
The project will last 36 months (28 February 2022 – 27 February 2025)

Website
https://energy4teachers.eu/

Budget
The project received a grant of € 395 506,00

SUNRAISE

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Project name: Stem UNlimited Raise thanks to Arts at School in Europe

Call and programme: Erasmus + – Call 2021 Round 1 KA 2

KA220-SCH – Cooperation partnerships in school education

Ongoing project 

Brief description

The project SUNRAISE – Stem UNlimited Raise thanks to Arts at School in Europe involves 7 partners from five different European countries and it aims to develop a set of inclusive training tools for secondary school teachers and educators in order to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects combined with artistic techniques (for instance Geometry and Music, Physics and Dance, Ecology and Theatre etc). Several challenges that are aimed to be tackled through SUNRAISE include the increasing inequalities in accessing learning for students with disadvantages (both socio-economic ones, disabilities, special educational needs) generally reducing the quality of learning and school achievements, with a risk of disengagement and dropout, climate change. This adds up to the already scarce performance and interest shown by EU students in STEM, despite the key importance of these subjects to develop the necessary innovation to face contemporary challenges. It is necessary that young people combine knowledge with interdisciplinary competences to solve problems, participate actively and responsibly in society, think critically and creatively, while at the moment they are more likely to be left behind. The risk is to grow a generation of people less prepared to face contemporary challenges.

Objectives

The priorities of SUNRAISE include the promotion of interest and excellence in STEM subjects with the adoption of the STEAM approach. In this context, the cultural and creative sector can contribute in developing ways SUNRAISE responds to this situation by developing a set of training tools for secondary school teachers and educators to teach STEM subjects combined with artistic techniques (e.g. Geometry and Music, Physics and Dance, Ecology and Theatre, etc). In this context, culture and art can give a unique contribution in developing ways of bridging creativity and arts with educational approaches. This approach will be even more effective for students with disabilities/SEN as the use of creativity and visual languages will improve their learning process even in difficult subjects such as science.

Therefore, the project objectives are:

  • To improve teaching quality through innovative and alternative didactics that enrich STEM teaching with different artistic expressions, facilitating inclusive and participatory learning.
  • To integrate formal education with non-formal education by professional artists and artists with disabilities, letting cultural and creative organizations play an active role in the recovery by starting new collaborations with the education sector to build a resilient society.
  • To help teachers develop their skills regarding STEM and creativity fostering creative thinking and sense of initiative, useful to find innovative solutions to individual and collective challenges.
  • To offer students, including students with disabilities, SEN and/or social and economic disadvantage, new opportunities of self-expression exploring contamination between STEM and arts.
  • To foster students’ awareness, relational and communication skills and their ability to think out of the box.

Activities:

  • Initial analysis of the current situation in partner countries regarding STEM achievements and education methodologies in place, including good practices, and investigation of teachers’ and education professionals’ needs in terms of skills development and innovative teaching.
  • Development of the E-learning platform as a “virtual classroom” for training teachers and students which will host all training materials.
  • Preparation of SUNRAISE innovative training programme for teaching STEM and scientific subjects through creative approaches; the programme will consist in modules, each combining 1 STEM subject with specific art techniques and represents an innovative methodology to build curiosity and engagement, practical and creative thinking, with a special added value for students with learning and social difficulties or disabilities. The modules will be piloted by each partner in lessons/training sessions in secondary schools.
  • Creation of the SUNRAISE e-book, which will bring together all the research, pilots, learning and main findings of the project.

Expected results

  • Increased interest of students in STEM subjects and stronger inclination to undertake STEM studies and careers.
  • Improved teaching’s quality through innovative & alternative didactics that will foster the methodology of STEM teaching through artistic approaches.
  • Increased inclusivity and appeal of STEM teaching, either in presence and at distance, addressing the needs of every student including those with a disability or difficult background or SEN.
  • Increased students’ capacity to think in an interdisciplinary way and put in place creative solutions to complex and/or abstract problems.
  • Increased teachers’ capacity to engage students and reach out to them in a fruitful way.
  • Increased empowerment, higher inclusion and active participation of students.
  • New collaboration opportunities among organizations in the cultural and artistic sector, schools, education and youth organizations, finding a new role across disciplines and real-world applications.

Coordinator:  Nazareno Societa’ Cooperativa Sociale – Italy

Partnership

  • CSI Center For Social Innovation Ltd – Cyprus
  • ICIMSS – Stowarzyszenie Miedzynarodowe Centrum Zarzadzania Informacja – Poland
  • Esciencia Eventos Cientificos Sl – Spain
  • THEAMA Theatro Atomon Me Anapiria – Greece
  • Cooperativa Sociale La Carovana – Italy
  • Zespół Szkół Drogowo-Geodezyjnych i Licealnych im. Augusta Witkowskiego w Jarosławiu – Poland

Duration: the project will last 24 months (February 2022 – January 2024).

The project officially started in May 2022 and has been extended to May 2024.

Budget: the project received a grant of € 327.707