Outcomes
Project Outcomes and Disseminations
Here is our 'Circle of Erasmus' based on the tree of life which is all of us.
Maria Theresia Gymnasium
Dissemination and Outcomes
We have disseminated the outcomes, experiences and results of our Erasmus project not only via our school website, but also in various newspapers and magazines, e. g. in the Lifeguide Augsburg, Die Augsburger Zeitung, Die Augsburger Allgemeine and a3 Kultur.
https://www.lifeguide-augsburg.de/magazin/augsburger-jugendliche-unterwegs-europa
https://a3kultur.de/positionen/lange-marsch-zur-schule-zukunft
We have also disseminated and exhibited our Erasmus project in the context of the Just Kids Festival 2019, The Europe Day, The Bavarian Fair Trade Fair and the Augsburg Begabungstag
https://www.begabungstag.de/index.php?id=17
https://mtg-augsburg.de/unser-gymnasium/fahrtenprogramm/erasmus-projekt-owning-the-future.html
The experiences in the context of our Erasmus project meetings in Murcia, Penzance and last but not least in Amstelveen have motivated us to focus on environmental issues, but also to spread and disseminate the ERASMUS alias COMENIUS spirit that we have experienced in the context of our project!
The following four projects are the most crucial outcomes:
· the Maria-Theresia Gymnasium’s first bicycle eco film festival
· our new Erasmus project „A Vision Shared – Promoting the UN Sustainable Goals in and beyond school“
· the hosting of the Anne Frank Exhibition in May 2020
· the COMENIUS mural at the school building Berufsschule III
Apart from these outcomes and results the Maria Theresia Gymnasiums’s school board has decided to declare sustainability as the motto of the new school year 2019/2020!
In retrospect the project OWNING THE FUTURE has met our high expectations. From the first meeting in Augsburg with the input provided by such experts as Jaakov Hecht and George Pennington via the meetings in Murcia, Strasbourg, Augsburg, Penzance and Amsterdam the foci have been on Participation, Project Work, Learning from the Past, Ecology and Sustainability, Inclusion and Visions of Future Education.
Of course not all the ambitious aims we have been striving for could be achieved to their fullest extent - we would have loved to produce even more learning materials, but we must admit that in this field we have not been in a position to compete with the outcomes of our Spanish partner school. However, we have managed to implement a considerable amount of our project results not only in our school and - even better - disseminate our experiences and outcomes in the context of our Erasmus project OWNING THE FUTURE even beyond school.
Maria Theresia Gymnasium
Maria Theresia Gymnasium
WhatsApp Video 2019-03-16 at 10.40.46.mp4IES Aljada
Climate Change
This clip is from our Project Meeting in Murcia March 15th 2019. It was the day called Fridays For Future - where young people across the world protested against the effects of climate change. Our students at home also took part in strikes and talks about this topic. The project schools have looked at this in more detail as an important outcome of the project because we are looking at sustainability and the future world our students will live in. We are looking at sustainable education and living for our communities as a result of engaging in this project and hope our theme of the Future of Education has an impact.
IES Aljada
Our particular path to owning the future was inclusion and cohesion in our school community. By sharing our practices in this field with our partners and through observing how they met their aims and project foci, we improved in other fields. Our school has now a musical bell and a radio station. Our pupils' empowerment has led them to succeed in competitions, improve their digital skills, even go beyond in our inclusion practices (developing mentorship among equals), and have an impact in our local community.
By co-ordinating massive plastic clean-ups, alone or in partnership with companies like Ecoembes, and take a leading role in the FfF campaigns in our city. Furthermore, the most permanent and sustainable impact in our school is the proposal for the installation of solar panels. Becoming energetically self-sufficient would provide an example for schools in a region particularly threatened by the climate emergency. Our students have been active in driving this forward and they have considered the importance of the Global Goals for Sustainability.
As for environmental activities, we enclose photos of the activities mentioned, and a press link too:
https://www.laverdad.es/murcia/ciudad-murcia/acordes-defensa-naturaleza-20190607003057-ntvo.html
IES Aljada
IES ALJADA: Owning The Future
IES ALJADA students attend a conference about their future.
IES ALJADA:
PARA QUE PERDURE 2.pdfIES ALJADA: Learning from the Past
This is a video students made about their "Learning from the past" line of work in their project.
Click on the link to watch:
HOLBEIN
Graffiti Wall in Augsburg
Holbein Baumfest and Straßenfest
Workshops on the UN Sustainable Goals in the context of the coming up FFF manifestations
Mounts Bay Academy
Students and teaching leaders worked together during the project to bring about learning and changes in attitudes, some not envisaged at the outset. There was flexibility in thinking when it came to expectations and maturity was show by all students. School leaders benefited from taking time across each exchange visit to develop ideas and solutions to the challenges facing education and system leaders with regard to providing an education which is creative and relevant to the changing economies and job markets facing our young people.
We learnt that one method doesn’t suit all situations and the school leaders taking part took away a lot to develop in their own professional leadership and learning.
Our students valued their participation in the project. The learnt about democracy in action and how this feeds into education. Taking part in activities such as conferences, surveying members of the public, talking about their own experiences, group work and developing leadership skills demonstrated the purpose of the project. They were able to discuss success and what that meant, how to deal with challenges and what young people needed in order to survive and flourish when they left school.
They developed a realistic view of the challenges of growing up in other cultures and were keen to take this learning back to Cornwall. They wanted to highlight an understanding of sustainability, not only in learning, but also living. Students in Cornwall may live in beautiful part of England, but the impact on the environment is still evident. The students taking part engaged in our student voice process (Crews) to encourage others to talk about issues facing them in their local community. As a result, they fostered a culture of focusing on the Global Goals for Sustainability – through creating a Detox Festival, visiting local sustainable communities, promoting the use of online resources and engaging the local community.
Issues raised through the student voice on the issue of sustainability:
· Better use of the Poly Tunnel
· More Solar panels
· A wind turbine
· Use folders rather than books as less paper
· Get recycled stationary
· More water fountains to reduce the need to buy water
· More recycling bins in school
· Local suppliers for food to save fuel
· Less photocopying as we have iPads
· Don't print study guides
· Turn the lights off when leaving a room
· Plant more trees
The photos linked to our outcomes show some of the activities students have taken part in and encourage the school leadership to change in order to move towards a system of learning which is 21st Century in thinking. Our regular slot in the local press and weekly newsletter ensure our links with the local community are close and our students are connected to their surroundings.
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/hundreds-students-across-cornwall-go-2891790
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/hundreds-students-staged-die-in-2905296
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwalls-very-greta-thunberg-organises-3003810
http://mountsbay.org/detox-festival-2/
http://mountsbay.org/60-years-of-learning-excellence/
http://mountsbay.org/page/2/?s=year+10 amsterdam visit
http://mountsbay.org/owning-the-future/
http://mountsbay.org/4th-may-2018/
Inspired by this Erasmus project, students and staff in the academy have embraced thinking about what the future of school is and how we can equip our students for 21st Century living. We couldn't have done this as well without the connections we have all made with other schools in the European Union who share a thirst for learning and adventure.
The students who took part in the project have driven this desire and energy to create positive relationships with all around them and inspire the students who will follow to live more sustainably and take learning out of the school building.
All because we value student voice, and student-centred learning. Allowing our students to drive positive change, not just in school, but in their locality and beyond as they travel the world.
Mounts Bay Academy
Here is an article in our local news about the Erasmus visit last October to Cornwall. The picture is from the Eden Project. We aim for all students to visit the project at some point during their time at MBA. We encourage students to do at least one overseas trip as well, to develop an understanding of communities outside of Cornwall and discover the common links with cross cultures and socio-economic divides.
Hermann Wesselink College Amstelveen
Outcome 1: ‘I felt I was with friends’
Many students and teachers who participated in this program still have contact with each other. Some made friends for life. During the exchange we noticed already that the students really got along very well. For example, at the end of the week in Amstelveen, as a positive outcome the students especially mentioned the time they spend with their host families and the time spend with the students from the other schools/countries. One of the students wrote on his feedback-form: ‘I felt I was with friends’. And they became friends. After the exchange different students kept in touch and even visited each other during the summer holidays. The teachers also got along and plans are being made for a possible new exchange between schools.
Document teacher survey (link)
Outcome 2: Taskforce sustainability
In 2020 we’ll move to a new school building. This school is being built sustainably. In order to not only have a sustainable building, but to also improve sustainable behaviour in the school we’re thinking about the next step in this process. The Erasmus-project helped us a lot and brought us some steps closer towards the sustainable school we want to be. Some examples of activities can directly be linked to the Erasmus-exchange, because our ‘Erasmus-students’ were involved in the organization and/or implementation of the activities:
Research project
In March 2019 students of our school have investigated how sustainable the current building is and gave advice for the new building. After a guest lesson, the students enthusiastically conducted an eco-scan on a number of focus topics: waste, energy, greenery, hygiene, mobility, safety, food and water. After their inventory, they issued recommendations for each of the areas. The students agreed on the following points: better separate waste in school, more greens in school and (possibly) a vegetable garden, use more natural materials in the new construction, solar panels, organic and healthier food in the canteen, more drinking water points in the school to fill bottles (tip: bottle from school with school logo). The students felt that more and structural attention to sustainability is also needed. Their advice is to involve pupils, but also parents, more in the sustainability of the new building through teaching programs, the website and other means of communication. They have presented these finding and recommendations to Mr. Kozijn (School Principal) and Mr. Kodde (Construction Manager).
Taskforce sustainability
Following the advice of the previous research project, we recently formed a ‘task force sustainability’ and asked parents, teachers and students to join. This task force will work on the different areas of the topic. The first step was to inform and ask students about this task force. We did this during a student meeting and we got a big response!
Outcome 3: Contact with the neighbourhood and other schools
We laid contact with a social worker in the neighbourhood of our school. And together with her we want to set up a project to clean up the neighbourhood. First the plan was to join World Clean Up Day together, but we were too late to organise this, so the plan is to do this next year.
The results of the exchange are shared with two schools in Amsterdam: with Hervormd Lyceum West (also a bilingual school, website: https://hlw.nl/ ) we talked about the experience and outcomes of the exchange in general and with CSB (website: https://csbamsterdam.nl/ ) we talk about the future of education and share our experiences in Spain and UK on this topic. The CSB experiments a lot with 21st century skills (they call them ‘millennium skills’) and different ways to teach. Although our schools are very different, we can learn from each other and in these conversations we bring our foreign experiences with us.
Organizations:
Amsterdam:
- Anne Frank House https://www.annefrank.org/
- Van Gogh museum https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
Plastic Fishing:
- Plastic Whale Foundation: https://plasticwhale.com/
Rotterdam:
Futureland: https://www.futureland.nl/en/education
Cheesefarm: https://www.claramaria.nl/
