Let It Grow!

<< Background >>To achieve sustainable development and greener societies all partner schools understood that sustainability was not an endeavor for one country alone. Each and every one of our schools is near protected natural areas making us more aware of how species interact within their ecosystems and how they are affected by human influences. We truly believed in the need to conserve wildlife, to incorporate more eco-friendly habits in our life. Through common practices we wanted to “grow” a sincere urge to live sustainably. Our project identified the following problems: 1. Teachers were not trained and lacked models of activities on sustainability so it was not a common practice to teach sustainability. 2. Learners lacked knowledge on the process and effects of pollution so they weren’t actively involved in finding solutions to real problems. 3. There was a lack of environmental sustainability (ES) culture in our communities that resulted in harmful behaviors to nature. These became directions for our project since we needed to develop coherent programs to integrate curriculum with ES. Also, we lacked experience in organizing large scale events and campaigns. The project offered plenty of opportunities to exercise this. << Objectives >>As a result of the above mentioned needs, THE AIM of LET IT GROW! project was: training teachers to integrate environmental sustainability learning activities throughout the curriculum in order to raise awareness from an early age and to engage citizens to be active change-makers. We achieved these, through 3 objectives each targeted mainly towards: teachers, learners and community: 1. Concerning teachers, we wanted to achieve the following: - Grow the number of trained teachers in environmental sustainability to at least 30% of the total number of teachers from partner schools by the end of the project. - Give opportunities to participating teachers to naturally include environmental sustainability activities in the regular flow of curricular lessons. 2. Concerning learners, through the project we wanted to: - Grow the number of actively involved learners in implementing environmental sustainability actions to at least 75% of learners from all partner schools by the end of the project. 3. Concerning the community, the project objective was to: - Raise awareness of environmental sustainability in the community through 14 campaigns (reforestation and clean-up) and 14 workshops by the end of the project.<< Implementation >>The implementation of the project involved the following types of activities: 1. activities to produce results which were: 1.a. project activities at the level of each partner organization: -training activities for participating teachers -the Awareness Campaign (1st year) during which the learners found out through experiential, hands-on activities about the process and effects of pollution. The best 140 activities from all partners were included in the outcome The Digital Guide of Environment Sustainability Activities, written in English and native languages. One special activity included here was the Young Photographers for the Environment photo exhibition which helped raise awareness in the community about local pollution. -the RRR campaign (throughout the project and after) which developed habits of reducing waste, recycling and reusing in each partner school -ACT NOW! Campaign (2nd year) where children used what they learnt during the Awareness campaign and acted by finding sustainable solutions to apply at school, at home and in the community. Their ideas were presented in a digital format, uploaded on a common project website and there they were rated by viewers from all partner countries. A system of awards certified the success of their ideas. Preschoolers worked along with parents, other students worked independently. The project website is called LET IT GROW! and it was the 2nd outcome of the project. It was a portal for the ACT NOW! campaign and it is a place to get informed about sustainability and share best practices of teachers, learners and community. -Reforestation Campaign was a common effort of school and community to undo the effects of deforestation and grow new forests -Clean-Up Campaign raised awareness at the level of the community on local pollution -2 workshops with parents and community laid the basis for a more Eco-friendly living and further developing of green skills -the partnership with local authorities or NGOs helped establish the school as a hub in networking for sustainability. 1.b. project activities at the level of the partnership: teacher training activities during the LTTAs 2. activities to monitor and analyze progress (through 7 plans and a Master Tracker) 3. activities of evaluation and re-planning (at the level of each Project Management Team and based on the plans and tracker) 4. progress reporting activities by collecting data from all LTTAs and TPMs and monitoring the updating with all relevant information of the Master Tracker for each partner school.<< Results >>The project outcomes are: For objective 1: -at least 30% of the teachers from all partner schools trained in environmental sustainability through professional development events (courses, webinars, conferences, workshops) by the end of the project. This target was met by all partners and the list of the courses that were attended is available on the project website at https://sites.google.com/view/let-it-grow-erasmus/reasources/courses -at least 2 lessons on environmental sustainability per class per month throughout the project. At the level of the project there were more than 1134 lessons developed by all partners.-the planning, developing and assessing the activities for the ″Digital Guide of Environmental Sustainability Activities″, resulted in better trained teachers to implement environmental sustainability activities throughout the curriculum. -A ″Digital Guide of Environmental Sustainability Activities″ to provide teachers with a resource to help introduce environmental sustainability. The guide contains a call for supporting sustainability through education, the best 140 activities for preschool, primary and secondary levels from all partners and conclusions/impressions of participating teachers and learners. The guide was written in English and native languages. All activities were tested and approved by teachers and children. -″Let It Grow″ project website with summary of the project, learners’ ideas on sustainable solutions, presentations of campaign activity, useful links, books and online references, relevant photo and video gallery and other resources. The site is a public open resource. For objective 2 -min 75% of learners from all partner schools who are more aware of environmental sustainability through the Awareness Campaign that took place during the 1st year of the project. -min 75% of learners from all partner schools who developed the habit of daily reusing, reducing and recycling in their schools through the RRR Campaign. The campaign lasted all throughout the project and will continue after. -min 75% of learners from partner schools who were actively involved in thinking and applying sustainable solutions through the ACT NOW! Campaign (during the 2nd year of the project). For objective 3: - min 50% of the partner schools’ parents (at least one parent per family), teachers and learners from at least 1 other local school, minimum 1 NGO and other volunteering community members are more aware of the benefits of environmental sustainability through the participation in 14 project campaigns (7 Reforestation Campaigns and 7 Clean-up Campaigns per project) -7 partnerships with local authorities or local/national/international entities. Each school ensured a wider participation of the community by inviting local authorities or NGOs that promote sustainability in at least 1 partnership/partner. - at least 25% of all parents from all partner schools as well as other members of the community are more informed on the need for environmental sustainability and were introduced to techniques of developing green skills through 2 workshops for parents and community per partner.