During the project students learnt to plan and set up a responsible event aimed at the surrounding community and youngsters aged between 13-15 years. The aim of the event was to increase all the participants’ valuation and awareness of the surroundings including culture, the nature, the neighborhood, and people.

Benefits of international projects for educational institutions

International projects such as Erasmus+ Value Europe give participating institutions the opportunity to network and deepen their cooperation. Increasing the visibility and relevance of educational institutions through international projects was considered important for all participants. The interviews of participated teachers revealed that for many institutions, international projects have a significant impact on students’ choice of institution and increase the number of applicants.

Cooperation between different levels of education

The aim of the project was to plan and execute a responsible event in each project country, which were Italy, Spain and Finland. The project between the vocational schools and the University of Applied Sciences increased understanding of the curricula of the schools, the practice in different countries and the models of cooperation between different actors to promote sustainability. Teachers in VET institutions considered it important that their students have the opportunity to work in a concrete team with university students. For many VET students, this type of cooperation opens up a concrete perspective and a desire for academic studies.

Be brave and get involved

Teachers should get involved in international projects, as they build skills in many different ways. In southern European countries, for example, English is not an everyday language and teachers’ language skills are not necessarily very good. Through projects, learning languages and cultures comes naturally and smoothly through shared experiences. International projects give teachers and institutions the opportunity to see how things are done elsewhere and thus bring new elements to their own teaching and course content. The particular added value of this project was the cooperation between different levels of education.