NBS EduWORLD Summer School 2024
30 June - 5 July 2024
The Green Deal sets out the European Union’s (EU) goals on leading just economic and ecological transitions.
Moving to a climate-neutral EU will have significant social, economic, and employment impacts. A socially just transformation needs people to have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to shape and cope with profound change. Education and training, like all sectors, can act as catalysts and support a shift to a more sustainable society.
The European Union is encouraging and supporting the education and training sector to take action for a greener, more sustainable future and to build the sustainability competences of learners. Support for the green and digital transitions, environment, and climate action are key priorities for the EU now and in the future.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) link closely to these educational visions due to their integration of climate mitigation and adaptation, co-creative planning, socio-environmental justice, and nature-positive economies. By teaching NBS, students learn to be responsible for the environment – crucial in the current context of economic recovery, biodiversity, and climate crises. Students are also given the opportunity to join hands-on science and innovation projects that are engaging ways of learning.
Thus, the European Union is working to revalorise the teaching professions and to provide all teachers and school leaders with high-quality initial education and professional development opportunities.
Teachers and school leaders play a central role in the provision of high-quality, inclusive education for all learners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they rapidly adapted to school closures and switched to remote and blended forms of teaching to ensure that effective learning could continue.
Without involving and committing these professionals, no educational reform will succeed. They play a central role in fostering and implementing innovative curricula and teaching practices that provide learners with the key competences they need to flourish in Europe’s sustainable green and digital economy of the future.
Therefore, they need support throughout their careers to develop their competences and opportunities to collaborate and exchange with their peers through projects and networks across borders.
In this framework, the NBS EduWORLD project’s Academy on teaching for NBS offers a series of training activities, of which this Summer School is part, in order to support, develop, and promote teaching and testing of NBS.
Over the training days, various topics will be explored, such as NBS initiatives and good practices, ways to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students need for the green transition under the European sustainability competence framework (GreenComp), pedagogical and methodological approaches to teach about NBS and techniques to integrate NBS topics into the curricula and into a wide variety of lessons on various disciplines.
In this way, the Summer School will provide participating teachers with a better understanding of what nature-based solutions are and how they can integrate them into the school environment and will promote their efficiency and confidence in teaching and learning, equipping them with the necessary subject matter knowledge and teaching strategies.
The Summer School has been designed to help teachers design the most effective and engaging lessons, NBS projects, and living lab concepts that will make use of innovative forms of instruction and tools in their schools, and more generally think differently about their students’ learning of and about the NBS concepts, in an interactive way through peer learning activities.
Therefore, the Summer School will upscale co-creation methodologies for innovative state-of-the-art education materials and will promote NBS interventions in line with the priorities established in the EU Green Deal.
By registering for the Summer School, you will enhance your repertoire of teaching and learning strategies, your ability to match these to your students’ needs, and your commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
Our effective professional development approach will equip you with the competences you need to feel autonomous and confident when you approach the topic of NBS with your school and ultimately to act successfully as a change agent.
Through the provided course you will:
- Understand the basic aspects of nature-based solutions (NBS).
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Explore how you can integrate NBS into your school following the living lab methodology and the Whole School Approach.
- Develop useful skills to teach NBS in your classroom.
- Be introduced to the European sustainability competence framework (GreenComp) which frames the structure of the general and specific goals to pursue through the teaching activities.
- Become familiar with innovative pedagogies and methodological approaches in order to adopt them in your daily practice.
- Reflect on your professional practice and engage with teachers from all over Europe.
- Participate in an active teaching and learning community of Continuous Professional Development.
You can see below some ideas and guidelines for your preparation.
- Nature-based solutions – EU definition and challenges addressed.
- What are Nature-based solutions?
- What types of Nature-based solutions are there?
- How are Nature-based Solutions Co-created?
- Schools as Living Labs Roadmap
- Inspirational examples of Schools as Living Labs
- Whole School Approach to Sustainability
- The European sustainability competence framework (GreenComp) which sets out the knowledge, skills, and attitudes learners of all ages need to acquire for the green transition – available in 24 languages.
- The Education for Climate Coalition, the European participatory community for students, teachers, and education stakeholders to act collectively on innovative education solutions for environmental sustainability.
- Biodiversity strategy for 2030, the long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems.
Course fee
The course fee for all ESIA Summer Schools is 480€ (80€/per day) and fully within the funding opportunities of the Erasmus+ Programme.
The course fee covers:
- Expert lecturers for lectures, seminars and workshops
- All materials and equipment needed for the course
- Participation in the social programme & excursions (e.g. Sunset and dinner at Cape Sounio, excursion to the Acropolis and visit to the Acropolis Museum and dinner in downtown Athens, traditional night and farewell dinner, etc.)
Subsistence & accommodation
The Summer School will be held at Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows, an A-class/ 4-star sea-side hotel which stretches on the golden, sandy beach of the Marathon Bay, near the historic location of Marathon, at the outskirts of Athens.
ESIA has made special arrangement with the hotel and are happy to offer to all participants a single or double room with all-inclusive services (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and free of charge services for outdoors sports and recreational activities).
The costs for subsistence are also within the ceilings of the Erasmus+ programme for KA1 mobility actions.
ACCOMMODATION AT GOLDEN COAST HOTEL 2024
COST FOR THE PARTICIPANTS (All Inclusive)
- Per person in SINGLE: 138 €/per night
- Per person in DOUBLE: 95 €/per night
Extra persons (All Inclusive)
- TRIPLE room: 85 €/per person/per night
EXTRA SERVICES (the following refers to other project participants that don’t pay the course fee)
TOURS & EXCURSIONS
Cape Sounio Tour (Price: 90 €/per person)
Monday @ 18:00
Includes:
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- Transport by bus (Golden Coast – Cape Sounio – Golden Coast)
- Guided tour of Poseidon temple with Professional and Lisensed guide
- Entrance fees of the Temple of Poseidon
- Lunch at local tavern
- All taxes
Athens tour & Acropolis Museum (Price: 120 €/per person)
Wednesday @ 16:00
Includes:
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- Transport by bus (Golden Coast – Athens – Golden Coast)
- Short panoramic tour by bus of historic center of Athens
- Services of a Professional and licensed guide
- Entrance fees of Acropolis museum
- Lunch at local tavern
- All taxes
+ Entrance fees to the Acropolis Archaeological Site ticket cost of 20 €/per person.
*** The above prices are calculated based on current costs, tickets to museums / archeological sites, fuel cost, VAT
The Summer School will be held at Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows, an A-class/ 4-star sea-side hotel which stretches on the golden, sandy beach of the Marathon Bay, near the historic location of Marathon, at the outskirts of Athens.
It is the area of Marathon, that has hosted since the times of myths when Theseus killed the terrible bull of Marathon, to the times of the Persian wars and the Battle of Marathon, further on to our days and the marathon race and Marathon Run, the emblematic symbol of man’s quest for freedom and the will to defend his most noble deeds which constitute the foundations of the Human civilization. The plethora of natural, historical sites and museums of the area reveal in all details this unique historical voyage.
Participants are expected to arrive through the Athens International Airport, approximately 25 km (15,53 miles) distance from the hotel.
School Heads and Teachers participation in the summer courses can be funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme.
In case your school or organization does not have the funds to cover the costs of your participation in the Summer School, there is another option: you can apply to be funded by by the ERASMUS+ Programme.
Please note that the Erasmus+ KA1 application can only be submitted by the school or the organization – no individual applications can be submitted.
The deadline for application is 20 February 2024.
What is ERASMUS+?
Erasmus+ is the European Commission’s Programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the period 2021-2027. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobility of learners and staff and cooperation across the education, training, and youth sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules and a structure that aims to streamline the administration of the programme.
Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (KA1) provides a unique opportunity for teachers, headmasters, trainers, and other staff of educational institutions to participate in international training courses in different European countries. Schools, universities, vocational education and training, and adult education organizations are all eligible to receive full funding to attend courses under a KA1 mobility grant. The Erasmus+ KA1 grant covers all the costs to attend teacher training courses: including travel, subsistence, and course fee.
For up-to-date information about Erasmus+ please check the Programme’s website. Your school will need to apply to your country’s National Agency, who is also the one who will evaluate the proposal. Therefore, your National Agency is also a very good point to start for more information.
Don’t forget to go through the the New Programme Guide and you will have all you need to know.
The steps to apply for an Erasmus+ KA1 School Education Staff Mobility grant are:
- Fill in the registration form to our Summer School with your details. This is an individual registration form, so if there are more than one participant from the same school, each one will have to submit a separate registration form. This way you have reserved a slot in the course in case your application for Erasmus+ funding is successful!
- Register your school/organization here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc/index/ , if not already registered.
- Check the compliance with the programme criteria
- Check the financial conditions
- Fill in and submit the application form
- Respect the deadline
- Do not forget to inform us as soon as you get notified from your National Agency whether your grant application is accepted or rejected.
You can find all related information about submitting an Erasmus+ Application HERE.
We will be happy to guide you through the process.
The hosting organisation of the summer school is Ellinogermaniki Agogi, OID: E10212356