E-School for Sustainability in the Danube Region

Basic idea of the eSchool4S is to create a multi-national and multi-level network involving stakeholders in the education sector, teacher training institutions, schools, teachers, and classes in the joint development, testing, demonstration and dissemination of innovative e-teaching concepts for secondary schools in the Danube Region. The strategic objectives of the eSchool4S network are coherent to the objectives of the Life Long Learning Programme and in particular of the Comenius Programme. The concrete aims of the eSchool4S network are: • Initiation and sustainable development of a regional network of stakeholders, decision makers of national education systems, school managers, teachers and pupils from countries in the Danube Region. • Creation of an operational platform for the regional cooperation and the exchange of information, opinion, know-how and experience between projects and programmes as well as between teachers and teacher training institutes from all countries in the Danube Region. • Raising awareness of decision makers as well as of teachers for the needs of ESD in an interdisciplinary setting in the context of European integration and regional cooperation. • Compilation of a baseline study report (and annual updates) on the status of innovation in the thematic fields addressed by the eSchool4S network. • Development and demonstration of innovative methods and tools for the design and implementation of interactive web-based classrooms and virtual project partnerships involving teachers and pupils from different countries in the Danube Region. • Establishment of the website www.eSchool4S.eu as the main internet portal for the joint development and exchange of innovative teaching concepts, contents and methods bringing Europe to the schools in the Danube Region and involving the youth in the SD of their home region. • Demonstration of the application of the jointly developed e-teaching concepts and materials in the eSchool4S web-based classrooms. • Continuous monitoring & evaluation of the development of the eSchool4S network and its activities. • Efficient promotion of the eSchool4S network and consequent dissemination of outputs from the network. • Development of ICT competences and practical experiences. Key actions planned for the eSchool4S: • Facilitation of the eSchool4S network fostering international collaboration and exchange between teacher training institutes, schools, teachers and classes from different countries in the Danube Region. • Establishment of the web-based eSchool4S platform. • Execution of a study on the status of innovation in the thematic fields of the eSchool4S (updated annually). • Design, development and testing of web-based e-teaching concepts. • ESD competence training of teachers on how to implement the eSchool4S concept in their classes. • Demonstration of the eSchool4S concept and the use of the eSchool4S materials

If European Integration and Sustainable Development are to be permanently anchored in society, one should start by inspiring the youth with these issues. Taking into account this premise and ensuring consistency to high-level strategies such as the EUSDR, the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the post-2015 Global Action Program, eSchool4S developed an innovative e-learning platform for secondary school students to cover cross-border issues in the fields of Sustainable Development and European Integration. The approach brought together decision-makers, (in-service) teacher training institutions, schools, and students across the Danube Region to raise their ecological awareness and to promote inclusion of these issues into the school curricula. Students and teachers learned why the balanced interplay of the development dimensions – social, economic, and environmental - is a condition for Sustainable Development at regional, national and European level. They improved their computer skills, cognitive competences, communication as well as soft skills. The final report of a „Baseline Study on the State of Innovation in the Thematic Fields of the eSchool4S Network“ is available under: http://www.eschool4s.eu/files/4314/4163/1938/eSchool4S_Baseline_study_all_Countries_05.09.2015.pdf