Let's Save Our Ecosystem: Volunteering in Action

The KA210 project: Let's Save Our Ecosystem: Volunteering in Action, is the result of collaboration between IES Campanar in Valencia (Spain) and Gimnazija Josipa Slavenskog in Cakovec (Croatia), with the aim of jointly developing a teaching guide to create an environmental volunteering club in an educational center 

The project arose from the need identified by both schools to provide more practical and independent training for students in environmental awareness and protection. 

The Croatian school has a long tradition of promoting volunteering in various fields. This fact attracted IES Campanar, which saw an opportunity to learn from the experience accumulated by its Croatian counterparts.  

The discussions prior to drafting the project led us to discover environmental activities that were surprising to each of us. For example, the Spanish school was very curious to learn that the volunteer students at Gimnazija Josipa Slavenskog carried out an action consisting of creating barriers to prevent frogs from crossing the roads near the school and being run over. The Croatian school, on the other hand, was surprised to learn about the school vegetable garden tended by the students of IES Campanar on a voluntary basis during recess and also about their attachment to the different vegetable gardens surrounding the school, a source of cultural wealth and traditions. 

All of this sparked their curiosity to work together to learn about the environmental reality of two different ecosystems, the Mediterranean and the Continental, through volunteering as a way of living and improving their environment. 

During the project, the twelve competencies established in the European GreenComp reference framework were worked on. 

• Incorporation of values for sustainability and knowledge of the complexity of sustainability. 

The 30 students from the Volunteer Club in both countries have received training from local public entities and environmental volunteer organizations to learn about the unique characteristics of the ecosystem in which their community is located, gaining a complete and realistic view of the natural space that surrounds them. This learning has been shared by the students from both centers through physical exchanges between the two countries, online meetings and the E-Twinning platform, with the aim of comparing the characteristics and problems of both ecosystems. 

• Action for sustainability and working towards a sustainable future. 

The promotion of values for sustainability has been carried out through volunteering, as a form of service learning, which has allowed for a more lasting learning of the theoretical aspects. Besides, it has also developed in the students the initiative to actively participate in change, encouraging critical thinking and individual-collective interest in creating a greener and more sustainable future. 

All of this has been done in collaboration with neighborhood and regional organizations, which have given the project greater solidity and a path toward continuity. 

To see all the actions carried out and learn more about our project, you can access the teaching guide published on our website.