Prep work
- Establish collaboration
- Learn about the context in which the other school, organization or university is located
- Define the objectives of the project: from getting a glimpse of different ways of being affected by and responding to climate change, to planning a collaborative project to build climate resilience.
- Anticipating learners’ possible biases about the other context, and preparing information for them to have beforehand.
Competences/activities to be practiced first by the teacher
- Non-violent communication (5.4.2)
- Activities under competence area 3 ‘Embracing values that sustain the lives of all living beings’.
- Activities under Competence Area 4 ‘Opening up to diverse climate-resilient and regenerative futures’ could be practiced beforehand or together with the partner school
Levels in the activity
- Short exploration
- Regular exchanges
- Collaborative projects
Level 1: Short exploration
- Prepare the online meeting with the teacher/educator from the other school, organisation or university.
- During preparation, and in discussion with your partner, clarify expectations for the learning exchange. Questions to jointly address are: (1) what will be the format of this exchange (e.g. short exploration, collaborative project), (2) what do we want to achieve in terms of learning goals, and in relation to climate resilience, (3) regarding climate resilience, how much do we know about the current impacts of climate change in each other’s local context and how much do we expect children to research and learn, which climate event/experience can we safely share about, which local climate project implemented of a project could we present, could we discuss local visions of a climate-resilient, biodiverse, connected, caring and creative world, how to best support children in discussing those visions.
- Before engaging with learners from the other school, university or organization, explain expectations for the exchange, and discuss principles for curious and respectful communication. Allow time to address the questions and discuss the biases that some children may have.
- Make sure that tech works beforehand and have back up plans in case connection is unstable or cut.
- Prepare each session with sets of activities and allow ample time for exchanges between learners. One possible agenda for a 2-hour session would be (1) short introduction by each teacher of their country, school and class, (2) inviting a few learners from each school to share how their environment is and what are the environmental issues they have been witnessing and have learnt about, (3) inviting a few learners from each schools to share about the solutions that they have implemented or are being implemented in their village/city to address the ecological crisis, (4) inviting a few learners to reflect on new activities they would like to implement, as they learn from other experiences, or of new visions that they would like to share, explore and/or bring to life as a result of the exchange. This possible agenda can be used both for a short exploratory session and for longer-term regular exchanges and collaborative projects.
- A follow up call can be organized to discuss what the outcomes of the exploratory session have been for each school, and reflect on both the challenges and opportunities that the exploratory exchange has brought to life.
- Provide opportunities for learners to stay in contact with each other if they wish to.
Level 2: Regular Exchanges
- Several of the activities under Competence Area 4 ‘Opening up to diverse climate-resilient and regenerative futures’ can be practiced together with learners from the other school, organization or university. It will greatly increase the diversity of thoughts and experiences that would go into exploring different regenerative futures, and make the exercises more exciting.
- Check which parts of the activities you would like to do together and which parts would be easier to do separately because of technical constraints. The different activity steps can also be implemented over a number of days/ weeks.
- Ensure that children have the opportunity to reflect on the exchanges through journaling or short debriefing sessions at the end of each call. Those reflection times can also help surface specific emotions or difficulties that may need to be addressed.
Level 3: Collaborative Projects
- Different collaborative projects can be implemented as part of a learning exchange collaboration. Those collaborative projects can include the running of local climate resilience projects in parallel, in line with activities listed in tool 5.2. ‘Taking local action for climate-resilience,’ for instance. They can focus on a project implemented by one of the partners only, with learners from the other partner school, organization or university, following the project and contributing to it in response to specific invitations or requests.
- Documenting local projects with an abundance of both photos and videos can help foster engagement and excitement for both groups.
Dos and Don’ts
Do
- Acquire a good understanding of the cultural, economic, social, and political context in which the partner school, organization or university operates.
- Ensure that there is open and clear communication with the other teacher and/or educator so that possible issues regarding intercultural communication can be brought up.
- Take some time to learn your partner before engaging in collaborative projects. The 3 levels of implementation of this tool can be implemented in sequence.
Don’t
- Don’t assume that a partner school, organization, or university located in a marginalized area and/or in the Global South needs your knowledge, expertise or other resources.
- Don’t design a collaborative project for a partner school, organization, university located in a marginalized area and/ or in the Global South. Only consider a collaborative project focusing on a partner school, organization, or university located in a marginalized area and/or in the Global South if there is a clear request. Only provide support if it is asked for and the way it is asked for.
Adaptations
If you anticipate that your learners will have difficulty speaking up spontaneously, you may want to invite them to prepare a presentation, including in groups, before they first meet with learners in the other school or university.
If real-time meetings are an issue because of technological limitations at either end, consider recording short videos prepared in advance, or sending out letters, pictures and artworks
If your learners would like to directly engage with each other, consider setting up some small working groups with specific activities to work on together, and shared accountability for respectful intercultural exchanges.
It is possible to practice many activities under Competence Area 4 ‘Opening up to diverse climate-resilient and regenerative futures’ as joint activities with another school, organisation or university, through regular exchanges.
We invite you to adapt this activity to the specific needs of your learners, including by taking into account their neurodiversity. When adapting tools and activities for neurodivergent learners, please note it is not about treating others how you want to be treated, but how they want to be treated. Ask, listen, and stay open to different ways of learning and engaging.
References
This activity was designed by One Resilient Earth.
Global school exchanges. (n.d.). https://www.globalschoolexchanges.com/
ETwinning | European School Education Platform. (2024, October 10). https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning
Mobility for pupils and staff in school education. (n.d.). Erasmus+. https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-b/key-action-1/mobility-school
Mainsah, H., Morrison, A., & Edeholt, H. (2017). Building networks for knowledge exchange, and design strategies for climate futures. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S102–S109. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352660
