By Rebecca Flanagan and Allison Phillips
As part of the EU Erasmus+ Project: Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Community, An Taisce’s Green-Schools Travel Officers Rebecca Flanagan and Allison Phillips, along with six students from St. Tiernan’s Community School, Balally have recently returned from an exchange in Copenhagen after successfully completing the 3rd LTT (learning, teaching and training) in Denmark.
During the weeklong October visit to Copenhagen, St. Tiernan’s students were immersed in Danish cycling culture. Through a combination of workshops focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, daily cycling trips throughout the Danish Capital and learning experiences around sustainable communities, students were empowered to lead positive change relating to sustainable mobility in their own communities.
At the start of the week students from each country presented their findings on research around travel behaviour to the Danish partner school, Randersgades Skole. St. Tiernan’s students showcased the new Green-Schools #andshecycles campaign to the group, which led to much discussion on the issue that, in Ireland, fewer than one in 250 girls cycle to school each day.
Green-Schools Travel Manager, Jane Hackett stated:
“Green-Schools are delighted to be involved in the Erasmus+ project as it gives students the opportunity to learn from each other and share their experiences of sustainable travel. It is important to share ideas, connect with other cyclists so that we can address any barriers we face when it comes to promoting cycling to students, teachers and parents’’
The three-year project will see students from Spain, Ireland, Denmark, and Lithuania collaborate to promote cycling, social inclusion and youth empowerment. The aim of the exchange is to form intergenerational relationships and enhance social inclusion through sustainable mobility in the community. Corella, Spain, hosted the initial cultural exchange in March 2019, followed by a Dublin exchange hosted by Green-Schools Travel in June 2019.
Lithuania will host an exchange in August 2020, followed by a return trip to Ireland in 2021 to celebrate the completion of the EU Erasmus+ Project.
Cycling Without Age Global Community Captain, Pernille Bussone stated:“The EU Erasmus+ Project Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Community is a really important project. When I think about how important the integration of different countries in Europe is I almost feel like the title itself is secondary to the things that happen on these exchanges, which is, that the young people see how much we have in common and learn to appreciate each other and form relationships. Its important for Europe’s future that we meet in projects like these, in a way it’s a peace project, it’s what Europe was made to do.’’
