Euroknitters visit Porto City Hall to talk about the unity of Europe

Teachers and students of the Euroknitters project have visited Porto City Hall to present their project: the strengthening of unity within the European Union. This group includes different nationalities, such as Spain, Estonia, Greece, Italy and Portugal, from the School Group of Cerco do Porto, the host institution in Porto.

Euroknitters is funded by the European Union, via the Erasmus+ Programme. The programme lasts for two years and aggregates state schools from Spain, which is the Project Coordinator, and also from Portugal, Estonia, Greece and Italy.

This project was borne out of the will of Spanish teachers at Colégio Santa Ana, in the city of Cuenca, to internationalize their school and open up to Europe.

Andrés Ramos Fernandez, teacher and project coordinator, explains that "this project is based mainly in internationalisation, on the idea of the maximization of Europe's unity. Our students perform different activities, such as theatrical performances, news programmes, and activities within the school, which we share with all the partners and that are available at our website".

"We have been to Athens, Greece, in Estonia and now we are in Porto. Next February we will head to Italy and the project concludes in Cuenca, Spain, in May"

Almost two years later, the group work carried out by these five partners shows that the mission to "knit" the Union of Europe is more feasible than ever.

This mobility project enables students and teachers to visit other countries, learn how the education system works, in situ, and teachers also have the opportunity to study different curricula.

The Euroknitters project also encompasses the presentation of a theatre play in five acts; tomorrow, at 12 o'clock, at the School Group of Cerco do Porto, the young Portuguese actors will perform the third act of this play that will conclude in May 2019, in Spain. The performance is streamlined live for the other 4 participating countries in the project.

The message conveyed by the play is the European Cohesion, and the unity in diversity that should govern Europe, in the context of an intra dimension Europe at international level.

"Euroknitters" include the Colégio de Santa Ana, in Spain, the Agrupamento de Escolas do Cerco do Porto, in Portugal, the Istituto Comprensivo "J.F. Kennedy", in Reggio Emilia, in Italy, Peetri kool, in Estonia and 5th Primary School of Egaleo, "Giannis Ritsos" in Athens, Greece. 

For Andrés Ramos Fernandez, "the name of the project - Euroknitters - means that we are the ?knitters' of Europe; we want to strengthen the idea of union, unity, working with countries that are different but the same altogether. Children work in a cooperative way and, most of all, enhance the idea of belonging to a common project. The work language is English".

"We are very grateful to be here in Porto, working with these wonderful people".

Isabel Pelicano, teacher at the Agrupamento de Escolas do Cerco of Porto, states that "we have been working in this project for two years now. In the beginning, it was rather difficult as parents were reluctant to allowing their kids to travel abroad, being so young; but now they have seen the benefits of experiencing other cultures and teaching methods and we don't have enough room for everyone to participate".

The entire project is funded by the Erasmus+.

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe, and its aim is to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for growth, jobs, social equity and inclusion, as well as the aims of ET2020, the EU's strategic framework for education and training.

Erasmus+ also aims to promote the sustainable development of its partners in the field of higher education, and contribute to achieving the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy.

See here for more information.