ExCEed: Kick-starting Experiential Climate Education in Croatian Secondary Schools
“ExCEeed” is an educational partnership between Association Tatavaka and Matija Antun Reljković Senior School, implemented in Vinkovci, a town of ~35.000 people in Eastern Croatia, between August and December 2022. The partnership was formed to co-create the first ever senior school curriculum in Croatia, kick-starting an elective subject on climate change and sustainability. “ExCEed” was envisioned as a participatory, co-creative and action inducing climate education experiment accessible to all young people regardless of their background. We were led by the idea to exceed all of the limitations, perceived or real, imposed by the transmissive, top-down teaching paradigm dominating the Croatian formal education sector. Its three main target groups were teachers, students and the local community.
“ExCEed” brought together teachers of physics, chemistry, biology and geography to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum of an elective subject “Climate Resilience”, first of its kind in Croatia. They were supported by Tatavaka through capacity building activities – continuous work on adjustment and development of Tatavaka’s (and other) non-formal learning methods and an international training for community change makers.
It involved a total of 221 students through a co-creative process of active research learning and piloting parts of the curriculum, which strengthened their entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills and fostered new ways of thinking and acting in the times of climate crisis. Community work integrated in the curriculum brought concrete benefits through student actions and applied learning in the communitieg of Vinkovci and Križevci, weaving threads of an active community ready to face climate change with innovative solutions.
- Curriculum of the elective subject “Climate Resilience” (authors: Jasenka Celić, Maja Dubovicki, Ines Glavaš i Jasenka Krznarić-Barić) - CROATIAN
- Methodic review of „Climate Resilience“ (author: Marija Troha) - CROATIAN
- Scientific review of „Climate Resilience“ (author: Dubravka Vitali Čepo) - CROATIAN
- Project Report listing results and photos
Applicant: Association Tatavaka
Partner: Matija Antun Reljković Senior School, Vinkovci
Total value of the project: 34.050,00 EUR
The project was enabled with support of EIT Climate-KIC .
