E. S. C. O. T. | EUROPE

http://www.escot-europe.eu/

“Guide to the European health resorts”
Competition for the European Schools of higher secondary education

E. S. C. O. T. – EUROPE, European Scientific Committee on Thermalism, founded by High Institutions of 10 European Nations, promotes the European Competition “Guide to the European Health Resorts”. The competition is within the framework of initiatives to develop in young people a historical awareness, attentive to the values of the past and the sense of belonging to the local, national, European community. It’s also in the framework of assistance for a lifelong learning of excellent quality. The Competition is thoroughly in tune with the European Union's guidelines. Its aim is to acquaint young people with a new perception of Spas and develop a greater awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, thanks to art, cultural and environmental trails as well as the Spa health benefits themselves. Students will therefore be stimulated to make use of this natural resource, cultural and environmental heritage of the territory, which they have to preserve, enhance and hand on to the future generations. Finally, the competition contributes to promote creativity, competitiveness, employability and it develops an entrepreneurial spirit in young people belonging to European schools.

The competition is open to classes of students (led by the teachers), aged between 15 and 19 years old, from high schools which have already submitted their application form for the competition, of the following Countries: AUSTRIA, CROATIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, HUNGARY, ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SPAIN, UNITED KINGDOM.

The European Schools which have already registered for the Competition (see list on: www.escot-europe.eu), were twinned between each other through drawing of lots (see list of twinned schools).

In fact, they can participate in the competition only as inseparable pairs of schools of two different nationalities.

The Competition will last throughout the school year 2009/2010.

Participants are requested to build a website using the indications and tools offered by the portal www.escot-europe.eu. The website will be dedicated to the Spa resorts of the European Region the participants come from. Before taking this step, though, the participants will choose for themselves roles and functions similar to the ones existing in a company. Thus, the school team will be organized according to a company-type organization chart, increasing its effectiveness and efficiency at work. To help the students in this practical phase, the participants will only have to fill in their names in the pre-structured organization chart appearing in the website.

The website will consist of two sections:

1. Section “School & Territory” (on which schools will work individually)
2. Section “Twinned European Schools” (on which twinned schools will work jointly and in close cooperation)

Consequently, the structuring of the website involves two phases:
Phase 1:
Structuring of the “School & Territory” website section
Phase 2:
Structuring of the “Twinned European Schools” website section

Phase One

Structuring of the “School & Territory” website section

This website section intends to present all the participants of the Competition, enhancing their strengths. Each school will develop this section individually. Guided by their Teachers, classes or groups of students taking part in the Competition should make use of the www.escot-europe.eu portal. After logging in, they will be able to access their intranet area, in which, under the supervision of the Responsible Teacher, students can upload data, topics, video clips, pictures, interviews, articles, etc. about:

1. Their own school – to promote a process of internationalization of the participating schools with the objective to increase their visibility on the national and European scenery.
2. Their own territory – to set up an effective territorial network between school and local institutions.
3. Health Resorts existing on their own territory – in order to:
1. identify and understand the different organizational structures and the different and typical forms of coordination of health resorts. By acquiring knowledge and skills, which contribute to the vocational training of the students, they will be able to access more easily the labour market in the thermal field.
2. suggest the policies and strategies to be applied to upgrade the hydrothermal heritage, exploiting natural, environmental, artistic and cultural resources of the thermal territories.
3. develop in students an awareness of welfare linked to correct styles of life that will allow them to achieve a better quality of life.
4. School and mass media – to sensitize and involve, through press releases, the local media in enhancing the importance of the territorial heritage, with innovative initiatives originating in the school itself.

As each school works on a section, it is conveyed to and becomes part of the website, and the web community will assess it when still in progress. This way, all participants can vote each class’ work with a click, and one click is worth a point. At the end of the Competition, also a Panel of Experts will commit themselves to judge projects, films, interviews, etc . assigning a score to this section.

Phase 2

Structuring of the “Twinned European Schools” website section

In order to:

1. Cooperate and activate cultural exchanges by teaching the students how to be collaborative and to work in a group.
2. Stimulate and encourage creativity and competitiveness between students of different nationality while increasing the sense of European citizenship and promoting the dialogue.
3. Promote the learning of languages and identify social, cultural and economic phenomena that distinguish the different realities, sector-specific Spa, of each country.

it will be an important step to develop this section.

This section, created by the twinned schools working jointly, has to highlight and enhance all the typical features of the thermal sites existing in the Regions of the twinned schools. This way, using all the material, acquired when developing the “School & Territory” section, the twinned schools will have to re-edit and reorganize it, adopting layout and contents with a homogeneous editorial line.

This section’s presentation can be mutually enriched with news, film clips, pictures and the stories experienced by the students when visiting the Spas of their twinned school. Similarities, differences and special features of Spa sites of each Nation will come out through the eyes and voices of students of different nationalities.

This way, in the “Twinned European Schools” website section, it will be possible to get a guide to Spas of the European Countries matched by the twinning of the schools. Finally, the twinned schools will realize a Social Communication (a 30-second film spot) on thermal sites in Europe, selecting and highlighting topics such as: Spas, health, prevention, well-being, entertainment, youths, socializing and friendship. The best work will be broadcast in Europe into several European languages.

Even this section will be assessed, when in progress, by the web community with the same procedures described above. At the end of the Competition, the same Panel of Experts mentioned above will judge projects, films, interviews, etc, assigning a score to each of them.

Evaluation criteria and makeup of Panel of Experts

In order to carry out evaluation work, the Panel of Experts, nominated by the E.S.C.O.T. – EUROPE High Institutions and representing the eleven European Countries participating to the Competition, will adopt the following criteria:

* Originality and ability to develop topics
* Technical quality in website development, in particular pictures, sounds and editing
* Story-telling abilities
* Quality of video clips and pictures; effectiveness in expressing ideas
* Ability to manage Public Relations in the following sectors:

1. Public administration
2. Spa centres
3. Mass media

Presentation language

Each section of the website developed by the students has to be presented in English as well as in the mother tongue language of the Country to which the school belongs. For example, a group of students from a German school twinned with a Portuguese one will have to present their website in English, German and Portuguese.

Final Results

The score assigned by the web community (web vote) will be added up to the one awarded by Panel of Experts (which utilises quality criteria). The final results will select the best three twinned schools according to the score accrued in the “School & Territory” section and the “Twinned European Schools” section.

A Popular Jury, which is constituted by all the participants to the Award Ceremony, will still be able to change the final results before the prize is awarded. The best three twinned schools will be elected also thanks to this further final vote.

Award Ceremony and Prizes

The prize-giving Ceremony will take place before the European Authorities. The European Resort, in which the prize-giving Ceremony will happen, represents the winning one amongst all the resorts which have submitted their Candidacy application. Consequently, all the information about the ceremony date, place and prizes will be issued in detail on the portal: www.escot-europe.eu.