Technician and webmaster: Gonzalez Benjamin (benji@i-act-jeanmoulin.net) and Gourdin Anthony (anthony@i-act-jeanmoulin.net)

Project Manager: Lundin Brigitte and Ulf (brigitte.lundin@i-act-jeanmoulin.net)

What is I ACT

I ACT is about encouraging and helping teachers to bring key environmental and social issues into their teaching in order to raise awareness and trigger action among young people on the threats and challenges to our living environment.

It is a teacher-driven action initiated and launched by a group of teachers in different European countries. They strongly believe in our responsibility for the future of young people and call upon other teachers who share this belief to join them and contribute to safeguarding the future for our children and the generations beyond them.

The main objectives of I ACT are:

• To raise awareness among young people on climate change and other key environmental and social issues important for the future of our planet and our societies and to help them formulate an agenda for action at different levels.
• To encourage and support teachers ready to take on this missions to contribute to safeguard the future for current and future generations of young people.
• To build local, regional, national and European networks of such teachers for exchange of information, ideas and resources and for giving visibility to the views and actions of young people.
• To make young people familiar with enquiry- and action-based approaches to learning.

The project is launched with a focus on three sets of issues

• A Planet At Risk (climate change)
• Safeguarding Our Ecosystems (biodiversity)
• Living Together (intercultural understanding)

However, teachers can choose any other issue which they consider to be equally or more important and of more interest to them.

The engine of the action is a network of networks of teachers who have committed themselves to its aims and objectives by signing the “I ACT” Charter.

The charter is the mission statement of the action. It gives the vision and the objectives of the action, defines its challenges and defines the commitments of the teachers who join the action.

The action will happen in the local environment. This is where teachers will apply their skills and imagination to involve their pupils (and possibly also the community at large) in a pedagogical process to raise awareness, building an agenda for action and foster advocacy.

I ACT can be implemented in almost all curricular areas and also lends itself perfectly to cross-curricular work. It provides a methodological framework to help and assist teachers in the implementation of the action at school and in the local environment.

Teachers who join the action will support each other by forming local, regional or national networks and will also be able to rely on the advice of teams of teachers with a long and solid experience of school networking and the issues of the action.

The I ACT blog provides detailed information on the action. It also gives news and information on the I ACT issues, tips on resources and ideas from other teachers.

There is also an “I ACT for our common futures” group on Facebook for teachers to meet and share on I ACT.