On Friday 30 January, ProBleu was featured at the first face-to-face Blue Schools seminar held in Gran Canaria, organised in the framework of the PHAROS European project mega-event. The seminar brought together more than 50 participants, mainly teachers from schools across the island of Gran Canaria, and took place at the facilities of the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN).
The event opened with an introduction to the PHAROS project by Silvia Martín, Responsible Research Manager at PLOCAN and member of the PHAROS consortium. This was followed by a session led by Eli Bonfill, ProBleu technical coordinator and member of the Spanish Network of Blue Schools, who presented the Blue School concept and its global, European and national context.
During her intervention, special emphasis was placed on the opportunities available to schools at European level through initiatives funded under the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”. In this context, ProBleu was presented as one of the key European projects supporting schools to develop ocean-focused educational and citizen science projects, alongside SHORE and BlueLightS. These initiatives provide funding, educational resources and support to empower schools to actively engage with ocean literacy and sustainability.
The seminar also served to announce an upcoming citizen science challenge for schools that will be launched under the PHAROS project, with the support of the MINKA citizen science platform developed by ICM-CSIC. This challenge will offer schools new opportunities to involve students in real scientific activities related to marine and coastal environments.
As inspiring examples, two schools participating in PLOCAN’s EduSen educational programme, IES Las Huesas and IES Tamogante, shared their experiences and reflected on what becoming a Blue School has meant for their educational communities.
Another key moment of the seminar was the official launch of the Canary Islands Blue Schools Network, coordinated by PLOCAN. The network currently includes 19 certified Blue Schools, 16 of them located in Gran Canaria, with 13 schools certified under the PHAROS framework. The launch was marked by the awarding of diplomas to the certified schools attending the event.
The seminar concluded with a showcase of educational resources and initiatives from various organisations in the Canary Islands, including regional and local authorities, universities, research centres and marine-related institutions.
Funded by the European Union