The All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network (AA-BSN) is one of the six AANChOR’s Joint Pilot Action developed to contribute to the implementation of the Belém Statement.
It aims to connect schools from the Atlantic countries to rise and promote Ocean Literacy and society awareness, with no geographical, cultural, social, or language boundaries. The All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network will promote a bottom-up process where each school builds its own project based on its socio-cultural-economic reality. Linking all schools together will enhance knowledge exchange and create synergies.
By January 2023, there were 16 countries, each developing its National Blue School Program, connected to the network.
What is a Blue School?
A Blue School integrates ocean learning into the curriculum, recognizing the important role that formal education plays in fostering an ocean literate society. A Blue School promotes an interdisciplinary, inquiry, and project-based approach to both teaching and learning.
Although each country will determine the specific criteria to become a Blue School, the overarching criteria across all participating countries are:
- Explores an issue related to the ocean
- Involves the local community
- Engages in one “Atlantic Challenge” – a coordinated opportunity in which schools from different countries engage in the same discussion, exchange knowledge, and work towards similar outputs and shared collective impact.
How to join the All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network?
To join the All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network, the first step is to:
Check the list of countries that currently have a national Blue Schools network established. To date, there are 16 countries. If you see your country on this list, then the first step is to reach out to the National Coordinator to learn more. If your country does not appear on this list, please email: allatlanticblueschools@gmail.com.
Once a connection is made and you’ve joined your country’s network – or have helped to establish one in your country with the support of the AA-BSN coordination team, there will be different ways, unique to each country, as to how you can share your ocean learning projects as a classroom or a entire school with the network. There will also be ways, through an annual Atlantic Challenge, to engage in knowledge and experience sharing opportunities with teachers and students from other countries who are part of the AA-BSN.
Are all National Blue Schools Networks the same?
The size and approach to each National Blue School Network will vary from country to country.
The size of each network often depends on how they have been running for, and have been involved in this initiative. While some countries have open applications to become a Blue School, other countries are in a pilot project phase with limited schools. You can read more about each country’s Network here.
Each country will decide the specific National Blue School criteria that should be reached in order for a school to be considered a National Blue School. Such decisions will depend on the local network, the resources available, and various contextual considerations.
There is a wide range of criteria that each country can base its national program on. For example, these could include learning that:
- involves the local community;
- explores an issue related to the ocean that is of particular interest to the students, preferably tackling a local issue related to the ocean;
- examines the topic through an interdisciplinary approach across subject areas engaging students of different grades or class levels (e.g., a whole school approach);
- selects Blue School ambassadors among their students (e.g., peer learning);
- interacts with a collaborating institution at a regional or national level;
- encourages students to act and complete a community action project;
- communicates about the process and results of the project, supporting students to advocate their project outcomes beyond the school community;
- engages with another school taking part in the Blue Schools Network, either in the same country or internationally.
It is important to remember that we have countries at different stages of development in this global project. Therefore, the specific criteria needs to be determined by each country in order to succeed in a meaningful, place-based way.