The Blue Schools group: connecting Europe through the ocean
The ocean is our planet’s largest and most vital system. A healthy ocean regulates the climate, supports global food security and drives economic growth. Yet, it remains largely unexplored and underrepresented in education systems worldwide.
Ocean literacy in Europe
The concept of ocean literacy emerged in the United States two decades ago to address the absence of ocean-related topics from formal education. Since 2011, Europe has also played a key role in advancing ocean literacy, beginning with the creation of the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) – the continent’s first network dedicated to ocean education.
An ocean-literate person recognises the influence of the ocean on their daily life, can communicate meaningfully about ocean issues and is able to make informed and responsible decisions to ensure the ocean continues to sustain life on Earth.
In 2020, the European Commission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries launched the EU4Ocean Coalition, connecting organisations, projects and individuals committed to ocean literacy. One of the coalition’s key pillars is the Network of European Blue Schools (NEBS) – supporting educators in bringing ocean topics into the classroom and inspiring the next generation of ocean-literate citizens.
The Network of European Blue Schools
The idea of a Blue School first took shape in 2015 through the EU-funded Sea Change project, which aimed to enhance ocean literacy across Europe. The concept of a European Blue School evolved from consultations with teachers and educators, building on diverse marine education experiences from across EU countries.
A Blue School can be a primary, secondary or vocational (VET) institution that integrates ocean literacy and sustainability into its curriculum and school activities.
To become a certified European Blue School and join the Network of European Blue Schools (NEBS), teachers submit an application through the Maritime Forum’s Blue Schools Community website, outlining their ocean-related project and meeting the required criteria.
Between June 2020 and June 2024, NEBS united more than 500 schools across the EU and beyond. The network is run by the NEBS Secretariat that manages applications, maintains the online platform, organises training and networking sessions and shares opportunities.
Nevertheless, there was a need for a space where teachers interested in developing and implementing ocean and water-related projects could interact freely, exchange resources and connect with like-minded peers. A logical choice for this was the eTwinning community on the European School Education Platform, where many of the NEBS collaborations had already begun, often connecting schools from opposite ends of Europe.
NEBS on the European School Education Platform: why this teacher group matters
Tomasz Ordza, a long-time eTwinning ambassador and teacher who first discovered the Blue Schools initiative through a Portuguese partner, initiated a Blue Schools group on the European School Education Platform.
According to Tomasz: ‘If you teach anything from science to languages – and care about the ocean – the NEBS group is your space to connect, learn and co-create. The group turns ocean literacy into practical classroom projects and links schools across Europe under one friendly, well-moderated roof.’
The group provides a collaborative ecosystem where teachers co-create science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) tasks and inquiry-based science education (IBSE) pathways grounded in real ocean challenges, naturally leading to outdoor learning.
- Through resource sharing and mentoring, inquiry moves from the classroom to local ecosystems – beaches, rivers and lakes – integrating field measurements, mapping and citizen-science data with coding and art.
- Shared standards and careful moderation raise the quality and safety of fieldwork, promoting research ethics, risk assessment and responsible pro-environmental attitudes among pupils.
- International partnerships enable comparisons of field data across countries, cultivating critical analysis and science communication.
- Linked to the NEBS and the UN Decade of Ocean Science, the group facilitates funding and long-term sustainability, embedding IBSE and outdoor learning in school programmes.
Tomasz is convinced that teachers’ voices matter: ‘Whether you’re launching your first coastal clean-up, embedding ocean data in mathematics or co-creating a bilingual art–science exhibition, the group is where teachers help teachers – and where small classroom waves add up to a big European tide.’
The group currently has nearly 200 members – if you are an eTwinning teacher, join today and become one of them!
What being a Blue School looks like in practice
The EU Blue Schools initiative began with a simple idea: helping teachers and pupils ‘find the Blue’ – discovering their personal connection to the ocean through meaningful school projects. To show what this looks like on the ground, members of the NEBS group have shared project results, stories, fun moments and insights that shaped their journeys.
- A clear thread connecting many projects is the idea of starting locally. Whether observing local ponds in Greece, exploring a watershed in Poland or restoring the Osum River in Albania, pupils learned that caring for the ocean begins with caring for the water around them. As the 3rd Stavroupolis kindergarten in Greece beautifully described it: ‘We started with our local waters – and discovered the ocean through them.’
- Another recurring theme is creativity. Pupils across Europe transformed plastics and recyclables into mosaics, digital art, posters, sea-creature sculptures and even eco-fashion shows. Halitpaşa primary school in Türkiye shared: ‘During our beach cleanup, pupils didn’t just collect trash – they transformed it into sea creatures.’
- Finally, schools emphasised how Blue School work empowers pupils as leaders and changemakers. From gathering scientific data and coding digital games to designing awareness campaigns and planting saplings named by each class, pupils developed a sense of responsibility and agency. As Üzümlü secondary school in Türkiye put it: ‘Start small – one tree per student makes a visible impact.’
Nearly every project also highlighted the impact of international collaboration. Through eTwinning exchanges, shared events and on-site visits, pupils learned to co-create across borders.
Being a Blue School is far more than carrying out activities – it is a way of connecting local action with global understanding, blending creativity with science and empowering pupils with the knowledge and confidence to protect the ocean, starting from the world just outside their classroom door.
— Tomasz Ordza, NEBS group founder
The ability to connect with schools across Europe and beyond is essential to making this work transformative, both for the environment and for education itself. The NEBS group on the European School Education Platform was created with exactly this need in mind: to bring teachers together, strengthen collaboration and ensure that ocean literacy grows through shared ideas, shared challenges and shared purpose.
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