What happens when students, parents, grandparents, teachers, and local communities tackle sustainability together—starting right at home?
That question is at the heart of IL4SH – Intergenerational Learning for Sustainable Households, an Erasmus+ project that brings together organisations and schools across Europe to turn sustainability education into everyday practice. The focus is simple and powerful: households. Because a big part of our environmental footprint is shaped by daily choices—energy use, food habits, waste, transport, and consumption.
But IL4SH isn’t only about information. It’s about learning across generations—the “two-way exchange” where young people and older family members share experiences, ideas, skills, and habits, and influence each other’s behaviour. When sustainability becomes a shared family conversation, change becomes much more realistic.
A European partnership with one shared goal
To make this happen, IL4SH connects different kinds of partners—schools, NGOs, and education specialists—because changing household practices needs more than one perspective.
Schools: where change can begin
Schools play a unique role: they can help young people explore climate and sustainability topics critically—and then support them in bringing those discussions into their homes. In IL4SH, schools are not only “participants”; they are facilitators of intergenerational exchange and action.
Education and training experts: turning ideas into usable methods
Education organisations in the partnership contribute expertise in designing practical learning formats, developing teaching resources, and supporting educators with methods that work in real classrooms and real households—not only in theory.
Innovation and community partners: connecting learning with real life
The partnership also includes organisations with strong experience in social innovation, community engagement, and modern learning approaches. This helps IL4SH stay grounded: sustainability isn’t a school subject only—it’s a lived challenge that needs creative, inclusive solutions.
What we’ll explore together
Over the project, IL4SH will support educators and school communities to work with approaches such as:
- Intergenerational Learning (IGL): learning that flows both ways between generations
- Citizen Science (CS): involving learners and families in observation, data collection, and real-world inquiry
- Practical sustainability actions: small experiments, challenges, and household-focused initiatives that can be tested and improved over time
Stay with us
This is just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll share stories, ideas, tools, and practical examples—from workshops and classroom activities to household experiments that families can try themselves.
If you’re a teacher, parent, student, or simply curious about sustainability learning across generations, we’d love you to follow along as IL4SH grows.