WHAT IS IT?
Escola Azul - Blue School is an educational programme of the Portuguese Ministry of Economy and Maritime Affairs. Its main goal is to improve the level of Ocean Literacy in schools, creating responsible and active generations that contribute for the Ocean's sustainability.
This programme distinguishes and guides the schools that work on Ocean Literacy, creating a community that brings together schools, the sea sector, municipalities, industry, NGO’s and other entities with an active role in Ocean Literacy.
Blue School encourages school communities to understand the Ocean’s influence on us and our influence on the Ocean, engaging them to explore Ocean issues through structured and interdisciplinary strategies that aim for a social impact both with the participation of different partners and through the involvement of local communities. The Blue School programme relies on partnerships with a great variety of entities connected to the sea, who provide multidisciplinary marine education actions directed at Blue Schools.
Through transversal, innovative and creative learning, a Blue School promotes the development of critical thinking and initiative in students and encourages them to transform their knowledge into effective attitude changes in their relationship with the Ocean.
The Blue School programme is the main focus of the chapter "Fostering Ocean-Literate Generations: The Portuguese Blue School", published in a Springer publication on Ocean Literacy, in June 2021.
Blue School Programme Brochure