Looking Ahead: Educational cross-border projects in the Pomerania Euroregion. Comprehensive overview of the COVID-19 Special Selection

Abstract

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the virus had a huge transformative impact on many sectors of life, causing a great deal of challenge and suffering. Schools were particularly affected during this period, experiencing an immediate transformation. In addition, the closure of borders between countries not only restricted transport and tourism but also affected the daily life of the populations living in the Euroregions. Cross-border mobility and cooperation, natural to these areas, has been significantly reduced. At the same time, the incalculable impact of the pandemic required a search for solutions that allowed customs, relationships and activities to be maintained and sometimes even transformed. The main purpose of this article is to analyze Polish-German educational projects realised in the Pomerania Euroregion the COVID-19 pandemic. The study analyses 48 educational projects out of a total of 184 that were implemented as part of the Small Project Fund INTERREG VA COVID-19 Special Selection. In order to prepare the text, the resources were collected, analyzed and described. As a result, the interpretation of facts being the objects of research have been done. Moreover, the reading literature and searching the studies were undertaken. The analysis of the resources were conducted in a qualitative way. The article raises important insights into overcoming difficulties across borders in implementing cross-border educational projects in times of pandemic, demonstrates model activities in the field of distance education, and exposes innovative educational activities shaping new possibilities for building neighbourly relations in the borderland of two countries.