Youth Crime Prevention Erasmus Project

Project Title

Youth Crime Prevention

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Regional dimension and cooperation

Project Summary

The Youth Crime Prevention project was conceived as a bilateral project involving two high schools, one from the Czech town of Příbram and the other from the Latvian city of Liepaja. This partnership was established via the etwinning network. The topic of youth crime prevention was chosen in response to the poor development of youth behaviour. In both countries, crime is constantly growing and young people are very much involved. They find themselves often on the margins of their societies mainly due to the lack of effective primary prevention. Part of the primary prevention should be their upbringing in reasonable use of their free time. Adolescents who have rational interests (such as sport, art, culture, etc.) have a much better chance of failing to commit crimes in the future. School is a natural social environment that shapes their views on the world and can help these teens make the right decisions in the future. The long-term goal of the project was to reduce juvenile delinquency and raise awareness of crime prevention. To achieve these objectives, partial and main outputs were determined. PowerPoint presentations, video creation, photo album creation, information panel in participating schools, etc. were part of the outputs. The main outputs of the project were complete lists of leisure activities offered in the cities of Příbram and Liepaja and innovative methodological guides. Another goal was to develop the communication and ICT skills of students and teachers. English was chosen as the language of communication. After the end of the project, students have proven to improve their communication skills in a natural environment, which proved their successful completion of the English language examinations. Improvements were also demonstrated in their native language because they had to cooperate on the project’s outputs. When creating these outputs, they had to prepare suggestions for controlled discussions with experts. Most of our outputs required knowledge of modern information technology. Students have improved these skills in creating project film, photo albums, and powerpoint presentations. The project also involved the development of interpersonal skills. Each school created a project team of teachers and students. Students were selected from all educational programs and classes of our schools, and their age limit was 15-20 years. The Latvian school was a general education school, and the Czech school was health-oriented (medical lyceum, health assistant, and sports and reconditioning masseur). This two-year project was divided into three phases, after each of which the students underwent an exam. The examinations took the form of a questionnaire survey. The topic was the prevention of youth crime and the questionnaire was evaluated by the project team with other experts (school psychologists, counsellors and school preventive staff). The main results of the project are the complete overview of leisure activities offered in the regions and cities of Příbram and Liepaja and innovative methodological programmes. During the project, four foreign trips took place (two to the Czech Republic and two to Latvia). During these stays, various lectures and discussions were held with experts on juvenile delinquency and its prevention. A natural part of the project was media coverage, which included collaboration with regional periodicals, TV stations, the creation of a YouTube channel and a Facebook profile. Project activities required a varied methodology that provided a clear and comprehensive view of the topic. We have chosen an empirical questionnaire for the evaluation of students who had been part of one of the aforementioned foreign trips. Its results were evaluated using standard statistical methods. To communicate with experts, we chose a way of a controlled debate. To give students a better understanding of the importance of leisure activities as an effective form of primary prevention, they have had the opportunity to try out some of the leisure activities offered. These direct experiences have positively influenced their way of thinking and helped them understand the importance of primary prevention. We are convinced that our project outputs (such as Leisure Time Surveys and Innovative Methodological Programmes) trigger an increase in interest in leisure activities, an increase in awareness of the importance of primary prevention and the reduction of youth crime. Increasing crime is a long-standing problem affecting both participating countries, and any reduction in crime is an important shift in both societies. As a long-term benefit of the project, we see, among other things, the established friendly relations between Czech and Latvian students. After completing the project, these students visit each other and compare the shift in the fight against crime in both countries. This information continues to spread amongst its peers, thereby helping to reduce youth crime.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 82800 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stredni zdravotnicka skola a Vyssi odborna skola zdravotnicka, Pribram I, Jiraskovy sady 113 & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• J Cakstes Liepajas pilsetas 10vidusskola