Starke Schüler für ein friedliches Europa – Nein zu Mobbing und Rassismus Erasmus Project

Project Title

Starke Schüler für ein friedliches Europa – Nein zu Mobbing und Rassismus

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

This project deals with the problem of bullying at all kinds of schools which today also occurs in the form of cyber-bullying in digital social network.It aims at providing information about and prevention of school failure and drop out on the one, and racism and xenophobia on the other hand, a challenge of both actual and historical dimensions that must be met if peace and democracy are to prevail.
All three participating schools know the problem of bullying and the teachers’ call for solutions respectively tools to help recognizing symptoms in the first place. The often heed- and careless usage of social media has to be addressed. School drop outs are a phenomenon of societal proportions and the fact that bullying stands as an important cause as it creates school-aversion and angst and may eventually lead to school failure, requires further dedication to close information gaps among staff and students alike. Furthermore the project involves a steady and sustainable process of instructing experts, e.g. in mediation.
Of at least equal importance we consider to have students recognize the link between bullying, xenophobia and racism and to study recent incidents on a regional, national and international scale; i.e. European cases and abroad. Thus, education-wise, the project provides an important contribution to the formation of active, responsible European citizens. Especially the cooperation in international teams (minimum five students and two colleagues from each school) and the close encounter with the neighboring countries in guest families (putting on and swapping the roles of visitor/host) help to reach the aforementioned aim, namely that everyone involved (parents, teachers and students) may feel as a European citizen. Flexibility, mobility and multi-language use are central competences and pivotal for the students future success in a global work environment.
The project encompassed four consecutive one-week work meetings in all three places. In between times were marked by email communication as well as post-meeting analysis and pre-meeting preparation. These meetings built on each other and are based on key competences of the respective participants. Starting point for the first meeting in France was bullying as a cause for school failure on a personal level as well as the socio-political implications of the problem. Our French colleagues have gained significant knowledge during recent projects and provide the necessary modern media for thorough research on the topic. In addition to this the close relation of bullying and racism, which seems to be surprising at first sight, could be shown well by examining recent events in France that drew international reactions. As a result of the first meeting the students created Artmails, i.e. creative postcards on the the topic that were sent to people interested and concerned.The second meeting had an experiential education approach. On the basis of their interests and skills the students created contributions to the topic.In various workshops focusing on different aspects they prepared and realized an evening on which participants presented their results to the public. At the third meeting in Eindhoven a professional filmmaker of the local university supported the students to produce their shortmovies on the topic of bullying and cyber-bullying. The students also visited the football club PSV Eindhoven to get information about the FIFA campaign “No to racism”. Furthermore they visited the Nazi concentration camp „Den Vught“ near by S`Hertogenbosch where they did a guided tour of the camp which included watching a film on the topic. This gave them an impressing insight into the connection between bullying and racism today. It enabled them to understand how important it is, especially today, to deal with that problem. At the final meeting in Xanten a huge mural on the topic consisting of various individual sqares was created by the whole group. The cooperation with highly experienced and qualified art teachers guaranteed a high aethetic quality of art. With the help of experts an opening event for the presentation of the mural was organized. This event was attended by international partners of our school and the public.
All results can be viewed on our school`s homepage and can be used for similiar events and lessons in the future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 59215 Eur

Project Coordinator

Städtisches Stiftsgymnasium Xanten & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Augustinianum
• college notre dame de l’assomption