EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE AND IDENTITY -Sharing and Cherishing Cultural Heritage as a Way of Learning Democratic Values and Strengthening European Social Links and Identity through film making Erasmus Project

Project Title

EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE AND IDENTITY -Sharing and Cherishing Cultural Heritage as a Way of Learning Democratic Values and Strengthening European Social Links and Identity through film making

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

EUCHI — “EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE AND IDENTITY – Sharing and Cherishing Cultural Heritage as a Way of Learning Democratic Values and Strengthening European Social Links and Identity through film making” is a two-year partnership among four schools of Secondary Education from four European countries: The 2nd Gerakas Senior High School, Greece, the IES Fernando Savater, Spain, the Liceul Tehnologic Costesti, Romania and the ISIS Valdarno, Italy.

Greatly alarmed by the rise of populism and euroscepticism among European people, especially the young, we decided to address a topic that meets the EU objectives and aims to highlight the sustainability of the results of the Year of European Cultural Heritage.

Our priority is the teaching of European values and the appreciation of the links that hold European peoples together through the mobilisation of secondary school students (14-18 years old). The topic justifies the transnational frame of the project. Actually, we only learn about European Heritage by visiting European places (cities, towns, etc.) and working with our students in situ on the diversity of it. This project will be a hands-on experience on the European mosaic of cultures, different natural and historical backgrounds, financial opportunities and the promise of a common prosperous future. The four schools are located in four different points of Europe: central, southeast, southwest and East which have followed different historical paths over the time, especially in the 20th century, before they all find their countries belonging to the European Union.

The project uses pupil-centered methodology including field research, involvement of students in decision-making processes and a student conference, photography, active learning techniques in students’ transnational group work and utilization of film making tools and skills. Emphasis is given on students’ active participation and motivation to search and answer what, in their opinion, consists the European Heritage and Identity. We will focus on learning from history: How the past has shaped our future; mistakes not to be repeated; understanding each other through learning about each other’s cultural identity; realising the differences but focusing on the similarities; valueing diversity; forming a European identity; envisioning a common European future. They will come into contact with the rich cultural background of each country visited in innovative ways by living, experiencing or feeling our common heritage: hiking, tasting local cuisine, dancing, visiting areas with historical and cultural significance. They will take an active role in teaching their history to their partners and they will be invited to collectively research, choose their own topics that convey this symbolic value of unity, record and present it to their peers in the form of short videos showing aspects of the European Heritage and Identity as they will have experienced it throughout their interaction.
They will be expected to express their views both in audiovisual messages by the creation of their short films using the international language of the media and in speech by participating in a brief student-conference using English, the “lingua franca” of our era. In this they will present their views and their suggestions for a better European future.
At the end of the project we want our students to be able to answer the question “What does being a European mean?”
Hopefully, the final outcomes, the several documentary short films created by the students and their resolutions from the conference, will be a fresh remark on what the European identity means for this young generation.
The expected results are:
The realization of the common values and features shared by the European peoples
The acquisition of knowledge of European history and cultural heritage in four different European countries
The appreciation of values of democracy from its very first origins to its development
The promotion of mutual understanding and better future collaboration among European people
The incorporation of innovative methods of the project in the daily teaching practice of the participating teachers
The development of partnerships between the four school partners and the exchange of views and good practices
As for the participating schools, the main goal of this Partnership is to strengthen their European dimension and their quality of internalisation, to build up their capacity for cross-border cooperation and their ability to cope with new challenges. By organising mobility activities for our students, these partnerships will also promote the values of inclusion and tolerance.

Key words of our project:
European Heritage, Democratic Values, Strengthening European Social Links, European Identity, Active Citizenship, Film making Skills

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 122046 Eur

Project Coordinator

2nd Gerakas Senior High School & Country: EL

Project Partners

• Liceul Tehnologic Costesti
• ISIS VALDARNO
• IES FERNANDO SAVATER