Becoming Europolitans – experiencing cultural diversity Erasmus Project

Project Title

Becoming Europolitans – experiencing cultural diversity

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: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Our schools are committed to advancing European integration from North to South and from East to West. The majority of our students identify themselves with our cholastic rules of an open and intercultural life together. These students have already developed a positiv attitude towards Europe through school work and class projects and understand themselves as part of the European community. However, a part of our student body is opposed to the cultural diversity in Europe.
Our focus is on students between 13 and 15 years who represent intolerant, nationalistic and anti-European ways of thinking. At this age, their attitudes and values have not yet cemented from a developmental/psychological point of view. The adolescents/teenagers are going through a period of transition in those years and are developing their identities, building a perspective for their futures, expanding theit social skills and are searching for meaning. This is why we believe that this phase is especially suitable to initiate a change of attitude towards Europe through intercultural encounters and collaborations. Because we only have limited educational opportunities as a school, we may not be able to turn our students into Cosmopolitans during their few years with us. However, we have made it our goal to help them turn into Europolitans – European citizens. To reach this goal, it is indispensable to discover, experience and understand cultural diversity in Europe. Through intercultural experiences during the excursions, our target group is supposed to discover cultural diversity as one of Europe’s substantial values and mature into Europolitans. It is our goal to enable our students’ social Integration into the European community.
We are planning six excursion with different thematic focal points:
– Cyprus: Our song for Europe
– Portugal: Regional but European
– Macedonia: Communication & multilingualism
– Poland: Democracy and culture as a peacemaker
– Latvia: Our common heritage
– Germany: Art connects
Six students from each partner school will participate per excursion. The participants will continue to pursue the project goals in the interim phases and will function as multipliers: They will give presentations in their classes, organize information evenings for parents together with their teachers, and reflect on their experiences in class, for example in the form of an online blog. This way, they will continue to develop further into Europolitans after the excursions. At the same time, we want to position ourselves in our communities and towns as strong European schools as well as symbolize forward-thinking schools that live the European idea in everyday school life for our future students and external persons.
The review of our project goals consists of two central components: We use indicators that show changes in the behavior of our students towards acceptance and appreciation of European diversity. For this purpose, we plan to conduct observations of our students’ behavior and thought patterns throughout the project duration. During the interim phases, we want to consciously include situations in class in which we can analyze the actions and thoughts of our students, for example by confronting them with otherness. Our second component consists of questionnaires that we will use at the beginning of the project and after the meetings for all participants. The questionnaires are modeled after the Eurobarometer survey. With this method we want to examine whether the students are able to have a differentiated perception of cultural differences, reflect critically on their own value orientation and whether they have dismantled stereotypical thought patterns. By reviewing the indicators and the questionnaires, we can draw comparisons between the current and the initial situation at the start of the project.
The project will be an integral part of the school development. The Max-Ernst-Schule aspires to further develop into a European school (Europaschule) in Hessen. Our partner schools are also planning to sharpen their profiles with regard to the European sentiment. Our cooperation is supposed to serve as a kick-off for our plans regarding school development. For this purpose, our schools will take new directions in curricular work and focus on long-term cooperations with the participating schools and external participants via eTwinning.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 190160 Eur

Project Coordinator

Max-Ernst-Schule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Zespol Szkolno-Przedszkolny nr 2
• Agios Athanasios Gymnasium
• AGRUPAMENTO DE ESCOLAS DA NAZARÉ
• Primary School “Koco Racin” Prilep
• Riga Secondary School 71