European values for new generations – Living democracy in schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

European values for new generations – Living democracy in schools

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

„We prepare tomorrow‘s democracy through the democracy in schools“(Célestin Freinet, 1896-1966)
The 21st century experiences a fast-changing world that concerns all fields of life: society, culture, politics and the labour market. This high speed unsettles many people.
We observe in almost all European societies a social, political and cultural divide, which is deeper than ever before. This divide resulted in the past years up to today to discrimination, racism, xenophobia and in extremis to violence and terrorism.
We observe the great changes in the working life: the technological revolution has a fundamental impact on the profession and the workplaces.
All these changes have and will have a great impact on education and more than ever on the education for democracy.
In order to face these great challenges, our European societies need to wind down and to reflect their democratic values in the perspective to the living and the working together in the Europe of the 21st century. Education has a crucial role to play within this process.
The partners of this proposed project are aware of this tremendous task for education, for schools, headmasters, teachers, parents, students, political decision-makers, all educative experts and even the civil society.
The general goals of the proposed project are, to share and exchange with the partners their practice in the field of student’s representation and participation with a strong look on teacher’s competences to prepare the students for their life as active democratic citizens and as future actors on the European labour market.

With ten partners from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Poland and Spain the project ensure a cultural and geographical diversity of the partners and a variety of profiles:
a. Five schools from each partner country, teaching students from the age of 6 to 17. They are all experienced in the field of education for democracy and values education.
b. One University that covers teacher initial and in service training and has a good experience in the project’s topic.
c. Three institutions of teacher-in-service-training, which are experienced in education for democracy, ICT, European projects and dispose on large networks of heterogeneous stakeholders.
d. One NGO that has a large experience in non-formal education, in European projects, in the work with teachers, adults and youth in the field of the project’s topic and dispose on a network of 78 NGOs in 25 countries.

To achieve our goals we plan the following activities:
1. Six transnational meeting of the steering group to ensure the smooth process of the project
2. Five job shadowing and accompanying workshops in the respective partner schools with the aim to discuss and analyses the observation and to define the needs for teacher competences.
3. The production of relevant documents and a set of materials, tools and methods.

These activities will be supported by a methodology based on the project management:
1. A well-structured management
2. A strong communication with the partners
3. Application of cooperative and interactive methods during the workshop to foster the cooperation of the partners and their mutual understanding
4. Implementation of the dissemination plan: information in the social and print media, European platforms as well as cooperation with other stakeholders and teaching experts

The results will be
1. An introducing description of the current state of the education for democracy,
2. A matrix that supports the observation during the job shadowing
3. A matrix for the evaluation of the observation
4. A compilation of the observation and consultation in the partner’s schools
5. A set of adapted materials, tools and methods of inspiring examples
6. A virtual platform hosted on the project’s website
7. A document including the analysis of the observation and the needs for teachers and schools in order to develop their education for democracy
8. A grid of a regional round table with other stakeholders

The impact envisaged is to foster the education for democracy in our countries with the aim to strengthen the competences of teachers, the school development and the development of teaching in the field of values education. This with the support of the outcomes and through their availability on European and project’s virtual platforms, other teacher training institutes and schools all over Europe have access to the materials, tools and methods as well as to the accompanying documents.

The longer-term benefit should be a better understanding by all stakeholders in the field of education of the necessity of values education, of the education for democracy, especially for student’s representation and participation as the guarantee of the further development of sustainable democratic societies in Europe.
It is without saying that a better understanding leads to more commitment.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 194925 Eur

Project Coordinator

Pädagogisches Landesinstitut Rheinland-Pfalz & Country: DE

Project Partners

• CFIE de Valladolid
• Gimnazija Vukovar
• Integrierte Gesamtschule Landau
• JYVASKYLAN YLIOPISTO
• Korpilahden yhtenäiskoulu
• Regionalny Zespol Placowek Wsparcia Edukacji
• EUROPSKI DOM VUKOVAR/EUROPE HOUSE VUKOVAR