North, south, east and west – movement in Europe and cohesion through European values Erasmus Project

Project Title

North, south, east and west – movement in Europe and cohesion through European values

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Migrants’ issues; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

Our project ”North, south, east and west – movement in Europe and cohesion through European values“ deals with the term migration within Europe, its definition and meaning, its history, its challenges but also opportunities in the context of a pan-European co-existence. Participating schools are the Realschule Senne in Germany the 1. Gymnasio Xanthis in Greece, the Greek school on the Turkish island of Imbros and the Munkevaengets School in Denmark.

The students of all participating schools are directly connected to the topic of migration. Both, the German and the Danish school have a high proportion of students with a migration background. The students in Greece grew up with the legacy of the ancestors who fled Asia Minor, and the students on the Turkish island of Gökceada / Imbros are descendants of the Greeks who had previously fled the island.

In order to introduce the topic of “migration” it is foremost necessary for all participants to establish a common knowledge base and answer the questions about the legal definition of migration, its origin, perception within society, its geographical range and the society’s attitude towards it. Following that the participants will focus and compare the results on the cultural, social, economic and religious impact that each society in their country are dealing with, as well as the immigrants today. Finally and including all previous findings, facts and impressions, the students draft a view of Europe’s future. Aspects such as the common roots of Europe and cohesion based on shared values will be the central focus.

The topic should help to break down prejudices among the participants and integrate people with migration background as well as raise awareness of a common European identity.

Participants will be around 25 interested students from year 7-9 from each of the four schools, each of which will be grouped in a voluntary students society. Ideally, the students group consists heterogeneously of students with and without migration background.

The project pictures 4 teaching meetings in the 4 countries, each with a different focus. First, the reasons for migration are worked out and presented in a scenic performance. Furthermore, migration is considered in everyday school life, illustrated in a video profile and the project “School without Racism, School with Courage” in Germany is introduced. Secondly the history of migration in Europe is to be researched, presented on a timeline, in collages, in a blog, etc. Thirdly, the terms of “fatherland, inner and outer homeland”. Interviews with the people involved are conducted and what is heard is implemented in posters and a comic. The final part is the outlook on future Europe with regard to a society of values with European roots and integration of migrants. Based on a MindMap, a model of a new Europe is built from Lego, presented in a video and a booklet is designed.

Every participating school is going to develop a travelling exhibition, which is supplemented and worked on during the exchanges and is finally presented to the public. The history of migration, the impact of migration on society and the migrants themselves as well as the outlook for Europe’s future with regard to its society of values with European roots and the integration of migrants are going to be clearly documented. The exhibition will also include results from various activities. Results will be interviews with topic related people, photos, pictures, statistics and others. It is also planned that at the end of the student exchange the exhibition will be kept by one of the four participant schools to be added by works, which are created during the time until the next exchange. In that way it is constantly being expanded and travels to every country involved in the project.

To open up the project for the respective school and let other students share in the ideas of the workshop, each school sets up an afternoon program in the second year of the project in the sense of a thematically organised cultural event for students, parents and teachers. It is planned to organise activities once a month at each school such as lectures by contemporary witnesses followed by discussions, games, dances and music from other countries and the presentation or readings from works of multicultural literature.

In order to guarantee distribution, sustainability and long-term benefits and to motivate students to engage socially, a part from the cultural café and the actions within the student group “School without Racism”, right at the start a project profile on social media will be set up, which is used during the project for presentation. The idea is that each school will look after a specific area (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook …). Videos, interviews, photos and reports of activities could be reported and published. The travelling exhibition created during the project can subsequently be borrowed from other schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 135242 Eur

Project Coordinator

Realschule-Senne & Country: DE

Project Partners

• OZEL GOKCEADA RUM ORTAOKULU VE LISESI
• Munkevaengets Skole
• 1o Gymnasio Xanthis