We are the citizens of the future Erasmus Project

Project Title

We are the citizens of the future

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

“We are the citizens of the future” intends to create an exchange between the european “small schools” in Italy, Lithuania, Romania and France, included in small rural centers, island areas, in the hinterland and / or in small villages, in order to share school methods and practices that facilitate the active participation and civic and European citizenship competences of students who live in situations of isolation from the national and European context.
In the geographically disadvantaged areas, the lack of services for the young population affects their active participation in social and civic life, and, more in general, the integration within society, not only at local , but above all national and European level (see Eurydice Reports Italy 2018 – ” Citizenship ‘s Education in School in Europe”). In this contexts, as a matter of fact, School places itself as a unique educational and cultural centre dedicated to young people.
Because of this, the project is based on the idea of involving 30 students for its realization (within an age of range of 12 and 14 years ) of 3rd and 4th classes of Lower Secondary School of Italy, Romania, Lithuania and France operating in geographically disadvantaged contexts, so that they can participate in exchange activities that allow them to pursue the following objectives:

•to ensure the acquisition of social, civic and intercultural competences by students, promoting democratic values, social inclusion, non-discrimination and active citizenship;
• to Increase the development of critical thinking and media literacy;
•to Encourage the education of young people living in disadvantaged geographical areas;
• To experiment with learning methodologies that might make the students such as the main characters of the project activities (debate, service learning and cooperative learning);
• to Promote intercultural dialogue by increasing collaborative online learning;
•to ensure the involved schools the openness to the European dimension, increasing their chances of integrating training offers with innovative extra-curricular paths that ensure the active participation of students in school and social life;
• to Develop students’ linguistic and digital skills in order to increase their ability to interact with others other than themselves through the responsible use of ICT tools.
The exchange activities outlined in the project, characterized by moments of virtual mobility (No. 5 through eTwinning) and moments of physical mobility (No. 4 with a rota system for groups of 10 students per each partner school for a duration of 4 days + 2 travel days ), will allow the realization of the following final results:
– a video documentary on “I’m a European Citizen”;
– the creation in each partner school of a Student Committee for extra-curricular activities, in the afternoon, concerning cultural and social promotion initiatives;
– an electronic kit on the Twinspace on “innovative teaching methods useful to the development of the social and civic skills of the learners”.
The following impacts are expected from the realization of the project:
– improvement of students’ evaluations regarding the acquisition of citizenship, linguistic and digital skills, which can be seen from the results of the final verifications, as well as from Self-Assessment Report 2021-2022;
-reduction of the (Percentage) % of school dropout and increase of new members equal to 0.5%;
-a modernization of the educational offer of the participating Institutes: each partner School, thanks to the project experience, will integrate the didactic methodologies experimented in its educational plan and it will encourage the active participation of the students in the school and social life of reference through support to the student committee set up following the project initiative; after 1 year from the conclusion of the project, extra-school activities are expected, aimed at supporting the development of citizenship skills that would increase up to 10% in each partner school, even through the implementation of jointed projects with local authorities and cultural and youth associations of the area.
Through the project experience, moreover, the participating schools will present themselves at local, national and European level as examples of best practices, above all connected with those educational institutions operating in isolated and disadvantaged geographical areas.
This will turn out to be an increase of collaborations with local Institutions, similar schools, even through e-Twinning, Arrangement of Webinars for teachers and Principals who live in similar disadvantaged situations and an increase of European collaborations established by the participating Schools in this Strategic Partnership.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 611,35 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Comprensivo Ippolito Nievo & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Scoala Gimnaziala Petru Rares
• COLLEGE DUPLESSIS DEVILLE FAUCOGNEY
• Klaipedos Liudviko Stulpino Progimnazija