While topics like cultural division and political differences increasingly dominate the current debate in Europe our cooperation of four partner schools in Rome, Bucharest, Budapest and Stuttgart intends to provide the opportunity for our students to become more aware of, teach and actively practice values that unite Europeans. Contributing diverse democratic histories and cultural backgrounds one group of 15 to 20 six form students at each partner school first define democratic values such as freedom, active responsible participation, justice and integration. Then they research the opportunities their school offers to participate in school life and organize their own learning and exchange their results with the partner schools. Based on this intercultural investigation of classroom activities and teaching methods an international group of students develops a peer-to-peer teaching module on European values in English. The partner schools integrate this module created and managed by students into their curricular activities, provide opportunities for them to teach it, to evalute its effectiveness and present it to other schools or teacher training seminars. While the first project year aims at curricular innovation and a broader range of student-led learning activities, the second project year focuses on decision making structures in school and participation opportunities within the local communities. Exchanging their analyses of their own schools and national environments students develop a set of recommendations of how to put democracy at a European school into practice and get active outside. The will also teach the module developed in the first year at one of the partner schools abroad and evaluate it in an intercultural context. Turning their own ideas into action allows the teaching students to improve their English, experience the challenges involved in project management and devolop a better understanding of divers cultural backgrounds. This promotes their ability to deal with new and unexpected output in a responsible way. They actively experience democratic and social structures, are encouraged to show initiative, develop new ideas in a responsible and creative way and act as role models for younger students. Each partner school experiences the need to strengthen the European profile by letting students feel part of the European idea. The project also demands a level of entrepreneurship in terms of managing skills and empathy that that will enable students to contribute to an increasingly complex job market and make them more resilent faced with divisional ideologies. The peer-to-peer teaching module on active democratic participation and European values accompanied by a tool box of student-led learing methods is the core objective our intercultural learning is focused on. Multiplication at the partner schools, continued evaluation by students and teachers and publication ensures that it can be adapted to different political and cultural contexts, current needs and age groups in a long term perspective.
Our cooperation of four partner schools in Rome, Bucharest, Budapest and Stuttgart provided the opportunity for our students to become more aware of, teach and actively practice values that unite Europeans. Year 1: Contributing diverse democratic histories and cultural backgrounds one group of 15 to 20 six-form students at each partner school first defined democratic values such as freedom, active responsible participation, justice and integration. Our project logo created by Italian students won the first price in a logo competition in which the students also visualised their values. Then each national student group researched the opportunities their school offers to participate in school life and organize their own learning and exchanged their results with the partner schools. First international student conference (LTTA - C1 Stuttgart ): In preparation of the first one-week international student conference in Stuttgart the national student teams then strated to research on one of the partner states' "European story" and developed a presentation. These expert talks opened the conference and stimulated discussion in international groups comparing political structures. Based on their intercultural investigation of classroom activities, teaching methods and social and political structures, peer-to-peer teaching module on European values in English were then developed in international teams. During this second part of the conference the students also taught each other and discussed and evaluated their own output.The final phase of the conference focussed on a discussion about an "ideal European" school and the evaluation of the meeting. Conference output and impact: The peer-to-peer teaching modules on Europe (milestone treaties; common market, decision making, values, education, union or confederacy, Europe's answer to current challenges) were presented and amended at home and integrated into the partner schools` curricular activities. Year 2: While the first project year aimed at curricular innovation and a broader range of student-led learning activities, the second project year focused on "democracy in action": decision making structures in the EU, participation opportunities within the local communities and Europe's road ahead. The students first developed speeches on their personal view of the role of the EU and its future. Second international student conference (LTTA - C2 Rome): In preparation of the second one-week student conference they then developed lessons on decision making in the European parliament and the Council of the EU. During the first part of the conference the students taught each other on how the European parliament and the Council of the EU amend and pass laws and evaluated their peer-to-peer teaching. In the second part of the conference decision making in the European Parliament and the Council of the EU was simmulated in a role play situation reacting to a European crisis. Students had been allocated a choice of EU member states and political fractions to represent in a parliament session. They gave speeches and simmulated a debate on the issue of refugees in the Council of the EU. Finally A fictitious crisis in Turkey inititated further discussion and lobbying now in a different role as members of political fractions again allocated to the students followed by simmulated sessions of the EU parliament and resolutions. conference output and impact: The lessons developed for the conference were improved upon at home integrating feedback, drafting and editing lesson plans, improving methods and classroom management and teaching other classes. During the last phase of Agora the national student groups invesitgated opportunities of getting involved locally or on the European level and discussed scenarios of Europe's road ahead. Impact and benefits: Turning their own ideas into action allowed students to improve their English, experience the challenges involved in project management and devolop a better understanding of divers cultural backgrounds. This promoted their ability to deal with new and unexpected output in a responsible way. They actively experienced democratic and social structures, showed initiative, developped new ideas in a responsible and creative way and acted as role models for younger students. Evaluation revealed that the project also demanded a level of entrepreneurship in terms of managing skills and empathy that was appreciated by students and teachers. The peer-to-peer teaching modules on active democratic participation and European values have been intergated to different degrees into the partner schools' curricular, can be taught, further refined and adapted to different political and cultural contexts, current needs and age groups in the future.