The Euro-EPS project ("To Encourage European political skills"), which is influenced by the current state of the European Union and its member states and the perception of related issues like euroscepticism, populism and re-nationalism, aims at strengthening the competencies of both professionals working with young people with and without disadvantages in civic education and young people (with disadvantages). The former shall widen their methodological knowledge on instruments regarding the perception of political phenomena in general and of European political phenomena in specific by young people and of ways to foster the civic engagement of the target group. And the youngsters shall widen their knowledge on methods that can be used to perceive political phenomena as a whole in order to raise their motivation to engage themselves in European politics.This shall be done as the EU and its states are in a dangerous situation, plagued by many crises. Everybody who lives in the EU is hit by these crises, but especially the young people with disadvantages, who do not know very much about the golden times of the EU. As a result, many of them connect the EU more and more with problems instead of peace, integration and economic prosperity. And this can be attributed mainly to a disturbed perspective on these phenomena. Therefore, in the Euro-EPS projects new and innovative materials will be developed in order to teach the young people these methods by reference to the current state of the EU and its member states. Before, teachers/trainers will took part in an international workshop to expand their knowledge on perception of political phenomena in times of modern ICT and ways to engage oneself in a democratic society. In the end, a guidebook for transnational usage will be written encompassing the methodology to foster the perception skills of young people with disadvantages, guidelines how to use it, and best practice examples that occurred during the project implementation. This will be done as it is central to create ways for young people with and without disadvantages in order to: a) empower young people to see the whole picture about the debate and current state of the European Union as a counterweight towards political phenomena like euroscepticism, populism and re-nationalism;b) integrate their voices and their commitment into the European debate.Partners from the different regions of the EU will take part in order to ensure that the voices of young people from all over Europe can be integrated and to ensure that the project has a transnational dimension, meaning its results are relevant for every member state.
The Euro-ESP project took place under the background of the recent rise of populism, Euroscepticism, and nationalism in Europe and its member states. The aim was to organize an international training workshop and to develop training materials for professionals that can be used for strengthening major civic education skills of youngsters, especially of youngsters with special needs. Through the different activities of the project, resulting in four IOs, the professionals that took part at the project could widen their professional and methodological skills in the field of civic education, especially for the work with youngsters with disadvantages. The youngsters they are working with and who took part at the project benefitted through the opportunity to strengthen their civic education skills, like discussing, participation, communication, etc. (something which also supports their integration in a more inclusive society as well as their general awareness about the importance of a democratic state structure (both issues as in line with the selected priorities of the project)). Finally, the five organizations taking part at the Euro-EPS project could widen their general experience in the field of civic education, especially when putting on strong emphasis on EU and EU related topics. Therefore, at the beginning of the project the partners developed a short questionnaire and held focus groups to analyze more deeply what youngsters, especially one with special needs, think about the EU and EU related issues. The results of these activities were summarized in a short report. On the basis of this information partners developed afterwards a training pathway for an international training workshop, which was implemented for 5 days to equip all trainers with the knowledge needed for the development of the training materials with a focus on special education needs. These training materials for the youngsters have then been developed in a next step. To evaluate their impact most of them were piloted by the partners involved in the project under the active participation of their youngsters. Finally, a guidebook has been produced, consisting of basic information about the project, methodological guidelines, and of the training course and its materials. In a long term perspective these materials can be used from now on by other professionals working in the field of youth and/or civic education, as they have been developed for a flexible use in varying contexts to strengthen the skills of other youngsters all over Europe. By doing the project and its activities, more than 200 people benefitted directly be the activities of the project. Trainers could strengthen their methodological competencies and got new teaching and training materials that they can use for their everyday work with the youngsters in their organizations. More than 75 youngsters could strengthen their civic education skills when piloting the activities. And more than 100 external stakeholders from different fields could get informed about the project, its objectives, its European dimension, and its results on the multiplier events. Exceeding this, more people were reached mainly indirectly, especially trough the different dissemination activities that took place during the implementation period of the project, where they were informed about the Euro-EPS project and its most important aspects. All activities were done by the partnership consortium in cooperation. In total, five organizations were part of this partnership: - CJD, Germany (social and educational institution) - Fundacion INTRAS; Spain (social and educational institution) - INUK, Slovenia (research and educational institution) - Coop SAPSE, France (social and educational institution) - Seurakuntaopisto Kirkkopalvelut ry, Finland (educational institution)