One of the biggest challenges for Europe is the recent problem of migration and refugees. Especially Germany, Italy, Austria and Italy – countries taking part at the present project – are deeply involved in these issues, but also the Netherlands are affected. There are quite different strategies of dealing with this matter locally; none of them can be considered as “complete”.What society expects from teachers is to know about and to react upon the social and political problems of present times. Also pupils in their role as future grown-ups will sooner or later have to face the quest for adequate and feasible handling of such issues and to find their own ways of getting involved personally. Therefore it is of importance to create awareness of their own responsibility both in teachers and students and to put to test various possibilities of social engagement also at school.However, this can not be done without reflection on positions and values which are considered as foundation of European society and which make possible a more humane intercourse with refugees and migrants in our own surroundings. But in the present situation these values are sometimes considered to be in danger. It may help to get aware to the fact that migration and flight are, for whatever reasons, no phenomena of recent times. In fact, in texts read by pupils during their classical lessons they encounter a number of “refugees”, both mythological and persons from history, presenting various considerations and reflections on the problem of how to deal adequately with foreign people and customs and to be seen from an at first “different” and inspiring point of view. Pupils are supposed to select from a certain pool of texts whichever they consider most appropriate for practical realisation. With the aid of their teachers and including external partners (support groups for migrants and refugees, journalists, politicians, theatres, ALP Dillingen, MPZ München, BIB Bolzano) they are to jointly develop proposals for a theoretical and creative debate (dialogues, scenic plays or other artistic projects) on the subject matter. Special qualifications and contacts of the participating schools will be emphasized. Results will be presented by the multi-national groups at the participating schools in the form of performances and exhibitions. These presentations will be used for fund-raising to support juvenile refugees at the respective locations of the schools. All activities will be shared by means of eTwinning and a common homepage (www.gymnasien.eu); it should be possible to use the developed material on a more general base.We are deeply convinced that working on a common European platform is of the utmost importance for learning more about different positions and regulations in the various European countries; we hope that an examination of “classical” context in combination with a practical social project may lead to the creation of new ideas. The strength of each of the participating schools being in a different realm, we expect to create an inspiring collaboration.In more detail, the goals of the project are:• to examine the highly topical subject matter “refugee crisis”• to join the discussion on how Europe should deal with it, based on well-founded knowledge of related local problems• to develop inter-cultural, social and civil competence by active practical and also virtual collaboration• to learn together and from each other, both as teachers and as pupils• to provide easy access to related discussions also to educationally disadvantaged people by creation of a homepage or (local or comprehensive) collaboration with journalists• to create a more innovative way of teaching and learning at secondary schools by dealing with highly topical subject matter, developing new material, collaborating with external partners, creatively joining together theory and practical realization• to work together with people from various occupational areas (welfare, journalism, theatre, creative writing, museum educational service) to gain insight into different lines of work.Directly involved into this project are school subjects like German, modern languages, Latin and Ancient Greek, history, arts, philosophy and religion. The work on this project will be done partly within lessons, partly by project teams within school clubs.
Background: One of the biggest challenges for Europe is the recent problem of migration and refugees. As a consequence, also students will have to face the quest for adequate and feasible handling of these issues. Goals of the project: • to examine the highly topical subject matter “refugee crisis” • discussion on how Europe should deal with it, based on an exchange between individual schools from different European countries • to develop inter-cultural, social and civil competence • to learn together and from each other, both as teachers and as pupils • to provide easy access to related discussions also to broader audience by providing access to our homepage http://www.klassischegymnasien.eu • to create a more innovative way of teaching and learning at secondary schools by dealing with highly topical subject matter, developing new material, collaborating with external local partners, providing new ways of access to a long-existing but still urging kind of problem, creatively joining together theory and practical realization • to work together with people from various occupational areas (welfare, journalism, theatre, creative writing, museum educational service) to gain insight into different lines of work. Participating schools: 1. Wittelsbacher-Gymnasium Munich is a state-run secondary school with linguistic and humanistic/classic branches (Latin – English – Ancient Greek). 2. Gymnasium “Walther von der Vogelweide” in Bolzano with more than 850 students has been existing for more than 60 years; the Klassische Gymnasium is the oldest among various branches. 3. Barlaeus Gymnasium Amsterdam is a classical-language secondary school with long tradition (founded in 1885) with special emphasis on theatrical practice. 4. Bundesgymnasium Rein has already broad experience with Comenius projects. The existing Übergangsklasse offered the opportunity of personally meeting young refugees at one of the participating schools. 5. GYMNASIO GAZIOU is a secondary school of Greek type that has been earning great success in nationwide theatrical competitions and has considerable experience with ETwinning. Directly involved into this project were school subjects like German, modern languages, Latin and Ancient Greek, history, arts, philosophy and religion. The work on this project has been done partly within lessons, partly by project teams within school clubs. At first, the students concerned themselves with texts in ancient Greek and Latin on (real and mythological) refugees, displaced or stranded persons, or expatriates, as well as various philosophical positions (focus of first project meeting in Munich). During the second project meeting in Bolzano, a number of texts was composed, partly in preparation of an updated version of “Hiketides” by Aischylos for a representation planned for the second project year. During the third project meeting in Amsterdam, the “Hiketides” could be staged by a team of pupils from all participating schools. Results acquired during the project mostly by Wittelsbacher Gymnasium Munich were introduced into an exhibition in the Abgussmuseum. Connected with this exhibition was a campaign for donations for a home for young refugees in the centre for asylum seekers in Anogia / Crete, which was visited during the fourth project meeting in Gazi. During the fifth meeting in Rein, the students met the “Übergangsklasse” with refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. In this way, the participating teachers learned about exemplary situations of local refugees (Crete, Steiermark, South Tyrol, also Munich and Amsterdam) and the chances and problems of their integration at school (Rein). The students not only acquired broad-based knowledge but also had practical exercise in on-stage representation, in composing creative and informative texts and in presenting them. The use of English language during meetings also enhanced their competence in using a foreign language. Especially their social competence was stimulated by the collaboration in international groups and by personal meetings with refugees. The results will be included in the training of students and young teachers and also in further training courses for teachers. The project team has made available their activities mainly on a common homepage (www.klassischegymnasien.eu), some more material using ETwinning platform. Some of the teachers are completing to develop material which will be useful on a broader scale in Latin and Greek lessons. Longer-term possibilities for support of refugees in the framework of our schools result from the support of the centre of asylum seekers near Iraklio and the Caritas branch Gries/Bolzano.