Due to the influx of refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Europe, the issue of migration has become very important and places great challenges on the receiving societies and thus also on schools. Many of us are not aware of the fact that migration has been practiced for thousands of years and has influenced and shaped our culture in many areas and has determined our everyday life. In the schools' curricula, national focus is set on only historically significant migratory movements of people, outstanding discoveries or social achievements and crimes (colonization, ideals of the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, ethnic cleansing), showing the similarities of European historical and socio- cultural development. On the other hand a linking narrative, relating to our current life-reality and making the impact of migratory aspects comprehensible, is still neglected. The current migratory movement is assessed quite differently in the partner countries, and even a split in Europe is often evocated. We would like to inform ourselves about the motivation and consequences of migration and discuss the E. U. migration policy refering to various media and statistics. With a total of 9 partners from general secondary schools and vocational schools, we are a team of seven long-term partners and two recent ones, among them an Erasmus+ newcomer. Through the different perspectives and approaches of the partners, we can deal with the project theme in a wide variety of facets. The project language is English, but participants communicate also in French, German and Spanish. The participants work project-oriented in multinational teams, which simulates the later professional activity of today's students. They decide, organize and control independently and on their own responsibility with regard to the project tasks and the use of the relevant documentation. Using digital media, they communicate and cooperate transnationally and realize the effective cognitive interaction in peergroups during the international meetings. Participants exchange and expand their existing expertise and fact based knowledge profiting from the international approach. They apply scientific analysis and interpretation methods and get so prepared for their university career. Social interaction with people of different origins, religion and cultural background might lead to a reduction of reserves and prejudices, of stereotypical thinking, xenophobia and racism. The social integration of migrants and immigrants with migration background leads to a better understanding of their situation and their motifs for migration. Participants get an insight in the techniques of manipulation, the effects of mass media polarization and the rhetoric of populist party speeches. They learn about the presence of unilateral mainstream thinking as well as about the identification of "fake news" and "hate speech" and their potential instrumentalisation to reduce freedom of opinion. We carry out expert surveys, interviews with contemporary witnesses and migrants, and realize art workshop to produce our results. We undertake special work assignments for the participating students in preparation for the meetings which aim to provide documentation in form of presentations and films, roll games, teaching sequences for pair-teaching of the partners in order to have maximum input during the meetings. As possible products, we elaborate videos, posters, photo collage, sculpture, roll games, photo novel, a debate, virtual map of the "forced exile", learning modules. As a result, we expect a increase in knowledge of the history, culture and society of the home country, the partner countries and parallels in the development of Europe. In addition, we want to improve the competencies of the participants in the critical reception of media contributions and in revealing manipulative techniques in speech and text. We encourage differentiated thinking, qualified debate and debate culture, and the use of their language skills (mother tongue and foreign language). Professional qualifications, such as language skills (mother and foreign languages), group formation and leadership, organization, criticism, willingness to implement and perform, social and intercultural competence, dealing with modern media, presentation techniques and assessment methods, to work in international teams under time pressure is also improved by the project. We promote as well the general education of the participants, the development of a European corporate identity strenghtening the awareness of our common cultural heritage and canon of humanistic values forming the basic principles for tolerance and empathy towards people of different origin, language and religion.
Due to the massive influx of refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa into Europe in 2015, migration has become very important and remains at the center of public interest, even though migration numbers have declined in the meantime. However, the host societies and therefore the schools still have to face major challenges. Many of us were unaware that migration has been practiced for millennia, has influenced and shaped our culture in many areas and that it has shaped our daily lives. As part of our project, we found that schools' curricula focus solely on historically significant migratory movements of people, outstanding discoveries or social achievements and crimes (colonization, ideals of the Enlightenment, industrial revolution, ethnic cleansing) and cultural development. On the other hand, even after three years of migration crisis, a binding political framework for the member states of the EU, which takes into account our current living reality as well as the strong population increase in Africa and the Middle East, and openly discusses and considers the positive and negative effects of migration still does not exist. The project participants recognized that the current migration movement in the partner countries is assessed very differently. We got the impression that this topic divides the EU and a common solution is still not in sight. In the course of our joint work, we have been able to gather information on the motivation and consequences of migration, using different perspectives and approaches of the partners, and to discuss EU migration policy by referring to various media and statistics. With a total of 9 partners from general secondary schools and vocational schools, we formed a team of seven long-term and two new partners, including an Erasmus + freshman. The project language was English, but the participants also communicated in French, German and Spanish. The participants worked project-oriented in multinational teams, which simulated the later professional activity of today's students. They decided, organized and independently controlled the project tasks and the use of the relevant documentation. We communicated and cooperated with digital media across borders and implemented effective cognitive interaction in peer groups at international meetings. Participants shared their existing expertise and fact-based knowledge and expanded it with new approaches and insights through the international project approach. In addition, scientific analysis and interpretation methods could be used, which deepened the school's practice and prepared for the standards of the universities. The social interaction with people of different backgrounds, religions and cultural backgrounds led to a reduction of reserves and prejudices, stereotypical thinking, xenophobia and racism. The social integration of migrants and students with a migrant background helped to better understand their situation and their migration motives. The participants were given an insight into manipulation techniques, the effects of the polarization of the mass media and the rhetoric of populist party languages. They learned about the existence of one-sided mainstream thinking as well as the recognition of "fake news" and "hate speech" and their possible instrumentalization to restrict freedom of expression. We conducted expert interviews, interviewed contemporary witnesses and migrants, and organized an art workshop to achieve creative results. As products we created videos, posters, photo collages, sculptures, role plays, a debate as well as a virtual map about "forced exile". We deepened knowledge about the history, culture and society of the home country, the partner countries and recognized parallels in the development of Europe. In addition, we improved the competences of the participants in the critical reception of media contributions and the detection of manipulation techniques in speech and text. Our project promoted differentiated thinking, qualified debates and an appreciative debate culture as well as language skills in native and foreign languages. Existing technical qualifications and theoretical knowledge were supplemented and improved by soft factors such as group formation and leadership, organization and hands-on work in international teams - also under pressure of time - implementation and motivation, social and intercultural competence, use of modern media, presentation techniques and assessment methods. In order to share our Erasmus+ activities and results with a larger public, we published them in local and regional newspapers, on our school homepages and on our twinspace homepage.