Our project Schengen 2.0 – Life without frontiers in Europe – can be considered an answer to the current needs as well as the problems of the European Union. Due to our geopolitical situation in Europe – a huge amount of immigrants and refugees, the crisis in solidarity and the obvious limits of tolerance between the European members – we agreed on this topic. So our aim is to convince young people that everybody deserves understanding, openness and friendship regardless of ethnic origin, race and nationality. Furthermore our aim is to evoke a certain responsibility for the European idea, to initiate a collective effort to fight for its integrity. The name Schengen 2.0 is chosen on purpose. It creates a direct connection to the idea of the Schengen convention. We see this project as an important European and international contribution for the fight and the maintenance of a Europe without frontiers. All our activities are aiming to that. The aim of our project is to reduce the number of high school dropouts and to limit the discrimination by getting to know the good practise that we have in Germany. At school there is the offer of carrers advisory service and professional job preparation for the step into the world of work. At the first meeting, the participants are going to learn about the history of Europe before and after “Schengen”. The information will be provided by History and Social Studies teachers. History research institutions might assist based on documents and texts. The students will become aware of the tendencies of national freedom on one hand and the unification of the national states throughout Europe on the other hand. After that the results are verified and compared to today’s facts. The first inspection of a company will lead us to Villeroy&Boch where interviews with the employees are a basis for preparation for the job market. The students will also work together on a calendar where they will get to know the varieties in Europe. At our meeting in Poland students get an insight into the history of the Karpathian foreshore and the national varieties there. At the visit of the center of glas manufacuring students are able to discover their own skills in this handcraft and widen their knowledge of the job market. The next meeting (in Germany) will also be concerned with exchanging practise. Students gain key competence to stand up to the challenges of the job market. It is highly important to include the group of immigrants to show that, apart from ethnic origin, education is relevant for the job market. The tradition of music and its transnational function will be the topic for our fourth meeting in Rumania. Modern music will be presented in a radio broadcast showing the common ground as well as the uniqueness of music. The meeting in France provides the answers to the questions on how we are seen by different cultures and nations, how we really are and how our perception has changed during the project on a unified Europe. The ideas and results of the project will be presented and published on the internet. We are also planning open encounters with inhabitants and invited guests. The topic of music and the conference will be closely linked to the public. The printed cook book, the display cabinet with historical documents, the exhibition of pictures and the video materials are presented in our school and will be accessible to the public. The sustainability of the project is reflected in our newly built friendships which will definitely enforce the idea of a unified Europe and thus keep it alive. The continuity of contacts between the schools ensures that the contents we worked on can also be used in other educational processes. We hope that our work will encourage similar projects in the future.
Our project Schengen 2.0 – Life without frontiers in Europe – can be considered an answer to the current needs as well as the problems and demands of the European Union. Due to our geopolitical situation in Europe we agreed on this topic. So our aim was to convince young people that everybody deserves understanding, openness and friendship regardless of ethnic origin, race and nationality. Furthermore our aim is to evoke a certain responsibility for the European idea. The aim of our project is to reduce the number of high school dropouts and to limit the disadvantages by getting to know the good practical experience that we have in Germany. At school there is the offer of careers advisory service and professional job preparation for the step into the world of work. It was shown that kids with a migratory background can also be successful. Due to the factory tours we made in the participating countries we were able to link the schools and the local companies. Before and during the first meeting in Hungary, the participants learned a lot about the history of Europe before and after “Schengen”. The information was provided by History and Social Studies teachers as well as history research institutions like the museum Emlekpont. As the students collected documents, passports, permits, visa and texts they became aware of the tendencies of national freedom on one hand and the unification of the national states throughout Europe on the other hand. After that the results were evaluated and compared to current facts. The results are on display in our showcases. At our visit of the popular fence at the Serbian border the students got the possibility to look at the refugee crisis from a different perspective. The first tour of a company led us to Villeroy&Boch where interviews with the employees became a practical insight into the world of work. At our meeting in Poland students got to know the history of the Carpathian foreshore and the national varieties there. The students also worked together on a calendar (with national holidays and celebrations) for the participating countries. Diversity became also obvious when the kids had a workshop where each country performed their own national dance and students from all counties learned and performed a Polish dance on stage together. At the visit of the center of glas manufacturing students were able to discover their own skills in this handcraft and widen their knowledge of the job market. The next meeting in Germany was also concerned with exchanging practical knowledge. Students gained key competences to stand up to the challenges of the job market in a workshop called “careers advice”. It was highly important to include the group of immigrant students to the tour of the Villeroy and Boch company to show that, education - not the ethnic origin - is relevant for the job market. In the conference “Job perspectives in a Europe without borders” considerable experts of economy and politics took part. The administrator Mrs Daniela Schlegel-Friedrich even gave a lecture on the topic. At the European Parliament in Luxembourg and at the European museum in Schengen we got various information about the European Union. The tradition of music and its transnational function was the topic for our fourth meeting in Romania. At home the students had translated the chorus of the song “Stand by me” from Ben E. King in their own language. At our stay in Romania they had to perform the song together on stage. Furthermore the students and teachers took part in a flash mob, that was recorded and published. Our connection to the job market in Romania was the inspection of a violin factory. The cultural highlight of our visit certainly was the mutual attendance of a concert at the palace of culture of the city. These musical activities aimed in the realization that music has a certain uniqueness and can function as link between different cultures. Participating colleagues were either experts in the field of careers advice or specialist teachers who supported the students in the preparation. The participating students were suggested by teachers. We aimed in teaching the students to collaborate, to solve problems and to develop a personal opinion. Our activities have aroused a European Thinking and have led to acceptance and tolerance. On a national and international basis we have contributed to the decline of prejudice and consolidation of the European Idea.