The project “Debating Our Way to Citizenship: from School Representation to the EU Parliament” is going to be implemented by a partnership consisting of four secondary schools from four different European countries – France, Greece, Italy and Romania. The partners are state general education schools and France will be coordinating the project. The project is student-centered, both in terms of our aims and in the students’ involvement in almost all project activities at all stages – from preparation to evaluation and dissemination of its results. It is an answer to the need to shape young people in a comprehensive way - to develop them as individuals, but also members of local communities and nations, citizens of their own countries and united Europe. The aims of the project are : - to compare the system of representation of the students within each school, study the school system of the partners, - to promote the democratic dialogue to all common issues, and respect of free expression and study the value of debate in democratic procedures. - to learn the art of debating and public speaking by tackling different topics in relation to participatory democracy and the role of youth in the construction of the European Union. The project will be included in the partners' school's history, citizenship and modern language curricula. Our joint efforts will be recorded, documented and most placed online within our website. For such tasks students will develop their research, editing and IT skills, whilst being faced with materials being in a number of foreign languages, and thereby how to tackle and overcome such barriers, thereby improving their linguistic skills. Discovering, analyzing, comparing topical dimensions of democracy, how it works in different countries, the pros and cons of applying democracy on various aspects of life, equal rights to people no matter what their origin or nationality is, are worth inquiring through group working and debate rounds among students. Thus the mobilities will enable students to apply their newly acquired skills in the art of debating and public speaking as competitions of debates will take place. The teams will be created, mixing the different nationalities. Working together with representatives of other nations and cultures, speaking different languages, we intend to raise awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe, increase language skills and motivation to learn foreign languages. By distance cooperation and the need to use modern equipment and ICT in many activities at home, we want to increase their skills to use them. The project will culminate with a learning mobility taking the students and their teachers from the coordinating school in Bourges to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. A sense of both national and European pride will emerge as we find students realize that their actions today shape our present and determine our future, and our exchanges will enable them to meet and live with other cultures and better understand their joint role in how we live together today.
Our project was conceived as a journey – we invited the actors of the project to go on a journey to apprehend their European citizenship and develop their knowledge of democracy thanks to the art of debating. Our project was also focused on the different forms of democratic life, from ancient Greece, where democracy was born, up to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. This journey led them from their classroom to the European Parliament in Strasbourg – hence the title of our project: Debating our Way to Citizenship : from School Representation to the EU Parliament. The partnership was composed of four high schools from France, Greece, Italy and Romania. Students who travelled the world not as tourists and also students who worked on the project without taking part in the mobilities enjoyed greatly the Erasmus+ experience and improved their linguistic-technological and social skills very much. They became aware of their skills and of the beauty of diversity. In the meantime they also developed a sense of belonging to a wider territory which goes far beyond borders and they felt to be European citizens. The objectives were to: - compare the systems of democratic representation on different levels - encourage democratic dialogue and train our students to debate - develop a sense of belonging to the European Union, meeting their European peers - accept differences and embrace diversity through a dialogue between cultures - develop linguistic, technological and social skills The tournaments of debates, during the mobilities, were a great successful experience in which students felt to be the real protagonists of the project and worked so hard and so well for the implementation of the project. The teams for the debate were international, mixing students from each country. Coordinators and all partners were able to discuss and implement all the points which were in the project and easily found an agreement for everything, working in an extraordinary cooperative mood. We managed to create bridges among our school communities and we were also able to follow some needs to push the project on an upper level. What really makes this project a successful one is not only our unforgettable journey in time and space, but the great skills developed by our debaters mobility after mobility. In the very end of the project we can state that our targets were achieved: students improved their language skills, both during debate activities and being in touch with their partners. So they managed to get a deeper knowledge and understanding of the new cultures, going beyond stereotypes. Hence our students became more tolerant and able to express their desire to communicate with strangers using a second language, to read foreign newspapers, listen to foreign radios and media, watch movies with subtitles rather than merely dubbed for example. By working with countries that are members of the European Union and especially reflecting on representation we built a sense of EU belonging, and a sentiment of European citizenship. What is even more remarkable is that students improved their leadership and teamwork skills. They achieved performances in new situations, managed cooperation with people from different cultural, national, linguistic and social backgrounds. They found new interests hence strengthening their open-minded attitude towards diversity. We also managed to bridge the gap between professional politicians and “people in the street” involving local political representatives and EUMPs. Each country was in touch with their EUMP and managed to meet them at Strasbourg Parliament, which was somehow the climax of our Erasmus+ project. Indeed, all the project activities had a strong positive impact on our students who were deeply inspired by all these great opportunities.