The SCE is based on the diagnosis that the most important reason for the exclusion of older people is insufficient communication skills understood very broadly. This category also includes difficulties with understanding the media and official messages and documents, the lack of ability to reach the information needed, the lack of digital skills, the ability to use foreign languages and the formulation of messages that fit the needs of contemporary recipient. Great activating and educational opportunities are provided by civic journalism workshops using the Internet and social media. They enable the preparation of an attractive educational program that involves most of the core skills as well as transversal skills such as civic competence, digital, critical skills and creative thinking. Educators with special skills, experience and unique psychological skills (personality) are needed to work on the development of communicative competence in this age group. Sharing experiences and collaborating with partners will let us prepare the Open Guide for Educators with relevant information, recommendations, feedback, observations ihat mprove their knowledge and teaching skills and conclusions from the exchange of experience . It will show how to use social journaling methods and techniques in the workplace: acquiring and verifying information, editing texts, organizing editorial teams, etc. The Guide will be practical and open to complement the experience of other organizations and it will be a compendium of knowledge useful for all European Entities active in the field of education for the elderly. Participants of the project, along with educators from partner organizations, will be active in the process of exploring the real needs of older people in their communities, and in the educational part of the project. 36 people over the age of 60 from three countries will participate in preparation of the Guide alongside the educators from the partners organizations. They will participate in the surveys of educational needs assessment of older people in their environment, and give feedback and "test" recommendations, tools and examples included in the Guide, to fit them to the needs and capacities of the recipients and to ensure level of attractiveness and participation. . They will also be participants in training, as part of blended visits in the field of social journalism, elements of sociology and research methodology, necessary for conducting surveys and interviews, basics of psychology of elderly, social gerontology and psychological aspects of learning in the elderly. During the time between educational meetings, international senior groups will keep contact via Skype, working together on research conclusions. Collaboration of older people from three different countries gives the opportunity to separate the local or national specifics from what can be universal so that the guide can serve not only the educators from Poland, Portugal and Bulgaria but also teachers and trainers from other European countries.
The Silver Civic Education SCE project was based on the diagnosis that the most important reason for excluding elderly people is insufficient, broadly understood communication skills. This category also includes difficulties in understanding media and official news and documents, the inability to reach the information needed, the lack of digital skills, limited ability to use foreign languages, and the formulation of messages that meet the needs of the modern recipient. Social journalism workshops using the Internet and social media provide great opportunities for the activation and education of adults, especially the elderly. They enable the preparation of an attractive educational program covering most of the basic skills as well as transversal skills such as civic competences, digital skills, critical and creative thinking. To work on the development of communication competences in this age group, educators with special skills, experience and unique psychological character (personality) are needed. Sharing knowledge and experience and cooperation with partners allowed us to prepare an Open Guide for teachers with information, recommendations, opinions, insights that increase their knowledge and teaching skills as well as conclusions from the exchange of experience. It shows how to use social journalism methods and techniques in educational activities: obtaining and verifying information, editing texts, organizing editorial teams, etc. The guide is practical and open to supplement with the experience of other organizations and is a compendium of knowledge useful for all European entities operating in the field education of the elderly. Project participants along with educators from partner organizations actively participated in studying the real needs of older people in their communities and in the educational part of the project. 36 people over 60 years from three countries (12 people in each country) along with educators from partner organizations took part in the preparation of the Guide. They participated in the preparation of questionnaires and (after appropriate training) in carrying out research on the assessment of the educational needs of older people in their environment. As part of the project, a total of 622 questionnaires were collected, of which 200 came from Bulgaria, 196 from Poland and 226 from Portugal. All surveys were properly coded and subjected to comparative statistical analysis. The calculations were made using SPSS Statistics 22. Feedback and "test" recommendations obtained in the study, tools and examples are included in the Guide. The research report and Open guide for educators are posted on the project website https://silverciviceducation.wordpress.com/home/ As part of joint visits, seniors "involved" in the project also participated in training in the field of social journalism, elements of sociology and research methodology, necessary to conduct surveys and interviews, the basics of psychology of the elderly, social gerontology and psychological aspects of learning in the elderly. They also discussed the common and individual educational needs of seniors in three countries and the profile of the educator for the elderly. Between educational meetings, international senior groups kept in touch on Facebook, exchanging opinions and experiences. The cooperation of older people from three different countries gave the opportunity to separate the local or national specificity from what can be universal, thanks to which the guide can serve not only teachers from Poland, Portugal and Bulgaria, but also teachers and trainers from other European countries.