The Young Europe Debates project aims to improve our students’ learning, literacy, and social competences. They are all formed through and supported by the innovative method of the public debate, very much appreciated by students. By implementing the project, English language and IT competences will also be improved, both in students and teachers. The teaching process will be improved by using the academic debate method during classes. The four debate topics proposed for the four international competitions, all of them of major interest in the European society (contemporary migration, youth rights, politics and international affairs), will help the process of creating a well-informed active European citizen, who has a well argumented opinion which he can express publicly. There will be debate clubs in each partner school, open to all high school students 15 to 18 years old interested in this type of activity and teachers functioning as trainers (approximately 200). There will also be demonstrative activities as local debate competitions where students, teachers, parents, members of the local community and media representatives will be invited (approximately 240 participants). These activities will be promoted both through the project’s debating Twin Space and the schools’ websites, thus giving our project a European dimension and opening. There are four transnational meetings planned to take place during the project – necessary in order to organise the rigorous planning of the activities, the evaluation of the activities and the learning results. The partnership will also include four international academic debate competitions during the four Learning Activities, preceded by on-line debates in the virtual space of the project (Twin Space). In the Word School Style format two three-member teams confront each other. They are called Government and Opposition or Supporters and Opponents – of the motion. They present arguments and counterarguments for and against the motion, always respecting the values of tolerance and fair-play. The motion is the debate topic and it represents a statement over which there can be different opinions. It states a real conflict between important values, considered from a practical standpoint. A well-formulated statement will give both teams equal chances and can be announced one month before the competition or during the competition. There are multiple results of this project. Among these we mention the final products the on-line debate Twin Space and the “Young Europe Debates” book. Debate clubs will function in each partner school. By using the method during lessons the teaching process will be made more attractive, and students will be able to develop teamwork skills and will learn to become more actively involved in the life of the community. Participating teachers will improve their English language, IT and social skills as members of the project management team (locally and internationally) and by communicating with other relevant factors (parents, local community, media). An important result is represented by the use and promotion of the academic debate as an innovative, non-formal, highly formative teaching method, with an important impact on the balanced development of youth personality in a society open to knowledge. Institutionally, the results will envisage the improvement of the image of the school in the local community. The international partnership within the project is another important result since it unites four high-school level European institutions, each of them contributing with their valuable teaching experience, thus leading to the exchange of good practices. The impact of the project will be visible on multiple levels: - Students will be better informed, more involved in the life of the community, acquiring competences that support lifelong learning; - Teachers will become resources, supporting the teaching process through the debate clubs; - The partner institutions will benefit from the educational know-how and will have an active role in the community; - The open educational resources of the project will be available to all the ones interested, being published in English on the Twin Space. We consider that the long-term main benefit of implementing the project is the support given to young people in their becoming as well-informed, active and responsible European citizens.
The Young Europe Debates project aims to improve our students’ learning, literacy, and social competences. They are all formed through and supported by the innovative method of the public debate, very much appreciated by students. By implementing the project, English language and IT competences was also improved, both in students and teachers. The teaching process was improved by using the academic debate method during classes. The four debate topics proposed for the four international competitions, all of them of major interest in the European society (contemporary migration, youth rights, politics and international affairs), was helped the process of creating a well-informed active European citizen, who has a well argumented opinion which he can express publicly. We created debate clubs in each partner school, open to all high school students 15 to 18 years old interested in this type of activity and teachers functioning as trainers (approximately 200 students). We organized also demonstrative activities as local debate competitions where students, teachers, parents, members of the local community representatives were invited (approximately 240 participants). These activities were promoted both through the project’s page on Twin Space and the schools’ websites, thus giving our project a European dimension and opening. We had four transnational meetings who take place during the project, where we organize the rigorous planning of the activities, the evaluation of the activities and the learning results. The partnership has also included four international academic debate competitions during the four Learning Activities. The four Learning Activities in our Erasmus project consisted in international competitions of teams coming from the four partner schools represented a method to test the manner in which each club has trained and prepared for the academic debates competitions. They were international competitions in which young people had the opportunity to express their views on the contemporary world: youth rights and education, international affairs, contemporary migration, civil rights. Challenged by the idea of the competition, students were directly involved in the learning process, have been searching for information in different ways including the use of IT instruments, arguments and counter-arguments, thus developing literacy competences and critical, synthetic, analytical thinking competences. By participating in the debates, they also developed their fair-play and tolerance spirit, since the rules insisted on not interrupting the speaker and accepting the debate as a confrontation of ideas. There are multiple results of this project. Among these we mention the final products the on-line debate Twin Space https://twinspace.etwinning.net/60842/forum, and the “Young Europe Debates” guide. Debate club have function in each partner school. The students develop teamwork skills and learn to become more actively involved in the life of the community. Participating teachers improve their English language, IT and social skills as members of the project management team (locally and internationally) and by communicating with other relevant factors (parents, local community, media). An important result is represented by the use and promotion of the academic debate as an innovative, non-formal, highly formative teaching method, with an important impact on the balanced development of youth personality in a society open to knowledge. Within the National College for the next school year, the students from the 10th grade, including two students participating in mobility, members of the debate club, chose as an option the course of debates held by the project coordinator. Institutionally, the results consist in the improvement of the image of the school in the local community. The international partnership within the project is another important result since it unites four high-school level European institutions, each of them contributing with their valuable teaching experience, thus leading to the exchange of good practices. The impact of the project is visible on multiple levels: - Students are better informed, more involved in the life of the community, acquiring competences that support lifelong learning; - Teachers have become resources, supporting the teaching process through the debate clubs; - The partner institutions have benefit from the educational know-how and they have an active role in the community; - The open educational resources of the project are available to all the ones interested, being published in English on the Twin Space https://twinspace.etwinning.net/60842/forum . We consider that the long-term main benefit of implementing the project is the support given to young people in their becoming as well-informed, active and responsible European citizens.