CONTEXT/BACKGROUND Human rights are democratic values based on essential social and civic key competences so European students must be equipped with the right knowledge, skills, attitudes and a commitment to active democratic participation in society. Our project wants to give a model how schools can contribute to students acquiring these skills. It has a competence- and project-based approach to find new ways in education, focusing on practical skills through active learning – ’learning by doing’: learning about democratic principles. OBJECTIVES • to promote human rights, equity, social cohesion and active citizenship through school education by discovering and exchanging good practices of partner schools; • to find new ways and methods for teachers in school education to enhance students’ social and civic competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) in a combination of both curricular and extra-curricular school based activities; • to increase students’ active European citizenship, ability to work in multicultural groups, positive attitude towards European projects and tolerance towards different cultures; • to build a European network of the partner schools lasting after the project period as well. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS • 6 European secondary schools in Romania, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, France and Cyprus, all having curricular and/or extra-curricular programmes for citizenship education; • 25 teachers in the given schools; • 75 students: 12 from each school and Cyprus-15, mostly above the age of 16. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES 1. Preparation A/ Setting up project management, selecting students, creating project website; B/ Preparing project meetings and student exchanges; 2. Implementation A/ Organising after-school workshops for students; B/ Transnational project meetings; C/ Short-term student exchanges for discovering extra-curricular activities related to an area of human rights and citizenship education; D/ Creating Manifesto and uploading them to the project website. METHODOLOGY • AT PROJECT MEETINGS: presentations, reports, discussions, workshops and round tables, monitoring and evaluating progress, making surveys and questionnaires; • AT AFTER-SCHOOL WORKSHOPS FOR STUDENTS: local group work/pair work, making presentations, studying the background of partner schools and countries – history, geography, arts, habits, language, people, etc., monitoring and evaluating progress, making surveysand questionnaires; • AT STUDENT EXCHANGES: ’learning by doing’ - transnational group work/pair work, interactive transnational workshops and round tables, presentations, discussions, games, films, sports, music, dances, arts and crafts, monitoring and evaluating progress, making surveys and questionnaires, etc. RESULTS AND IMPACT MAIN PRODUCTS • project website – a tool of communication and dissemination of results. • Manifesto – uploaded to the website with free access for the public. EXPECTED IMPACT ON PARTNER SCHOOLS • testing and adapting good practices to the school educational program will promote their citizenship education with project-based learning and teaching methodology. EXPECTED IMPACT ON PARTICIPATING TEACHERS • the project will contribute to the development of their professional, English and ICT skills and help to prevent professional burnout. EXPECTED IMPACT ON PARTICIPATING STUDENTS • they will gain experience in cross-curricular and project-based learning in citizenship education in European context; • the project will enhance their critical thinking, English, ICT, general communication, social, civic and intercultural competences too; LONG TERM BENEFITS • the work of 6 European schools (some of them newcomers in Erasmus+) will result in a long-term cooperation; • the participating students will actively participate in the life of society, collaborate with NGO-s, volunteer, etc.."
The project "Your rights have my rights, fighting discrimination and promoting equality" is a project between 6 European schools in Romania, France, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Hungary. This project took place under the conditions that Europe needs the active democratic participation of all its citizens, a Europe that needs young people with skills and knowledge about human rights, tolerance, peace and mutual respect. Through the activities we carried out, in each school, we had exchanges of good practices and each school successfully contributed to the good conduct of learning / teaching / training activities and transnational meetings: there were 4 meetings for learning activities. / teaching / training, in Italy, Hungary, France, Romania and Portugal and 2 transnational meetings, for teachers, the first in Romania, the coordinating country and the second in Cyprus, for the final conclusions, evaluation and final products. The project was attended by 85 students, between 14 and 18 from all partner schools and 25 teachers from 6 countries. The project also took place on the eTwinning platform, where 220 students, 18 teachers and 5 visitors were involved. The objectives of our project were: -protecting and promoting human rights, equity and social inclusion through school education and the exchange of good practices between partner schools; - finding new ways and methods for teachers in school education to improve the social and civic competences of the students; - increasing the active European citizenship of the students, the ability to work in multinational groups and the tolerance for cultural diversity; - improving the English language skills and ICT skills for the students and teachers involved in the project; - the creation of a European network of partner schools that will last after the end of the project. Description of activities: 1. Preparation -Configuration of the project implementation teams in each school, announcements for the visibility and knowledge of the project, organization of the "project corner", posters, banners, on the school's website,online pages: Facebook and blog; -Selection of the students participating in the learning / teaching / training activities according to a procedure, announcement, submission of files by students, interview for selection, displaying results and securing reservations. In each exchange of short term students participated 3 students and a teacher; -Preparing the students to carry out the learning / teaching activities, the presentation materials for each activity: film presentation of school, country, film of good practices with activities of students with disabilities, presentation of the right to development, an emblematic female figure from each country, for Romania: Ana Aslan; good practices regarding environmental protection and recycling of reusable materials - Enroll students and teachers on the eTwinning platform, presenting and getting to know the participants, the pages of the project and supplementing them with materials, photos, videos, mobility diaries, completing the satisfaction questionnaires, voting the project slogan, forum discussions etc. -Purchase of travel tickets, insurance, notarial power of attorney given by parents of minor students, who have traveled. - Preparation of transnational project meetings and student exchange. Implementation Two transnational meetings were held in Romania and Cyprus. In the first meeting were laid the basis of the programs in each country, the responsibilities for the project coordinators, the mobility calendar. At the meeting in Cyprus, conclusions were reached regarding the achievement of the objectives, the presentation of the final products and the evaluation of the project through questionnaires for students, parents and teachers. There were 4 short-term student exchanges for the extracurricular activities related to human rights and active citizenship. The project was carried out on the eTwinning platform where all the materials made during the activities were posted on the project pages. The final products were made: Curriculum: "YOUR RIGHTS ARE MY RIGHTS FIGHTING AGAINST DISCRIMINATION", "Youth Manifesto for Human Rights", project website: www.valright.simplesite.com, logo, protest anthem, plays. 3.Impact The partner schools used and adapted the good practices from the project to the school educational program. The proposed curriculum will be an optional course for the study of human rights in schools. The participating teachers have improved their professional language and ICT skills, as well as international cooperation. Students from all schools developed critical thinking, improved their foreign language and ICT skills, social-civic and intercultural skills. In the long term, the 6 schools will cooperate to lay the foundations for new projects, students will study about human rights, will participate in the active life of European society, will be part of NGOs, will be volunteers.