Education in Europe is faced with significant socio-demographic and economical changes. To develop cohesively and inclusively, education and training needs to develop plans and strategies that will allow citizens to play an active role in democratic life. Education needs to be prepared to provide adequate training of children whose way of thinking, behavior, preferences, expectations and learning styles are very different from those of teachers. As teachers/educators we have the duty to train future global citizens in a constant changing world and prepare our children in a world with new jobs that have yet to be created. Our role is to help them develop the skills needed to respond to advances in technology, changes in socio demographic and cultural contexts. Our role plays an important part in breaking down barriers to learning and prevent violent radicalisation by promoting common European values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community.(ET 2020 framework, strategic objectives) In response to the increased importance being placed on an understanding of how the development of higher level thinking skills as part of a comprehensive communication education (at all levels), our proposal aims to address the challenges : *to increase key competences for children in order for them to fully participate in and contribute to a multicultural society * to develop a robust and tangible methodology that employs methods to support development of basic skills through the use of inquiry based philosophy skills and creating thinking techniques * to equip teaching and non-teaching staff with a range of skills, key principles and relevant methodologies. Improving literacy and language levels through participation in activities that further develops metacognition and critical thinking has been identified as a key to develop children’s ability to question and to further develop their thinking and of the world around them. Therefore, 'Children As Philosophers' aims to promote and offer an innovative methodology within the practice of philosophy with children that addresses specifically social inclusion. The interest towards this theme rises from the consideration that the practice of philosophy is a useful tool that supports the development of critical and social skills in children and teenagers, favouring the implementation of a new form of collective action, inspired by values as peaceful living, respect, dialogue and debate. Philosophy with children is also an important tool for developing strategies for peaceful conflict resolution, especially within a multicultural context. The project is to be carried out by a mixture of 4 schools, a training provider, a local municipality, a foundation, and a VHS (AE) all of which are based in 6 countries. This countries have a key role in Europe especially in relation to the migrant and refugee situation for both incoming and outgoing migration. Our collaboration will also ensure that the project results can be adapted and used by other organizations in Europe as they build on a European focus. Through a strong collaborative approach, we envisage a number of concrete outputs: O1 Good practice research: Research and monitoring of European best practices on teaching philosophy in early childhood and primary education (10 best practice per country) O2: Publication of good practice research 03: Training guidelines O4: Training package for educators O5: In schools training to cascade learning to other staff and implement a range of techniques with children O6: Piloting of pedagogical methods O7: Collection of case studies from the implementation of the new techniques (detailed recording/documentation of implementation at local level) O8: Project website with downloadable training materials and project pedagogical results O9: Training course outline for replication and sustainability of project results 10: Project DVD 3 Joint Staff Trainings and 2 Pupils' exchanges 6 Multiplier events. Short and long term key benefits of the project are: • Enhanced teachers confidence in the use of the new and specific teaching methodology and cultural understanding • Enhanced teaching and learning to address specific local targets • Enhanced teaching and learning of digital competencies to address teachers own skills and performance • Internationalisation of teaching and learning through collaboration, observation and evaluation of models in other countries • Development of a strong EU focus to the organisations teaching and learning • the EU dimension embedded in the culture of each organisation and increased involvement in European activities The project addresses an audience of around 10000 ( staff and pupils). Key audiences are teachers, trainers, advisors, policy makers who will ensure that the results are integrated within a wider context and guarantees the sustainability of its activities and results.
'Children As Philosophers’ is a collaborative project between 8 partners from the UK, IT, DE, BG, RO and SE, including 4 schools, a training provider, a municipality, a foundation and an adult education/vocational centre. We have worked together to share experiences, learn new skills and develop new methodologies to support education and training aimed at improving the quality of education of both staff and children in early years and primary education. We believe that education in Europe is facing significant socio-demographic and economic changes, therefore educators need to be prepared to provide adequate training of children whose way of thinking, behaviour, preferences, expectations and learning styles are different from those of teachers. In doing so, we can support citizens to play an active role in democratic life and prepare our children in a world with new jobs that have yet to be created. Our role is to help children develop the skills needed to respond to advances in technology, changes in socio-demographic and cultural contexts. In turn, this will break down barriers to learning and prevent violent radicalisation by promoting common European values, fostering social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community. In response to the increased importance being placed on an understanding of how the development of higher-level thinking skills, as part of a comprehensive communication education (at all levels), our project has addressed the main challenges of: * increasing key competences for children in order for them to fully participate in and contribute to a multicultural society * developing a robust and tangible methodology that employs methods to support development of basic skills through the use of enquiry-based philosophy skills and creative thinking techniques * equipping teaching and non-teaching staff with a range of skills, key principles and relevant methodologies. * improving literacy and language levels through participation in activities that have further developed metacognition and critical thinking, which had been identified as a key to develop children’s ability to question and to further develop their thinking of the world around them. Our shared project promotes and offers an innovative methodology within the practice of philosophy with children that addresses social inclusion specifically. We have worked together in evaluating the practice of philosophy as a useful tool that supports the development of critical and social skills in children and teenagers, favouring the implementation of a new form of collective action, inspired by values of peaceful living, respect, dialogue and debate. The practice of philosophy with children is also an important tool for developing strategies for peaceful conflict resolution, especially within a multicultural context. Through a structured approach of a mixture of 3 joint staff trainings, 2 pupils' exchanges, the development of several intellectual outputs, and over 290 dissemination activities, our strong collaborative approaches have led to the following concrete outputs: Publication of ‘good practice’ research following research into the teaching philosophy in early childhood and primary education (10 per country) in 6 languages Training guidelines in 6 languages Training package for educators in 6 languages Collection of case studies from the implementation of the new techniques (detailed recording/documentation of implementation at local level) in 6 languages Training course outline for replication and sustainability of project results in 6 languages A Project DVD available on several platforms in 6 languages 3 Joint Staff Trainings (IT/RO/SE: 53 staff from 8 partners) & 2 Pupils' exchanges (UK and BG with 29 pupils and 15 staff - over 120 including those from the hosting organisations) 3 Translational project meetings and 1 bilateral (48 staff funded & non funded) 6 Multiplier events with approx. 150 participants A Project website A searchable database containing approx. 116 adaptable activities to use for teaching in all 6 languages. The project has achieved both short and long-term benefits: • Enhanced teachers’ confidence in the use of the new and specific teaching methodology and cultural understanding • Enhanced teaching and learning to address specific local targets • Enhanced teaching and learning of digital competencies to address teachers own skills and performance • Internationalisation of teaching and learning through collaboration, observation and evaluation of models in other countries • Developed a strong EU focus to the organisations teaching and learning • A EU dimension embedded in the culture of each organisation and increased involvement in European activities. Key audiences reached through activities and dissemination are teachers, trainers, advisors, policy makers which are ensuring the results are integrated within a wider context.