School must prepare young people to become men and women of the 21st century. This includes opening them up to Europe and the world. It is the responsibility of schools in particular to encourage the integration of future citizens into the political space that is the European Union. How can we help foster a sense of European citizenship amongst young people? How can we reinforce the sense of communal belonging amongst the educational communities of European schools? To answer these questions, this six-country partnership (Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Poland and Portugal) will articulate its programme around three key words which are like the steps that have to be taken on the road to the emergence of a true European identity: explain, exchange and share. On the one hand, it seems to us to be fundamental to reinforce the learning on how the EU was created and how it functions because this knowledge is fundamental to having an (ideal) common base for all young Europeans. Students must know the values and symbols of the EU. School programmes, at all levels, must incorporate a European dimension, and schools should already be working towards this. So, we want to build, throughout this partnership, a collaborative e-book about the EU, its symbols and values as well as ensuring that the participants are actively involved in the life of the EU through celebrating Europe Day, by raising awareness of the importance of voting in the 2019 European elections and by visiting the European Parliament in Strasbourg. On the other hand, we think that to strengthen this sense of European citizenship, it is essential to know the countries that make up this union. So, we want to showcase the heritage of our countries on two platforms: a blog and the Twinspace page of the eTwinning platform. The themes to be addressed are: cultural and heritage diversity, geographical diversity and solidarity. But also, the life experiences of young people in Europe (school systems, youth culture) and linguistic diversity through the use of the European mother tongues of the participants (Irish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Castilian, Polish and Valencian) and French, the working language of this partnership. The EU contains the humanistic values of freedom, solidarity and diversity and is home to millions of people who need to understand one another, work together and communicate effectively. The ability to understand and communicate in other languages is one of the basic skills that all European citizens should have. This partnership will allow educational teams from our schools to become active in designing and implementing a project of collaborative linguistic exchange which will facilitate students to use foreign languages and to discover the cultural, social and economic diversity of Europe. This project aims to increase the motivation of young people as well as their ability and confidence to communicate in other European languages and, in particular, in French. These activities will be put in place during six weeks of learning mobilities for approximately a hundred students accompanied by about fifty teachers but also before and after these six learning mobilities through the platforms of the project. The six members of this partnership will use an innovative and learner-centered pedagogical approach and will make appropriate use of ICT and other innovative methodologies such as gamification, flipped classroom and the effective use of video technology. We want, at a time when Europe is experiencing major upheavals, to promote a sense of belonging to Europe amongst our students because, in order to flourish, European citizenship requires the emergence of a sense of shared destinies between Europeans and that the citizens themselves take ownership of all the rights connected to it. To measure the impact on the participants we will use questionnaires and reports. We will assess the improvement in competencies in French (foreign language?) in our students. The implementation of this project will have a positive impact in our schools and on the students because it will not only improve the competencies of the students in the specific area of the project, but it will also improve their competencies in teamwork, social relations, implementation of international collaboration and the use of ICT. This project offers educational staff the opportunity to share experiences and information, jointly develop an educational program to meet their needs and to put in place a more effective educational approach in the participating institutions while promoting the European dimension of teaching and transnational cooperation between institutions.
Six schools, located in almost all parts of Europe, decided to collaborate in a project promoting openness towards Europe and some understanding of its political dimension: The European Union. This partnership of six European countries (Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal) increased the feeling of belonging and of European citizenship among the students by offering them a programme revolving around two major aims: on the one hand, discovering European identity and culture with all its facets and, on the other hand, understanding the evolution and function of the EU. The project integrated collaborative activities to be prepared and documented in our Twinspace but also during the mobilities organised in Italiy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. The two mobilities in Poland and in Germany could not be realised due to the pandemic. Throughout every stage of the project the activities emphasized both our cultural heritage and the European Union. In order to establish a fundamental knowledge of the role of the EU in Europe and in the life of our students, the activities focused on values and symbols of the EU. Throughout our partnership, we made an e-book about the EU. Moreover, celebrating the Europe Day during our mobility in Ireland showed our participants the importance of the European elections in 2019: a simulation of the elections with slogans and speeches prepared beforehand by every country was the main activity underlining the responsibility of European citizens to participate in the political life in Europe. A visit to the European Parliament in Strasburg was planned for the last mobility in Germany, but it could not be realised due to the pandemic. In order to reinforce a sense of European belonging it is necessary to know about the countries of our partnership. Thus, we disseminated the cultural heritage of our six countries. These are the topics dealt with: linguistic diversity (French as a common means of communicating and the native languages of the participants: English, Irish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Valencian), cultural and geographical diversity, school systems, games and traditional sports, gastronomy. For the two mobilities that were cancelled we had planned the great moments in history and the development of liberty and solidarity in Europe. Apart from PPT and expositions in our schools, we created as well a podcast about the human rights, an e-book with recipes from our six countries and videos advertising our cultural heritage. As the pandemic prevented us from organising the last two mobilities, we had to finish the project via a virtual meeting. Even though a huge percentage of students and teachers had already left school during the pandemic, almost 100 students and teachers reunited to participate in this last meeting. Throughout the project, more than 150 students and almost 40 teachers worked together in class and during the four weeks of mobilities to organise collaborative activities. Our Twinspace played a decisive role for our cooperation, communication and documentation of the project results. Moreover, the students wrote a blog on the websites of our schools. Our pedagogical approach centred on the learner and aimed at an appropriate usage of media and methodologies such as gamification and efficient usage of video. Unfortunately, the simulation of a historical market place in Poland, illustrating the great moments of history and including interactive games, could not be realised. To measure the impact of the activities on the participants, we used questionnaires before and after the project and after each mobility as well. The results were described in reports. At the end of the project the results of our students in foreign languages were analysed. At a moment when Europe is undergoing huge changes, our project successfully promoted a sense of belonging to Europe among our students who worked in multinational groups. They have become aware of their common features as European citizens and as well of the topics that concern young people all over Europe today. Apart from that, the project has had a positive impact on our schools and our students as it contributed to the improvement of competences with regard to working in teams (also on transnational levels), of intercultural competences and the usage of media and technology. The teachers had the possibility to exchange good practice and methods, especially in order to teach foreign languages and to increase motivation. Thus, a new and more efficient educational approach could be implemented in our schools, focusing on the European dimension and transnational cooperation. This partnership created links between our schools of which all six of us will still profit in further collaborative projects in the future.