Throughout their history , Europeans have been known for their love and enthusiasm for initiative. However, just recently, there has been some doubt and criticism for their apparent lack of such enthusiastic spirit , combined with absence of active involvement as far as European matters are concerned . Is this doubtful atmosphere attributable to a growing lack of interest and awareness associated with a deeper and more philosophical drawback in society as a whole and , possibly, to people's attitude to their role in society as a whole ? A closer look at our teenagers will immediately show , as most scholars would indicate , that they , referring to teens , seem to be less involved in running or rather shaping the present of this huge entity called Europe, with all its intricate realities and complexities, be it geographic, political, social , linguistic etc... What's more, there is this ever growing sense sense of rift that young Europeans have compared to older generations . Taking into account all this , our project aims at looking for possible remedies in order to boost the spirit of belonging to Europe beyond the traditional context . It also looks at diverse aspects on how to help our teens , the very near future , to get them more involved in putting in more enthusiasm in this reality called Europe, with all its diversification and complexities. Therefore, not only does the project aim at getting our students actively involved , both as individuals and groups , in shaping their immediate contexts . It also , hopefully, aims at providing them with different necessary skills for future advancement and , indirectly and positively, affect those around them . Having looked at all this , we thought that the most appropriate title is this :" Little actions for active citizenship" At the end of the 2-year -long project , one of the key events will be organised under the title of " Active European citizenship week " during which all the desired objectives will be publicly shared in an open public space to boost the effectiveness . Last, but not least , and in order to develop a crystal - clear conviction of belonging to Europe , body and soul , one needs to look deeply into many completely different dimensions of cooperating, interacting and really belonging to the European state of mind . To reach such goals , we've concentrated on the following areas and acts to unite European young and not so young individuals Acts to Democracy and Social Rights Acts to Reducing, Reusing and Recycling Acts to European Cultural Heritages Acts to Solidarity European Economy Acts to Safer and Healthier European Citizens Acts to Europe without boundaries
The participants of the projects were Békéscsaba Center of Vocational Training Békéscsaba, Hungary Website: www.zwackkeri.hu, Manavgat Anaddolu Imam Hatip Lisesi, Manavgat / Antalya / Turkey Website:www.manvgatataihl.meb.k12.tr, IES Cal Gravat Manresa / BCN/ Spain Website: https://agora.xtec.cat/iescalgravat/, Vilnius Tuskulenu gimnazija Vilnius, Lithuania Website:www.tuskulenai.lt, Istituto Tecnico Economico Statale Luigi Einaudi Verona, Italy Website:www.einaudivr.it When all (5) partners got together for the first LTTA in Hungary , October 2018, we felt really lucky to have such a highly-motivated group of teachers and the fact that 2 schools had been working together on previous projects all indicated that this project was going to be a big success. Everyone had come with a great deal of openness and the spirit of helping and sharing was and has always been the dominant rule. So , the main guidelines were set on the following objectives to be worked throughout the 24-months-long project , which ended up being 36 months due to the world pandemic . The first guideline was taken into account was that this project had to work and a lot on social inclusion, simply because students involved in it come from 5 different countries with a wide range of differences , be it linguistic, cultural, social as well as personal . It was also crystal-clear that a big number of skills must be worked on to help all involved in the project , teachers and students alike , to help them reach an optimized level of skills, be it IT, linguistic , cognitive etc… Social education was also a high priority to help the younger generation build a better Europe through mutual understanding and respect of differences. That goal was successfully reached through workshops carried out in all 5 countries, conferences and the day to day living with the host families to get a real taste of the local culture. Fortunately, this is one of the strongest aspects highlighted in the feedback reports received from all students, over 120, who have taken part in the 4 LTTAs which were carried out in situ. Unfortunately, we had to do the last one had to be done online due to the ill-fated pandemic . Such vital topics as Health / well-being, cultural heritage of Europe , Economy, the protection of the environment as well as democracy in the old continent were all worked thoroughly by the chosen students from all 5 countries . A fact that has helped young European citizens to focus on the past, present and look forward to achieving a better future at a personal as well as a collective level. Having said all that , let's have a quick look at the big amount of activities carried out between September 2018 till May 2021, the project was given a 12-month extension period due to the pandemic. During the project we worked on different aspects of being active citizenship as Acts to Europe without boundaries, Acts to Safer and Healthier European Citizens , European Economy . Protection of the environment. To conclude, we must say that we’ve been privileged with the group of teachers we’ve worked with as right from the start there has been a huge positive spirit of cooperation and understanding based on mutual respect as well as the disinterested amount of help we received and gave one another . Last , but not least, we feel so satisfied with the quality and quantity of work done ,even during the pandemic period , which has marred this successful project as some students had been looking forward to visiting their peers in Hungary , but unfortunately , they couldn’t ! We also feel so blessed to have helped a considerable number of underprivileged students , whose economic and social situation represented a challenge for them to see a foreign country, but their hard-work and enthusiasm have been their best ally to take an active part in the project and were able to put into good practise all the skills taken into account in the project from the initial stage .It’s been a great experience which we will all keep in our hearts and minds, both teachers and students alike, especially the latter .