The basic idea of the project is to teach the fundamental values defended by the European community to the young refugees and immigrants as well as to the European-born youth by promoting working together. This is very important to the promoters of the project who observe that currently, a small but nevertheless significant number of the immigrants/refugees settled in the EC have difficulties in accepting some of the fundamental values that govern the living together in the EC and that, at the same time, a part of the European youth is turning away from these fundamental values by taking refuge in anti-European and anti-immigration nationalism. The project team will work on the cultural awareness of the youth living in EC, as it is the foundation of communication and involves the ability to become aware of its cultural values, beliefs and perceptions, understand the emotions of others, develop empathy, learn consequences of behavior and realize that others may have different thoughts and ideas than oneself does. Cross-cultural skills will be developed, beginning with the understanding of similarities and differences and the ability to appreciate and understand one’s own culture, as well as to learn to understand and appreciate others' cultures in the process. The aim of this project concentrates on two levels: - Students will work on European values like democracy, gender equality etc. This will help to create cultural awareness among them. - These values are put into practice by the creation of teaching material for refugees, immigrants and other European youth. Thus, the students not only reflect on these values themselves, but transfer them into their own life. Thereby the development of social, civic and intercultural competence is fostered. In addition to these aspects, the project mainly focuses on social inclusion, addresses diversity and promotes shared values. The project concerns directly about 100 students aged 15 to 18. By disseminating the results to other youth as well as interested organisations, a much higher number of persons will be implicated, many of them having an immigration background. Teachers meet at the beginning of every project year to discuss the detailed structure of the student activities throughout the year and to participate to specific training events in order to be best prepared for the challenges of the project. Students research the fundamental pillars of European values to raise collateral awareness and a sound knowledge about rights and duties regarding topics like sexuality, gender politics, religion, tolerance, freedom of speech, democracy, … During bilateral and transnational meetings, the products worked out by students/other youth will be analysed and discussed. Didactic material (collaborative games, podcasts, films, role plays, maps, worksheets …), summarizing the position of the values phrased by the European society, while including the uniqueness of those who are born under other cultures, will be created, evaluated, tested and published, allowing other teachers/educators to benefit from the material. This material should support teachers in adopting collaborative and innovative methods both digital and non-digital. The collaboration with and supervision by external partners will help to guarantee the quality of the products. The material (digital and non-digital) is supposed to be published in English and the different languages of the participating countries and handed out to other schools so that sustainability is granted. In their country, students are sent out as national European ambassadors and given the task to implement the working material by teaching the topic to other group of students and disseminating the products at other schools and interested stakeholders. All participants respect cultural differences and work effectively together, despite different social and cultural backgrounds. They will respond open-minded to different ideas and values, learn to appreciate the uniqueness of individuals within the group, respect the feelings of others and embrace rich linguistic and cultural diversity. It is meant to address as many students as possible from the lowest to the highest end of the academic spectrum. Short projects about European values are supposed to be put into practice. Thus, the students take over the role of the teacher, making the European values more vivid. Participating teachers to the project will acquire an undeniable experience that they will disseminate to other teachers at their school as well as to other schools and institutions of the region, thereby playing an important multiplier role. The participating organizations will seek the support of the authorities to support them in their efforts to create a permanent intervention group of young students in order to continue the tradition of the national European ambassador in the field of culture awareness and the promotion of the fundamental European values.
The basic idea of the project was to teach the fundamental values defended by the European community to the young refugees and immigrants as well as to the European-born youth by promoting working together. This was very important to the promoters of the project who have observed that a small but significant number of the immigrants/refugees settled in the EC have difficulties in accepting some of the fundamental values that govern the living together in the EC and that, at the same time, a part of the European youth is turning away from these fundamental values by taking refuge in anti-European and anti-immigration nationalism. The project team has worked on the cultural awareness of the youth living in EC. They have, therefore, realized a survey among youngsters about their beliefs, values and attitudes. That was the starting point for further considerations and actions. Cross-cultural skills have been developed, beginning with the understanding of similarities and differences and the ability to appreciate and understand one’s own culture, as well as to learn to understand and appreciate others' cultures in the process. The aim of this project concentrated on two levels: - Students worked on European values like democracy, gender equality etc. This helped them to create cultural awareness among them. - These values were put into practice by the creation of teaching and game material for youngsters. Thereby the development of social, civic and intercultural competence was fostered. In addition to these aspects, the project mainly focused on social inclusion, addressed diversity and promoted shared values. The project concerned directly about 100 students aged 15 to 18. By disseminating the results to other youth as well as interested organisations, a higher number of persons has been and still will be implicated. Teachers met at the beginning of every project year to discuss the detailed structure of the student activities throughout the year and participated to specific training events in order to be best prepared for the challenges of the project. Students researched the fundamental pillars of European values to raise collateral awareness and a sound knowledge about rights and duties regarding topics like sexuality, gender politics, religion, tolerance, freedom of speech and democracy. During bilateral and transnational meetings, the products worked out by students had been analyzed and discussed. Didactic material (collaborative games, videos, teaching material, children's book), summarizing the position of the values phrased by the European society, while including the uniqueness of those who are born under other cultures, have been created, evaluated, tested and, for the children's book, edited, allowing other teachers/educators to benefit from the material. This material will support teachers in adopting collaborative and innovative methods both digital and non-digital. All the material (digital and non-digital) has been published in English and can be downloaded on the projects website. The children's book has been edited in a bilingual English/German version with the possibility, for all partners, to create a digital-only version in their own national language. All the material can be downloaded for free and the children's book has been and still is handed out to other schools so that sustainability is granted. All participants respected cultural differences and worked effectively together, despite different social and cultural backgrounds. They have responded open-minded to different ideas and values, learned to appreciate the uniqueness of individuals within the group, respected the feelings of others and embraced rich linguistic and cultural diversity. The material addresses many students from the lowest (children's book, ...) to the highest end of the academic spectrum (Escape room, ...). Participating teachers to the project have acquired an undeniable experience that they disseminate to other teachers at their school as well as to other schools and institutions of the region, thereby playing an important multiplier role. The creation of a permanent intervention group of young students in order to continue to disseminate and promote the human values treated during the project years has not yet been realized. As the partners of the project have decided to continue working together, in and outside of European projects, they are still working on establishing such a permanent intervention group, at least at their own school.