In Europe there is a trend of increasing polarization. Democracy is under pressure. Populism encourages we-them-thinking. Moreover, nationalist populism glorifies history (not always from a fact-based perspective), and encourages an anti-EU feeling. One of the important causes could be the growing influence and spread through social media of fake news and disinformation. Therefore, we think it is essential that young people develop strategies for critical thinking. The schools in this partnership want to empower their pupils to become critical citizens with an open view on the world. That is why we want to learn from the past to create a better future and not to make the same mistakes again. The past, however, is not always well known in our countries. There are still a lot of taboo historical topics, that are covered up and do not get a lot of attention in the media or in school. Every country deals with this in a different way, so we can learn from each other’s approach and best practices. Some countries are taking baby steps, while others, for example Germany, have already come a long way. The concept and the structure of the project will enable participating teachers and pupils to reach a wide range of objectives. Besides general ones (e.g. social and language skills), that are similar for each international project, the main objectives of this specific project are the following: Raise awareness and critical thinking of our pupils Create openness and transparency about taboo historical topics Develop skills which help to explore the political and social past of Europe’s countries in order to understand their current political and social situation Build more active participation in society Make our pupils more inclined to take up responsibility to develop (EU) society in a well informed way Broaden historical knowledge about topics of the project Acquire an understanding of the evolution of (historical) knowledge Specifically for the teachers we aim to realize the following objectives: Find ways/methods to teach ‘the dark pages of our history’ in a responsible way. Use cultural heritage to make history learning more lively and active, but also as a means to encourage critical thinking Exchange good practices in dealing with sensitive topics in history classes Five countries will be involved in this project: Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden. The participating schools know each other from previous European exchange projects, and they and their pupils have a similar profile. Each country also has an interesting history, with relevant dark pages and different approaches to deal with them. Every country will host one LTT. Each time five pupils (aged 15-18) per school and two accompanying teachers will participate. The pupils will be selected on the basis of their motivation for and interest in the historical topics, which they will need to prove in an application letter and an essay. Each LTT will focus on a dark page in the history of the host country: Belgium (Oct '19): colonial past in Congo Germany (Feb '20): nazi-regime (persecution Roma + Sinti and flight and expulsion) Sweden (Oct '20): persecution of minority peoples originally inhabiting Sweden Spain (Feb '21): atrocities of Spanish Civil War + Francoism Luxemburg (Apr '21): collaboration + resistance WW II + involvement in colonization of Congo. There are clear links between the topics of the different LTTs, what should facilitate learning from the approaches in the different countries. Throughout each LTT, the students will first acquire relevant historical background knowledge, through interactive presentations carried out by host students, through visits to cultural heritage sites (e.g. concentration camps + memorial sites) and also through screening of films that deal with dark pages in the country's history. They will need this knowledge to be able to participate in a debate with experts (historians, journalists and opinion makers) and experience experts. At the end of each LTT, the pupils will use the knowledge and insights they gained to create an exhibition on the topic of the LTT. They will finish this virtual exhibition at home by cooperating and communicating through the eTwinning portal. Each school will also create a physical exhibition, that can be shown in the school and visited by pupils from grades with a relevant curriculum. Furthermore we will look for other exhibition venues in the local community, thus disseminating the results to a broader audience. The pupils will also create a catalog of this exhibition, to be used as a toolbox by teachers in the different schools to integrate the results of the project in their lessons. The LTT-topics have many links to the curriculum of our schools (courses in history/ethics/religion/psychology). Moreover, teachers will also be able to book a pupil, that has participated in an LTT, to explain what he has learned from the project to other pupils in his school.
In our school partnership “Face the past change our future” our objective was to learn from the past, to be able to create a better future. That past however is not always well known in our countries. There are still a lot of taboo historical topics that are covered up and do not get a lot of attention in the media or in school. We wanted to learn from each other's approach in dealing with these taboo subjects. Five countries were involved in this project: Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden. The participating schools knew each other from previous European exchange projects, and they and their pupils have a similar profile. Each country also has an interesting history, with relevant dark pages and different approaches to deal with them. Every country has hosted one LTT. Each time five pupils (aged 15-18) per school and two accompanying teachers have participated. The pupils have been selected on the basis of their motivation for and interest in the historical topics, which they have proven in an application letter and an essay. Each LTT has focused on a dark page in the history of the host country: Belgium (Oct '19): colonial past in Congo + collaboration and persecution during WWII Germany (Feb '20): nazi-regime (persecution Roma + Sinti + euthanasia of people with a disability) Sweden (Oct '21): persecution of minority peoples originally inhabiting Sweden (Sami) Spain (Feb '21): atrocities of Spanish Civil War + Francoism Luxemburg (Apr '21): collaboration + resistance WWII + involvement in colonization of Congo. The concept and the structure of the project has enabled participating teachers and pupils to reach a wide range of objectives. Besides general ones (e.g. social and language skills) our project has realized the following objectives: Raise awareness and critical thinking of our pupils Create openness and transparency about taboo historical topics Develop skills which help to explore the political and social past of Europe’s countries in order to understand their current political and social situation Build more active participation in society Make our pupils more inclined to take up responsibility to develop (EU) society in a well informed way Broaden historical knowledge about topics of the project Acquire an understanding of the evolution of (historical) knowledge Specifically for the teachers we aimed to realize the following objectives: Find ways/methods to teach ‘the dark pages of our history’ in a responsible way. Use cultural heritage to make history learning more lively and active, but also as a means to encourage critical thinking Exchange good practices in dealing with sensitive topics in history classes The following activities during five LTT’s have made it possible to realize these objectives. Throughout each LTT, the students have first acquired relevant historical background knowledge, through interactive presentations carried out by host students, through visits to cultural heritage sites (e.g. concentration camps + memorial sites + guided tours) and also through screening of films that deal with dark pages in the country's history. They used this knowledge to interview experts (historians, journalists and opinion makers) and prepare a debate on the historical topics at hand. During the LTT in Sweden, Luxembourg and Spain it was difficult to find experts that wanted to participate, so alternative activities were foreseen, where the students also had to apply the knowledge they gathered. At the end of each LTT, the pupils have used the knowledge and insights they gained to create a digital exhibition with Padlet on the topics of the LTT. From LTT2 onwards they also had to give a short presentation during the last day of the project meeting. Afterwards, each country has created a physical exhibition that was shown in the school during Open Days and official events. Due to the covid pandemic the roll-out of this physical exhibition was delayed in certain countries, as bubbles were not allowed to mix, which meant that students and teachers could not always get together to work out the exhibition. Often no external visitors were allowed. In the end all the countries managed to organize an exhibition to present the results and insights of the LTTs. This exhibition was also visited by pupils from grades with a relevant curriculum. In many countries the material and results of the LTT’s has been integrated in the curriculum of the different grades. It is still our goal to look for other exhibition venues in the local community, to disseminate the results to a broader audience, but due to the delay we experienced, this was not yet possible at the end of the project. Each country has also created a catalog of this exhibition, mostly a dedicated website, to be used as a toolbox by teachers in other schools to integrate the results of the project in their lessons.