Participation of pupils at European schools: How democratic are our schools for pupils in Europe?

Context/background of the project The project "Participation of pupils in European schools: How democratic are our schools for pupils in Europe?" dealt with the participation of pupils at schools. Many pupils had poor interest in participating at school committee work or were less motivated to play a part in activities that improve pupil's interests sustainably because they thought that they had limited power. Objectives of the project The main goal was to learn about ways of participation at European schools. The main objectives of the project were the intercultural exchange and communication in one target language naturally, to strengthen the idea of democracy of the pupils in their close environment, the development of youth autonomy and critical thinking and also to improve media competence and presenting skills. Number and profile of participants There were five secondary schools participating in the project. The schools were from different parts of Europe thus they have had different school systems and a high variety of participation models for pupils. Their orientation differed from general secondary to vocational and from rural area schools to big city schools. The age group was from 14-18 years. The schools were from Germany, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Turkey and Romania. Descriptions of activities and a short descriciption of the results and impacts In the end of the project the pupils created a collaborative work ("project summary as a pdf file produced in the final mobility) that includes many written documents made by the pupils during the project: a list of defined words that are the foundation of the collaboration, a school survey and their results, the legal possibilities of pupil's participation in the different countries, a list of activities about pupil participation possibilities in the different countries, pros and cons of participation possibilities, as well as a list of activities and their strategic realization for at least one goal per school. The project aimed to increase the engagement and participation of young people at school which prepares the pupils for civic engagement and a responsible citizenship out of school, e.g. in local politics, clubs or organizations. The following results and impacts were made: - Creating a collaborative work that includes documents about the participating possibilities at schools made by pupils - A more effective use of English - A broader mind and more open European practice - Greater confidence in transnational collaborations - New skills - organizing, presenting, discussing, using ICT tools Methodology to be used in carrying out the project Different methodological approaches were integrated in the project, but particular importance had cooperative methods (e.g. Think! Pair! Share!, pair or group work). There were also teacher-centred approaches included for a short length of time, e.g. to give instructions for a new task, or moderate a pro and con discussion. The participants analysed (compared and evaluated) the legal framework of pupil's participation at European schools. On each trip, there are recurring tasks and procedures that the participants coped with: - Organizational tasks - Giving reports/presentations - Working on content aspects - Documentation of results Due to Corona-pandemic and rules from the school administrations, not all schools were able to travel to all countries but then participated online. Potential longer term benefits For all five schools that participated in the project, there is an overvalue because the pupils have become more active and motivated to participate actively in school affairs and committee work. Third, e.g. other schools, benefit because the results have been published to the public (online).