Since social inequality is one of the core questions of our time, not only declared by Barack Obama but also by the Eurpean Parliament, social diversity in its different appearances has become the object of study and activity of this project. Social cohesion is of utmost importance for the future of the European Union and especially the young generation needs to understand the different reasons, different appearances and different perceptions of social inequality in the member states of the European Union but also in their own societies, since social inequality is even diverse within the different regions of the particular states. Furthermore it is part of the responsibility of schools to not only address the reasons and manifestations of social inequality but also its ramifications such as the vicious circle of inequality, which describes that it is way more difficult for children from disadvantaged families to climb the social ladder and to participate e.g. socially, economically and culturally. With the objective of the exchange of good practices between schools partners from five European countries of very different regions and with very different circumstances work together on the topic of social inequality in Europe: In the very north a small school from Norway, a private school from northern Germany, a school from a region that has been experienced social change from Portugal, a school, that deals with unemployment and migrants from Sicilly and a Greece school. They schools by working together on the same general topic of social inequality but focussing each on a certain aspect in particular will all approach questions like: What keeps societies together? How can populism be understood a a result of soial inequality? What is equitable and just and when can speak of social inequality? Wich social groups suffer in particular from social inequality? What are the manifestations of social ineuqality in the use of language or fashion e.g.? Does the awareness of social inequality differ from society to society? These are only a few of the questions to be addressed by that project. The objectives of the project are manifold. Hence the focus on social distinguishing marks has to be understood as a holistic approach to the significance of social inequality and a contribution to social cohesion and international respectively cultural understanding. Schools need to engage in this field to forster contact and intellectual exchange between students so that they are able to become responsible citizens. Above that the students need to develop an awareness for the different manifestations of social inequality and an understanding of the reasons and effects of inequality not only on people but also on whole communities. The activity of the students is therefore a central aspect of the project, because we do not only want strengthen key competences like English as the project's language and intercultural sensitivity but also critical thinking especially in socio-cultural aspects as a foundation to meet the objective of social inclusion are even more important. The students need to understand EU legislation and how the nations are facing the issue of social inequality. They need to understand the economy, a changing job market and what competencies they need in order to find a job. In these contexts we will have a look at materials like statistics, maps, literature, studies, interviews and produce a blog on the projects progress. Engaging, connecting and empowering young people is our responsibility as educational institutions. Therefore we will forster social dialogue not only between the students of the participating schools but also between the students and different social groups like migrants e.g. For mostly students use different kinds of new media in their daily life we will use ICT tools to make these issues more attractive for students. Furthermore a multi-methodological approach is used: Gaining knowledge thourgh reading and analyzing data, gaining experience through excursions and dialogues with different persons and parties concerned, gaining openness through roleplay and creative writing, gaining a feeling of empowerment by creating publicity for that topic etc. The students will produce articels and presentations, they will connect as European citizens and develope a sense of the importance social inclusion. By working on projects e.g. the Italian partners willl create an ongoing tutoring program for migrants at their school. As concrete results or "prodcuts" we will produce literature by creative writing. Students can find their own voice and their own particular angle to the topic by that creative approach. Above that a photo project on social inequality will be conducted and students will produce interviews, publish them online and supply these articels to the print media. By that they will learn that they can make a difference as single citizens but also as group of people by creating publicity.
Social inequality is one of the core questions of our time. Social diversity in its different appearances has become the object of study and activity of this project. But due to the pandemic we were not able execute the project as intended. We were only able to conduct a single project meeting in december 2019. But that single meeting already showed that the students understood the relevance of the topic and the necessity to approach that issue not only theoretically but as active citizens and they also experienced themselves in that one meeting as such by conducting interviews with different stakeholders. They understood that the perception of social inequality depends on the particular context and perspective and therefore needs to by addressed by a broad approach - as was intended by the project. Thematically, the main aim of that meeting was that the students grasp the dimensions of the topic, that social inequality depends on context and perspective, and that the students would be provided with the common basic knowledge for further project work. At the beginning, the students held presentations on the topic of "My copuntry and social ineqaulity", which were moderated by a teacher for politics. In order to make social inequality "tangible" and "visible", we conducted a walk throuh the city with two colleagues to from a broad perspective. Under the titles "Urban Geography and Social Inequality" and "Social Inequality and Photography", a teacher of geography and an art colleague explored the city with the students. We also invited two social scientists from the University of Hamburg to join us at the school. They gave a lecture on the state of social science research on the topic of social inequality and its dimensions from a European perspective and they gave a workshop on the design and implementation of social science interviews. The students needed this knowledge in order to subsequently create and conduct interviews. They did this on the campus of Leuphana University with social stakeholders (a professor for educational research, representatives of the general student committee, passers-by on campus, a workers union representative). A colleague enabled a creative access to the topic, offering a workshop on creative writing, in which the experiences made so far could be reflected on. The students create interviews, analyzes, photos and creative texts.