The project "European Student Theater Lab - Act for EU citizenship" arises in order to promote theatrical education as a teaching and training tool, useful for innovative and inclusive teaching and for the development of active citizenship and cross-cutting competences that the "Related Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning", launched by the European Council on 22 May 2018, encourages to be developed. The theatre, in fact, included in the school environment has the merit of facilitating the individual in acquiring a vision of both the world and the society that are able to affect the education of the person and, in particular, his critical capacity. The use of theatrical teaching is an innovative methodology to experiment the reality both subjectively and collectively and to develop in the involved students motivation, curiosity and emotion through the creative process, a source of growth and maturity. "European Student Theater Lab - Act for EU citizenship" develops within a partnership of 5 European schools (High School "Giolitti - Gandino", Institute "Salaspils 1. Vidusskola", "Colegio Sagrado Corazón", "Atlas College" and "Leceum Livadion Larnaka") engaged in activities to disseminate and promote theatrical education as a tool for the growth and strengthening of key skills in the learners and the enhancement of the principles that inspire the concept of European citizenship. The teaching of theatrical workshops is considered by the partner schools as a key to allow the learners to reflect on the meaning of citizenship, understood as a sense of belonging and identity that leads the subject to recognize himself in the culture and values of the European community. "European Student Theater Lab" will be developed in order to realize a review of theatrical performances to be represented during the realization of transnational exchanges in Italy, Spain, Latvia, Belgium and Cyprus. The various stages of the review will be prepared thanks to the preliminary activities in the exchanges, included in the extra-curricular programming of the involved schools, during which participants will discuss, through non-formal education actions related to the performing arts, on the enhancement of the common European root and its values. The result of the project will be realized during the last transnational exchange hosted by High School "Giolitti - Gandino", in June 2021, in conjunction with the organization of the Student Theatre Festival "Le Ferie di Augusto". The theatre review will be recorded through a documentary film that will represent the final output of the project. The specific objectives of the project are: - to strengthen Participants’ key European skills, especially in relation to foreign language skills, active citizenship and cultural awareness and expression; - To increase Participants’ cross-cutting and technical professional competences; - To foster the meeting and the comparison between students and teachers from different European countries; - To strengthen internationalization strategies of the partner schools and to act in order to get a greater openness to the European context. 28 students from 2nd , 3rd, 4th and 5th classes of each partner school will take part in Each mobility, for a total of 140 direct beneficiaries within an age range of 15 and 18 (years). All the participants will be involved in extra-curricular activities carried out before the transnational exchanges and will follow the phases of organized linguistic and cultural preparation in order to face better the experience abroad; the partnership will also involve 7 teachers per school (3 will take part in the cooperation activities to be developed through the transnational web meetings and other 4 teachers will act as chaperons of the students during the activities abroad). The impacts that transnational training actions will have on the project participants will be: - strengthening of language skills; - strengthening of cultural awareness and expression; - acquisition of specific technical skills related to the performing arts; - strengthening of active citizenship skills; - development of European key competences; - improvement of e-skills and cross-cutting skills; - Enrichment of cultural and experiential background. "European Student Theater Lab" will also have a positive impact on the Training Offers of the schools involved through a strengthening for the use of active, innovative and laboratory teaching methods, able to arouse the interest of the students in the process of building knowledge and learning.
After the interruption caused by the Covid pandemic and in order to realize virtual mobilities, the project was remodeled to allow the pupils, even though only online, to get to know each other, exchange material, and reflect together on topics such as democracy, human dignity, equality, and the goals of the 2030 agenda. After each online mobility, short shows, videos, commercials and finally a brochure of the show at the Politeama Theatre in Bra were produced. The project aims at the following objectives - To strengthen students' foreign language skills, a greater awareness of active citizenship and the importance of cultural expression through theatre; - To foster meetings and comparisons between students and teachers from different European countries on the theme of theatre and the different teaching methodologies related to it; - To improve participants' transversal and technical professional skills; - Strengthen the internationalisation strategies of the Institutes involved in the partnership. The work carried out by the students of the entire partnership took the form of the organisation of a theatre show in which the students were the protagonists in five separate performances, but with common themes. The project also aimed to increase pupils' skills in the field of technology and give teachers an educational advantage by exchanging information and experiences on the school systems and teaching approaches of the countries participating in the partnership.