theme of cultural promotion and European citizenship are at the centre of the Treaty of Lisbon and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, stipulated to consolidate the opportunities and rights reserved for European citizens. Among benefits such as those of freedom of transit, work and study across the member States, there is the duty to take part in European political life and still preserving the wealth of existing cultures and languages. Since 2013, the European Commission has renewed its intention to work on the promotion of citizens 'rights and common European values, making the theme one of the twelve initiatives launched to overcome existing obstacles in citizens' perception of European rights (Report of the EC, EU Citizenship Report 2017). Following events that have questioned membership and sense of belonging to EU (i.e. in the case of Brexit) together with populist and anti-Europeanist movements broke out in recent years, the project "TAKE ACTION - Enable students to TAKE ACTION and become active citizens" intends to focus on active participation in European democratic life. The 24-month-project initiatives are aimed at prompting 72 young people (15 - 16 years of age) towards democratic processes in Europe while, at the same time, enhancing the cultural traditions of each Country in the partnership (Italy, Spain, Greece and Romania). The partner schools will collaborate for the development of an innovative training path and the collection of good practices in a European context. An important contribution will be offered by the use of the eTwinning platform, bringing students and school staff closer to the use of new technologies. The project aims at achieving: • an increase in students' knowledge about Europe, EU citizenship and active participation and European cultural heritage; • the development of knowledge, digital and linguistic skills able to give students better chances to enter EU labour market; • the overcoming of socio-cultural stereotypes and prejudices between Nations; • deeper intercultural dialogue with public institutions and associations; • the creation of a new educational path on civic education through the rediscovery of individual cultural traditions unified by common EU rights. The impact generated by the project will be measured by means of objective indicators, both qualitative and quantitative, in order to evaluate to what extent collaboration among all the partner was successful. The long-term goal of the project is to encourage the development of new collaborations where it will be possible to apply the "best practices" learnt in other contexts (in VET for example). The partnership considers it essential to capitalize the produced results and guarantee their real sustainability. The following indicators have therefore been identified to evaluate the project impact: QUANTITY - Number of downloads of all the materials produced in the framework of the project and videos shared; - Number of participants in project events; - Positive evaluation of the training courses offered to the classes; - Number of questionnaires with positive evaluation completed by the participants at the end of each LTTA; - Number of teachers who will adopt new teaching methods starting from the use of the eTwinning School and Education Gateway platforms; - Number of new collaborations born with other schools interested in renewing their training plans. QUALITY - Degree of understanding of EU citizens’ rights and duties; - Quality of the training plans developed with integration of new technologies; - Degree of participation of the Institute in the side initiatives proposed by the students participating in the project; - Students’ ability to dialogue in a foreign language; - Improved dialogue with local and European stakeholders; - Degree of adhesion to national and European initiatives on behalf of local institutions and actors; - Evaluation of the proposed training path; - Development of an "educational" approach able to integrate the use of new technologies.
The theme of cultural promotion and European citizenship are at the centre of the Treaty of Lisbon and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, stipulated to consolidate the opportunities and rights reserved for European citizens. Among benefits such as those of freedom of transit, work and study across the member States, there is the duty to take part in European political life and still preserving the wealth of existing cultures and languages. Since 2013, the European Commission has renewed its intention to work on the promotion of citizens 'rights and common European values, making the theme one of the twelve initiatives launched to overcome existing obstacles in citizens' perception of European rights (Report of the EC, EU Citizenship Report 2017). Following events that have questioned membership and sense of belonging to EU (i.e. in the case of Brexit) together with populist and anti-Europeanist movements broken out in recent years, the project "TAKE ACTION - Enable students to TAKE ACTION and become active citizens" intends to focus on active participation in European democratic life. The 24-month-project initiatives prompted 72 young people (15 - 17 years of age) towards democratic processes in Europe while, at the same time, enhancing the cultural traditions of each Country in the partnership (Italy, Portugal and Poland). The partner schools collaborated for the development of an innovative training path and the collection of good practices in a European context. An important contribution was offered by the use of the eTwinning platform, bringing students and school staff closer to the use of new technologies. The project achieved: • a growth in students' knowledge about Europe, EU citizenship , active participation in EU institutions and an appreciation of the European cultural heritage; • the development of know-how, digital and linguistic skills capable of giving students better chances to enter the EU labour market; • the overcoming of socio-cultural stereotypes and prejudices ; • deeper intercultural dialogue with public institutions and associations; • the creation of a new educational path on civic education through the rediscovery of individual cultural traditions unified by common EU rights. The impact generated by the project was measured step by step through the activities carried out by the students: search for reliable sources and materials, EU-focused quizzes , ebook preceded by cooperative works on EU related topics, debate, blog. The long-term goal of the project was to foster the development/broaden the horizons of useful partnerships with local bodies and authorities, Church related Institutions, organizations involved in the promotion of local realities (FAI , local tourist offices), museums, Europe-Net and Europe-Direct, whose newsletter are often published on the school's official site to everyone's benefit. The following indicators have therefore been identified to evaluate the project impact: QUANTITY - N. 182 downloads of all the materials produced within the framework of the project - N. 97 participants in project events; - Positive evaluation (4/5) of the training courses offered to the classes; - N. 48 questionnaires with positive evaluation completed by the participants at the end of each LTTA; - N. 9 teachers who have been adopting new teaching methods, starting from the use of the ESEP platform; - N. 11 new collaborations born with other schools interested in renewing their educational plans; - N. 4 new Erasmus+ projects approved. QUALITY - Good degree of understanding of the EU citizens’ rights and duties; - Better quality of the training plans developed with integration of new technologies; - Good degree of participation of the Institute in the side initiatives proposed by the students participating in the project ( the EU, its opportunities, its connections with national and local bodies, not to mention its impact on the digital dimension of contemporary living has been incorporated in the school's civic education syllabus; the critical points in the EU apparatus and MO, besides the disintegrating drives within its confines, have provided an apt focus in many debate activities); - Improved students’ ability to dialogue in a foreign language; - Improved dialogue with local and European stakeholders; - Greater participation in the Erasmus+ Programme; - Evaluation of the proposed training path (4/5); - Greater development of an "educational" approach capable of integrating the use of new technologies.