The idea of the Youth Mayor Education Program (YMEP) is centred around teaching high school students (aged 14 – 18) 21st century skills. This will be done by implementing Youth Mayor projects. The idea of a youth mayor is built on the premise of the book by Benjamin Barber entitled: “If mayors ruled the world”. The main idea behind the book is that democracy would function better if it was done at the city level by mayors than at the national level by rulers of nation states. The project partners share the opinion that this idea could be a way to contribute to tackling the challenges regarding the education of 21st century skills. For this reason, they will develop the teaching instrument of the ‘youth mayor’. The youth mayor is a student trained to use 21st century skills in executing concrete assignments in projects with partners in his or her local environment. Possible topics for these assignments are about alleviating poverty, urban environmental projects and the integration of refugees within society. The program that will be developed within the Strategic partnership centres on student projects at their own municipality. The core of this youth mayor project will be focussed on four of the 21st century skills; namely: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and initiative. This project will prepare and stimulate the students to engage with the society at all stages of their life. The starting point is at the city level, but the skills can be used in all levels of society. To engage in their projects, students will receive tailored education centred on 21st century skills. When they have completed the courses and their project at their own municipality, they will be able to contribute to the development of solutions for future societal problems they will face in their surroundings. This project aims to develop a hands-on instrument for acquiring 21st century skills in secondary education and to support secondary schools in the partner countries and other European countries through cross-country collaboration fostering long-term partnerships. The program will be developed in close collaboration with partner institutions to ensure uniformity of developed materials. The program will be extensively piloted, initially at an institute level, followed by development into curriculum that will be disseminated through the network of United World Colleges and other secondary school (international) networks. Objectives YMEP and project partners The objective of the YMEP program is to develop a curriculum which inbeds the 21st century skills into education of secondary school students, thereby preparing them for the future as their 21st century skills will become essential in their future (academic) careers. The project partners are UWC Maastricht, UWC Red Cross, UWC Robert Bosch College, International School Brussels and Strothoff International school. Description of activities and methodology The YMEP project will have 4 IO’s, 4 ME’s and 1 LTT. The IO’s are: - Youth Major Education Program; - Modules for the youth major program; - Assessment guide and valorisation of the program; - Centre of expertise; The first ME will be for all European UWC schools. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th ME will be events in the partner countries for secondary education institutions outside of the partnership. The LTT is aimed at training educators of secondary education institutions to use the Youth Major Education program. YMEP Results: • A centre of expertise (IO4); • A curriculum which is suited for educating students in 21st century skills through the youth mayor program or through modules from the program. Also, this curriculum will contain the necessary valorisation and assessment instruments. The participating schools will acquire in-depth practical knowledge and experience on the joint effort to create and sustain a new education model around 21st century skills; • Participating schools will get more hands-on experience with integrating the school in society. This will be done through the practical projects which will be set-up with the local communities; • A network of Youth Mayors will be set-up. The starting point of this network will be the projects which will be developed by the project partners during the project period. After the project period this network will be further developed by the centre of expertise. The network will be an online community where the Youth Mayor Projects will be published and where Youth Mayors can exchange ideas, tips & tricks and where relevant stakeholders can find more information on potential Youth Mayor Project; YMEP Impact and benefits The expected impact of the project is at different levels. The project will impact: - Students; - Teachers at the partners’ institutions; - Teachers of other secondary schools; - The local and regional institutions; The main impact will be that 21st century skills become more integrated into secondary education.
The partners aimed to create a resilient curriculum that is tailor made for teaching students 21st century skills through different modules following the idea of students being youth mayors. Therefore, we planned to produce and sustain a new education model around 21st century skills. All partners envisioned that through designing and piloting the YMEP programme, their schools and students would be more integrated in society and even more so in the local communities. The aim was to start the set up of a network of youth mayors, an online community where the YMEP projects would be published and the students could exchange ideas and tips and tricks. This platform would also serve as an information source for all relevant stakeholders to get more information about the YMEP. In general, the project was designed to impact students, teachers from the partner institutions, teachers from other secondary schools as well as other local and regional institutions. However, the main impact was to integrate 21st century skills into secondary education.
The partners applied for this project as we identified the pressing need to develop and train students’ 21st century skills which are essential in their future -careers. The YMEP addressed the need to develop critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and initiative. The traditional education system has served young people well, however the skills needed to be successful in life now also include technological competency, project management, effective communication, leadership and management among many others. The aim was to create a strong educational methodology with interesting and effective modules that would be presented in an attractive and accessible digital platform. The digital platform was chosen so the curriculum would be accessible to anyone with access to the internet and would be suitable for learning both inside and outside the classroom. The project was developed and piloted by all the partner schools as that way would provide a more robust and resilient educational programme. The programme was based on a thorough literature review and feedback received from participants, students and teachers, via interviews and surveys throughout the development and especially following the pilot to strengthen the curriculum.