The main objective of the project was to empower pupils to navigate and understand the world around them, enabling them to act as active and responsible agents in a democratic society. This main objective was met by focusing on the following specific operatives: - Teachers acquire the knowledge and competencies to promote and propagate active and responsible citizenship in their regular classes to pass these competencies to pupils. - Pupils learn through their own experience (based on developed methodology) how to deal with complex issues and information to make sense of and understand the situation. - As for the young generations, the internet and social media especially play a key role in obtaining information, pupils learn how to approach the information on the internet. - Pupils learn to understand their motivation and the motivation of others to reflect upon their norms, biases, expectations, and desired outcomes. They also learn how to respond to the situation according to their values and the (possible) impacts of their actions. - Pupils learn how to actively engage with an open approach and are ready to consider the (different) views of others.
In the time of so cooled “post-true” or “post factual” society described in the Oxford Dictionaries as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” the need for critical thinking, understanding of the context and possible impacts of ones actions and openness to support mutual discussion is crucial for ACTIVE and responsible citizenship. All these is multiplied and closely connected with rise in usage of internet and social media as these are becoming the primary influential factor in the “consumption” of information and opinion making. In this context, only active and responsible citizens who are open to communicate despite possible differences in values and needs and are able to reflect on (possible) impacts of their decisions and actions can ensure the sustainability of the democratic values and democratic society. The ACTIVE project is precisely addressing this phenomenon aiming to empower pupils (aged 12 to 15) and teachers to defend active and responsible citizenship and democracy in the context of school education. In order to be able to transform schools into promoters of ‘open, creative and responsible citizens