Teaching in schools suffers from what Ulrich Beck called “methodological nationalism,” according to which historical, economic socio-cultural and political dimensions can only be analyzed through well-defined and nationally bounded categories. However, in Europe, we live and act within a multilevel polity with a plurality of cultures and traditions.
Hence the need for actions that aim to deepen teachers’ knowledge of European civic education, multilevel governance and European institutions. It is from this need that the Erasmus+ EUdemos project was born. A project that – thanks to the collaboration of 6 educational structures from 5 European countries (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland and Italy) and funding from the EU – will enable teachers from partner countries to expand their knowledge on issues concerning the development of European civic education, the concept of democracy and European citizenship and the role of human rights following the Covid 19 pandemic, while promoting the implementation and exchange of new teaching methodologies for teaching these issues.
“Schools are the real protagonists of this project,” affirmed the academic coordinator Prof. Jerónimo Maillo González-Orús of CEU San Pablo University in Madrid at the opening of the kick-off meeting held yesterday, Thursday, Jan. 26. Also present along with the partner schools was CesUE (Center for Studies, Training comunication and Design on the EU and Global Governance), which, as a subcontractor expert on European issues, will take care, together with EURACTIV Italy, of the communication and dissemination part of the project results.
“A training course will be guaranteed to be as comprehensive as possible and consistent with the specific needs of each partner and in line with the jointly agreed themes,” specified Roberto Castaldi, director of CesUE.
After the training part, characterized by teacher training workshops and seminars with policy makers, the project will focus on the introduction of the topics covered within school syllabuses, so as to make a radical and lasting change within the teaching programs.
This second phase will feature student-focused dissemination workshops and joint planning moments through collaborative online lessons between students from different schools. These virtual exchanges will be based on the initiation of a dialogue between two classes from two different high schools, different from time to time, which will address various European topics under the supervision of teachers, in view of the summer-schools planned for 2024 and 2025.
[a cura di Francesca Berti]
