Foundations involved: Bertelsmann Stiftung, Carnegie UK Trust, Compagnia di San Paolo, Education for Democracy Foundation, Education Reform Initiative, Fondation Bernheim, Freudenberg Stiftung (chair), Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, King Baudouin Foundation

Partners involved: Council of Europe, Citizenship Foundation, German Association for Democracy Education (DeGeDe) and the Regional Centre for Education, Integration and Democracy (RAA), European Schoolnet, Alliance Publishing Trust

Timeframe:  2007 - 2010

Budget:      252.000 EUR

The ILDE group successfully developped two concrete projects:

Project 1: Europe... and me? - A resource kit on European Citizenship Education (Citizenship Foundation, London)

The European Union is central to the lives of millions of people across Europe. It affects their daily lives in a myriad of different ways. Yet many young people are barely aware that the European Union exists, let alone have any coherent understanding of its work and purpose. Conventional teaching has tended to portray the European Union as a set of abstract structures, far removed from the daily lives and experience of many ordinary young people living and working in Europe today. Europe and Me is a new educational resource designed to open young people's eyes in a simple and practical way to the work of the European Union as it affects them and their peers. It does not aim to promote any particular view of the European Union, but seeks to engage young people in an active and critical exploration of some of its major policy areas - such as the environment, consumer protection, employment, minority rights and international aid - and the ways in which these impinge on the lives of young people. It presents young people with some of the practical problems confronting Europe today - such as river pollution, international football hooliganism, disability rights and discrimination at work - asking how they would solve them and the role they see for international co-operation in this.
The resource comprises a series of themed discussion activities based on semi-animated PowerPoint stories, together with case studies and background information, follow-up practical investigations in the local community, and opportunities for young people to make their voices heard on European issues. It is accompanied by suggestions for evaluation and detailed background notes for teachers. It has been created to meet the curricular needs of teachers and other educational professionals working with young people in the 14-19 age group in EU member states and countries in Europe aspiring to become EU members. While designed with vocational education in mind, it will be found equally useful in the general secondary school setting.
It can be integrated into individual curriculum subjects, used in stand-alone civic education or citizenship sessions or used as an inter-disciplinary tool to help teachers to inject a European element across their school or college curricula. Europe and Me is free and currently available on-line in several different languages, with plans for further translations in the near future.

Project 2: Handbook for Schools and Civil Society :"Schools for Society" (Citizenship Foundation, London, and DeGeDe and RAA consortium, Berlin)
The second project involves the production of a handbook which distils best policy and practice drawn from European Experience to promote the idea of the school as a whole as a democratic space. It focuses on the school in its internal organisation and in its relations with the neighboring community outside the school. The handbook is directed primarily at staff working in foundations who are interested in developing a more strategic funding approach in this field, and also at community/school developers, governors and heads of schools. As such, it is deliberately conceived to complement the new handbook produced by the Council of Europe which is aimed at the teaching profession and trainers involved in citizenship education.

"Europe and me" is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Flemish, Polish and Swedish. You can upload separated animated versions in English.
"Schools for Society" is available in English and in Italian.

The Alliance Publishing Trust has been involved in the production of the publications "Europe and me" and "Schools for Society".

Publications


"Europe and me"_ animated Powerpoint EN


Press Release


"Europe and me"_animated Powerpoint IT