First day

Date 23.10.2023.

A visit to the public school Escolaa Primaria da Abeljera, located north of Porto.

The school has 1,400 students and consists of students aged 6 to 15, i.e. from Year 1 to Year 9. The school is organized as an all-day class. Inclusive education is practiced. There are 2 special rooms for children with special needs, where they can be accommodated if necessary. In addition, the school in Portugal has a compulsory subject similar to our civic education and offers special programs for them.

 The Portuguese government has launched a national project in which elementary schools elect representatives to the Children's Parliament in the 9th grade, where children participate in the drafting of 1 law as part of their activities, which is applied for one year.

Through the inclusion program at school, the children develop tolerance but also learn other skills. The school is multicultural.

At the end of term, we had the opportunity to attend a lesson in the younger classes, the third grade, where we learned how to process the “National Day” through music lessons. The students played and sang the national anthem in synchronization and as a team with the help of the class, but also discussed the topic of this important day. We also had the opportunity to see how teachers deal with civic education topics in the lower grades.

Second day

Date 24.10.2023.

A visit to the Portuguese Victims Association was organised. The association deals with the prevention of violence, and conducts training for teachers to develop skills in children that help them not to behave aggressively, but also to learn how to respond to violence. The organisation also conducts workshops with preschool and primary school children. Skills that need to be developed in such situations, especially skills such as empathy, active listening, assertiveness, tolerance... All these skills are also needed for good communication, debate, and finding common solutions, which is the task of a small parliament. The association has given us certain tools, i.e. ways in which we can work with our students to develop the soft skills necessary for active participation in parliament.

Workshop ideas for younger students are particularly useful.

Third day

Date 25.10.2023.

We had the opportunity to visit one of the best private schools in Portugal, the Grande Colegio Universal. It is a primary and secondary school. During the visit, we toured the school premises and also attended a joint meeting with school psychologists and teachers working on various projects.

One of the teachers introduced us to their subject, which is similar to our civic education, but she added that as a school they have introduced an additional subject, which they call Plus, in which the children are taught about human rights, socially responsible behavior, democracy, etc. In this way, they expand their knowledge from the school. In this way, they broaden their knowledge from the areas mentioned and this complements the civics subject itself.

The school has also introduced us to an international project on ecology in which the children participate and which also develops values related to responsible behavior towards the environment, nature, and the environment that surrounds us. The children develop environmental skills.

This private school has been involved in the national project Parliament for Students since last year.

The fourth day

Date 26.10.2023.

A meeting with the civic education teacher, gave us a detailed presentation of the work program, the teaching units, and the working methods for the topics covered. The focus was on examples of good practice, i.e. she showed us examples that the students respond well to and that are common socially useful projects that are also carried out as part of this program.

The workshop ideas for younger school ages are particularly useful.

The fifth day

Date 27.10.2023.

On the last day, we had the opportunity to complete the training prepared by the Kokoro organisation. The theme of the training is education and community spirit: empowering teachers to design meaningful school projects for students and their communities while respecting shared values.

During the training, they learned about tools that we can use when working with our students in training sessions on democracy, communication skills development, tolerance, multiculturalism, but also workshops that are important for the development of critical thinking. In particular, the way Socrates delivers workshops will be discussed.

Very useful workshop ideas for younger school age.

Participants:

Jelena Ćirić and Bojana Rubežanović