EPALE Community: Share your good practice examples and successful projects on citizenship education
As part of our thematic focus on citizenship education, we want to hear from you – the EPALE community – about any good practice examples and successful projects related to citizenship education for adults.
Have you come across or created an innovative methodology for teaching adults civic skills? Perhaps you have been involved in or heard of a successful project that aimed to improve adults’ civic engagement or awareness of their democratic rights? Share your stories, tips, case studies and good practice examples in the comments below between 20-24 May and help to inspire adult learning professionals across Europe. Don't forget to include links to the resources, projects and project outcomes mentioned, and explain briefly why you consider this resource/project to be a good practice example. All the stories shared here will be included in our monthly newsletter! |
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Pigman as an example of good practice in forest education.
Museum Education Project
Museum Online Resources
Civic Education of Parents
Parents is one of the target audiences interested in acquiring civic education. The highest demand comes from the first-time parents as they are eager to understand their new role, to solve a problem or implement a good idea in their municipality. For example, the parents assembled and decided to write a letter requesting that a “sleeping policeman” should be installed on the streets near the municipality schools to provide for the pupils’ safety.
forums
NGO in the field of civic education
Democracy needs everyone!
What works and what doesn´t in civic education
Erasmus+ project good practice
The lifelong learning course"Balanced Life:...
Voluntary commitment
I can say "YES"
The Swedish model of popular education for inclusion & democracy
Media literacy - a basis for informed decision making
Fostering active migrant participation with the means of arts
Citizenship education for adults with learning difficulties
In teaching an adult student with learning difficulties the idea of “ building citizenship” can sometimes seem difficult to implement. In adult education, we encounter students with a range of learning difficulties, such as intellectual disability, ADD/ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, social phobia, speech impairment and other forms of functional variations. Depending on the challenges the students face, the activities to enhance and reinforce active citizenship are addressed with means such as digital learning through social media and different online learning tools and learning sites. Discussions about society in an informal and tolerant classroom climate also help students address the questions they have not previously dared or known to ask or explore. Classroom activities can be a way to open up to a new world of engagement in society. Society has for some previously been an insurmountable hurdle of rules, regulations, unspoken ways to interact, cultural notions of what is right and wrong, difficult words and expressions, connections to history that is unknown och hard to understand and so on… Society can be a pretty intricate web of rather loose or tight connections and being better equipped to untangle that web is valuable for most people. Better understanding one’s rights in society, as well as one’s obligations, gives a new dimension to being a citizen. Building citizenship to become a more active citizen can greatly enhance the students’ sense of coherence ( SOC). Enhancing a person’s understanding of and involvement in society can also be the stepping stone to becoming more independent. That applies to a large extent to students who have immigrated and are somehow new to the country. Perhaps their learning difficulties have not previously been openly addressed and perhaps present society in the new country is so different that new possibilities but also new challenges may have arisen. Designing lessons that give every student the possibility to access its content regardless of learning disability is a way that also brings on a sense of our individual functional variations being just that – variations. Learning material and resources (digital or other) that are available to everybody, and not exclusively to the ones most in need, reduce the differences and create a feeling of equality or sameness among the students. The variations among the students in this way become the assets of the learning situation since the learning situation becomes more accessible to everyone - with or without learning difficulty. Classroom situations can also be the way to practice valuable digital skills required for actively taking a greater part in society, as well as learning how to access information and critically analyze it. Functional variations and the way we address and meet these are crucial to students’ accepting of their learning disabilities. Open dialogue and addressing the importance of self-awareness is something really worth spending time on in mentoring students with learning difficulties, who oftentimes have spent a lot of time compensating for their difficulties and sometimes trying to hide them as well. Taking part of society, in one's own way, then becomes a goal in itself. But before that can be done, one has to dare to acknowledge one´s hurdles and lift up one’s strengths. On top of that, students with intellectual disabilities, or other learning difficulties, benefit greatly from having learned strategies to detect when they are exposed to different power structures, such as ableism. Learning to stand up for oneself, being more grounded in one´s own skills and one´s value, becomes a worth-wile bonus. In almost every subject we can incorporate aspects of citizenship. We can address different issues in different ways, using different modalities so that the variation itself strengthens students’ possibilities to succeed. Carefully planning how to incorporate citizenship-building in the existing plan for the course and giving the students the term plan in order for them to be able to prepare and plan their own work is also a recipe for success. The plan is especially important for the student who has challenges in learning, in order to be able to prepare in whichever way best for that particular student’s success in learning. Building citizenship does not have to involve classroom activities alone. Cooperating with a guidance counsellor and inviting different groups/institutions into the classroom or visiting them where they are, presents a path to broaden input and understanding for what are important citizenship-skills. Additionally, by implementing cooperative strategies into the learning processes, students learn to rely on their own capacity and to cooperate in a symmetric structure of power and not only in a hierarchical one. This is a valuable skill in society. One recipe to build citizenship can be Universal learning design and learning resources in the classroom Practising valuable skills needed in society Create a tolerant classroom climate where questions can be addressed Help students work on self-awareness Planning how to incorporate citizenship-building in the classroom setting
Thank you for your great thoughts and examples
More than worth a visit!
Citizenship Education to prevent violent radicalization
It start with language!
- we promote the expertise of language volunteers and coordinators through training, webinars and e-learning;
- we offer practical tools and develop innovative methods;
- we build on the experience of our partner organizations and facilitate national roll-out of local successes;
- we help partner organizations start up and/or grow through advice and tools;
- we raise awareness of the importance of language volunteers through national communication campaigns;
- we participate in various networks, lobby and influence policy.
People learn how to formulate and express their opinion
Dear Kristýna,how long does
12-18 months, 3-10 people
Thanks Kristýna...
Citizenship means to understand complex societal issues
Addressing citizenship education in adult learning: meet the VNB
EPALE theme week: European Elections 2019
The European Elections are taking place in turbulent times. While many continue to believe in Europe and the EU, cooperation and cohesion is needed to steer the project back into calmer waters.
This means that voter turnout in the forthcoming elections on 26 May is more important than ever. In order to promote participation in the elections and discussion about decisive topics for the future of Europe, EPALE Germany, EPALE Austria and EPALE East Belgium organise the EPALE theme week on the European Elections.
Under the Slogan "Shaping Europe Together!" we have compiled material to promote participation in the elections. Every day of this week a new topic will be unlocked.
Join in and discuss with us: What should our Europe of tomorrow look like?
Some thoughts about the basic term and a best practice example
DorfMOOC - encouraging rural communities to become more active
Dorfmoderation
Oefenen.nl and citizenship
- The Verkeershulp (the traffic assistant) This program explains common traffic situations. Videos show situations that can go wrong and teach you how to handle them differently. You practice with words, signs, rules and traffic situations.
- Groen doen (do green) A program about savings and sustainabiliy. The program challenges you to reflect on the way you live. Could you live in a healthier and cheaper way? And what would be best for the environment? This is an entry level program that teaches you about sustainabiliy.
- Thuis op school (Home at school) A program focusing on 17 themes all related to upbringing at home and at school.
- Steffie Hoe werkt stemmen? (Steffie How does the voting process work?) A pogram by Stichting Leer Zelf Online. Steffie teaches you about the elections for the Provincial Council and the water boards.
- Steffie Mijn overheid (Steffie My government) More and more government communication is sent via Mijn Overheid (My Government). Steffie explains how to log into Mijn Overheid. The program also teaches about receiving and reading mail in your Berichtenbox (Message Box) sent to you by the government.
Greetings EPALE Friends, Warm
Warm wishes from Ireland, my name is Maria Flanagan and I work as Community Partner Lead in An Cosán Virtual Community College. An Cosán is here to help learners succeed through our innovative model of community education. We provide people of all ages with pathways to learning, leadership and social enterprise. We offer a variety of affordable short programmes, through to a range of options in community, further and higher education programmes including early years education and care, wellness, parenting, community development, leadership, addiction studies and social enterprise. Our accredited programmes offer progression paths towards Certificate, Higher Certificate and BA Degree awards and all our higher education programmes are accredited through IT Carlow, our collaborative partner. Through the Virtual Community College (VCC), established in 2014, An Cosán is now working with local Community Partners across Ireland to bring our programmes and holistic approach to address barriers and challenges at a local level. The VCC empowers people to learn anywhere, at any time, using the latest virtual, online and mobile technologies. Our accredited programmes offer progression paths towards Certificate, Higher Certificate and BA Degree awards and all our higher education programmes are accredited through Institute of Technology Carlow, our collaborative partner.
Motivation
Who are Gerard, Elly, Wesley and Fatima?
- Which Dutch speaking participants are there and what are their characteristics? (social, cultural, demographic)
- What (learning) needs do they have and how can we adjust the recruitment accordingly? (what drives them or what is their learning question)
- What channels do they use the most and how do they discover and share information?
- What role does their environment play? (partner, teacher, son or daughter, doctor)
- In what way would they like to be educated?
The Project Take Action…
The Project
Take Action
Citizenship education for an inclusive and sustainable future.
The project involves different kind of organisations such as associations, private education providers, universities and high schools to adapt and develop a teaching curriculum based on the “Action Civics” curriculum created by Generation Citizens, an US-based organisation.
https://www.takeaction-europa.eu/