In our Museum Education Erasmus+ KA1 project we were looking also at citizenship education for adults. The British Museum has good online learning resources that can be searched by culture, by subject and by age group. Classroom resources comprise for example the subject IDENTITY with a downloadable word document and powerpoint presentation:

Kind regards, Andrea

"Political education must set off, must go to the people, specifically also to those who have not been reached by such offers so far or who do not want to be reached: because they feel "distant from politics", alienated or dependent, because they are socially disadvantaged or because they simply do not know political participation from their countries of origin or a contact person who sees himself as non-partisan. These groups are therefore not the same despisers of democracy, but they lack democracy. Democracy needs everyone!"

I take this as a guidance to continue working in civic education despite all difficulties and challenges!

The huge influx of disinformation and information of our era has caused a general suffocation among many people. Civic and media education, which can be one of the few instruments to measure this, do not reach the target audience - as the target audience - frankly said - is not interested. And even if it reaches the group, many of those would not trust it - they trust the "alternative" sources more. Because “they” care about them - or at least they have the feeling. Because they are more comprehensive than the truth. Because finally, someone is offering a relief for their frustration. The whole process is much more irrational than rational. 

 I am from the Czech Republic, a member of EPALE team, and I meet these people quite often. My mother is one of them. There is no easy and quick way out. People are very sensitive as to how and in what form an information is given to them. They don´t like to be forced to think in a way… they prefer to be silently manipulated.

 I believe most of you know someone like that. The question is: what can we do to ease the frustration (which is the ultimate cause for the state of mind) and how to make the ratio work again? There are plenty of small initiatives and some of them have been described here by you. 

As for the Central and Eastern Europe, I would point out one way which I think works well. Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, or Hungary have a very dense network of libraries. They can be used also for activities related to civic education for all citizens, especially in smaller towns and even villages. People living in rural areas have limited chance to meet and get information so a library can be a good place. 

Civic education alone? No, these people would not grab it. They have other priorities in their lives, or interests. Well, if it is a cultural event, or a course how to buy air tickets, or how to produce digital photos, or a community gathering, it might make a difference. Civic education can be connected – and to my opinion, must be – to other fields which are more interesting for the audience that needs it the most. Culture, IT, community living, even cooking etc. Civic education is actually bringing people to critical thinking and to assessing information sources – and this can be exercised in many ways and on many subjects.

Civic education needs simply a good PR. 

And this one example from rural Poland can give you an idea of what I mean. It tells the whole story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yEhfqajq8I&feature=youtu.be 

The Erasmus+ project “Nauru Game for Active Citizenship of Youth”, which aims to stimulate citizenship mindset and develop citizenship competencies of young people by the development of an innovative educational tool called “Nauru Game”, ended in 31st January 2019. The project is in direct correlation with the EU policy in the youth learning field, taking that the proposed method is expected to contribute towards increased empowerment, open to cross-sectorial cooperation, active citizenship and improve their relevant and high-level basic and transversal competences in a life learning perspective.

You can read more about it at:

In Zemgale Region Human Resource and Competences Development Centre in Jelgava, Latvia we incorporate civic skills in the courses of Latvian language and also have separate activities aimed directly at furthering these skills. A more recent one was a seminar on Media literacy in which librarians from our city took part.

Media literacy goes way beyond recognizing "fake news". It is very important that librarians who work with adults daily can inform and help them improve these vital skills in an age where the abundance of information can easily confuse an unaware citizen.

The seminar was organized in cooperation with National Library of Latvia and University of Latvia.

Article in Latvian about the seminar: http://zrkac.lv/event.php?id=5214

The project partners organize local workshops; transnational partners are participating in, and duly documenting some of these local activities. The documentation (interactive PDF brochure in English language) of the first workshop in Graz / Austria can be downloaded from the website of the project coordinator Bildungslabor (Edcuation Lab): www.bildungslabor.info

In Stockholm, I work within the adult education system with students with different learning difficulties. 

It is a school within the municipal adult education system called LÄRVUX. 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 inputs.

Adult Education plays a key role in imparting knowledge about democracy, politics, political processes and social structures. The promotion of active citizenship for responsible citizens is an educational policy objective in Europe and an important element for the societal cohesion in a democracy. I want to use the opportunity and invite you to our EPALE Conference Citizenship Education in Austria & Europe: Objectives, methods and future prospects on the 13th of June, where you could participate successfull projects from all over Europe.

What is citizenship education? How and where does it take place? What are thematic key aspects, approaches, methods? How should we structure courses for political education and how can the education of democracy be implemented for adults. These are the central questions of the EPALE conference 2019.

Ideas and methods, which were developed in European projects, will be introduced and tested. The national and international idea and networking pools will cover the following topics: approaches of political education, promotion of active citizenship, integration through adult education as well as empowerment through community based media and promotion of media literacy.

Here you will find the programme and the link for registration.

REM project - Rights, duties, solidarity, European constitutions and Muslim immigration 

The general objective of this Erasmus+ KA3 project is to promote intercultural dialogue, democratic values and fundamental rights and to prevent violent radicalization, that is often generated and encouraged by integration difficulties and therefore by the perception of isolation and not belonging to the context in which migrants live. The project is inspired by a good practice carried out inside the Dozza prison in Bologna, where friar Ignazio De Francesco, in the past years, has involved prisoners, coming from the Maghreb area, in lectures aimed at reflecting on rights and duties, on the comparison between Constitutions and between civil and religious norms. In 2018 the Citizenship Education training has been adapted and upscaled in different contexts and addressed to different target groups, both men and women, of different nationalities, ages and cultural backgrounds. The courses have involved students of: language courses, trainings aimed at naturalization or acquisition of citizenship, high schools; asylum seekers and migrants, adults and unaccompanied minors, hosted in residential facilities; inmates and former inmates. The pilot trainings were planned with the contribution of experts such as intercultural mediators, law teachers and Islamologists. In each partners' countries (Italy, Spain, Romania and Germany) the courses have been carried out involving more than 200 people. At the beginning of 2019, trainings of trainers’ courses were also held in each country, with a total presence of more than 100 people including educators, teachers, social workers, psychologists, police officers and volunteers. At the moment, all project partners are working on the creation of the project E-booklet that collect the descriptions, methodologies and tools used in all the trainings. If you are interested in receiving more information or in being part of the European network we are creating, please contact us at:

remproject@ceisformazione.eu 

or have a look to our website and facebook page: 

http://www.erasmusrem.eu 

https://www.facebook.com/projectrem/ 

To participate in society, migrants must be language proficient. In learning the language of their new home country, in addition to formal scholing, they are often supported by local volunteers. National platform ‘It starts with language’ (Het Begint met Taal) supports local initiatives. We provide practical materials, trainings and guides for these language volunteers and their coordinators. Also, we make sure as many people as possible learn about the added value of language volunteers and how it enriches people’s lives.

“The Dutch language is the most important tool for getting to know your new home country and climbing the social ladder. That is why language volunteers are such a valuable investment. "Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam.

Language volunteers

Every week, around 15,000 language volunteers and 28,000 migrants, such as refugees and asylum seekers, talk Dutch with each other. They practice everyday conversations and get to know each other's world. The main aim: use language as a tool in order to increase the participation of migrants. This type of practical language support provides more language knowledge, self-confidence and broadens the network of migrants. Other speakers, volunteers, municipalities and the whole society reap the benefits.

Who are we?

We at ‘It starts with language’ believe society improves when all migrants and refugees can participate. In order to support their children, find employment and be active in their local communities, migrants must be able to speak the language of their new home country. We therefore support 160 volunteer organizations on 250 locations nationwide with a wide array of products and services relating to language volunteers and second language education:

• 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.

We gladly offer support on using our experience, methods and trainings to any organization wishing to improve the quality of the language education support provided by volunteers.

There are two groups of them. First is the project team, which leads the whole process, spends a lot of time organising voluntary work events and celebrations, managing fundraising efforts, keeping deadlines, communicating with building and gardening companies. All the team members are volunteers and they grow enormously during leading their projects. They receive training in fundraising, management of public events, and participatory techniques from the VIA Foundation. However, they mostly learn hands-on how to communicate with people with contradicting opinions, how to facilitate group discussion, how to find compromises in a community, how to thank volunteers, how to motivate people to participate in a community event, how to deal with local authority representatives, how to communicate with media and other. 

The second group are the inhabitants of local community - participants of public meetings and volunteers during the construction process. There is a series of public meetings where the plan for the public space re-construction or building is being created under the supervision of a landscape architect. It is real-life opportunity for learning how democratic discussion can work. With the help of a professional facilitator, the inhabitants of a local community learn how to formulate and express their opinions, how to listen to the opinions of other and how to reach decisions acceptable by majority. For many people, it is one of the few occasions in their life when someone shows interest in their opinion and the opinion is heard and accepted and it can represent a life-changing experience. I believe that this program is a true civic skills’ learning opportunity. And the participants create a cultivated public space in addition! 

More about the programme can be found at: Nadace VIA

Conflicting national ideologies in Europe are producing policy contradictions. As an example, the recent migration flows have exposed profound contradictory policies within the EU, reflected in different (and sometime nationalistic) responses. Walls, political and physical, are going up across Europe. Additionally, we are living through a time of challenge and political polarization resulting from a loss of confidence in our previous societal and political institutions. 

The time is very ripe for adult education to extend its thinking and make a significant contribution to both individual and societal wellbeing. As regards value-based citizenship education, it is important to state that adult education’s responsibility is not focused on telling adults how to behave, but how to understand the complex issues of societal life. 

Therefore, the below mentioned methodologies like i.e. critical thinking that foster the development of own judgements based on facts, transformative learning suggested by Georgios from Greece, or study circles as a self-directed learning tool suggested by Nevenka from Slovenija are really good examples how to improve adults’ civic engagement rather than just teaching skills.  

Dear colleagues,

professional further education comprises much more than just the simple transfer of knowledge. It is equally important to encourage the individual, social and political commitment of learners. The VNB (Association of Education Initiatives in Lower Saxony) is an officially acknowledged state-wide adult and youth education institution, and an umbrella organisation with a network of more than 200 education partners. Major topics in our educational work are of public, social and political interest, such as migration and integration, sustainable development, family and intergenerational education, gender and LGBT*I education, global learning, and many more, implemented on regional, national and transnational level. We has a special interest in developing innovative projects for a diverse and inclusive education, addressing young and adult learners as well as staff members in adult and vocational education, and using state-of-the-art methodologies such as Design Thinking, collaborative learning and many more. Thus the VNB promotes diversity as a fundamental approach to equal opportunities for all.

Learn more about our methodologies and projects at www.vnb.de

A term »active citizenship« is translated into Slovenian as a term »aktivno državljanstvo«. Active might mean that a participant (or participants) is/are engaged in any form of collective action e.g. group learning, team work, community development. Therefore he/ she/they are able and willing to contribute to common good, not only personal benefits.

Active citizenship is usually empowered by or through educational programmes. Slovenian term »državljanska vzgoja« evokes emotions connected with the State which historically was not always pleasant with people and still is sometimes criticized e.g. for poor transparency of decision making or lobbied resources use. In education a term »raising« was erased from vocabulary not only until nineties but also after democratization of society a decade later when I personally started to work in the frame of AE. Then I had to delete this word from a document as »it is inappropriate to brainwash participants of any programme«. Education was then (in nineties) meant to be "clean", what means providing facts and cognitive elements only. It was unacceptable for me since my programmes were based on interpretative elements, so relationship (e.g. to nature, to other participants) were intervowen into the process and subjects. I have also learned in natural sciences that facts like height, weight, age, status and other measurable elements are far from the descriptors needed for effective learning (and action). An attitude of erasing of irrationality from the curricula has gone and we have also learned that motivation may easily rise but also decline.

Variety of participants makes learning stronger and its effects more sustainable. Moderation of responses has always been needed (was appreciated but was also a challenge for a moderator) while pure facts were found in rich learning materials, more and more ICT accessible. To shorten the story - study circles in Slovenia celebrated 25th anniversary and evaluation has shown that they are a best practice of active citizenship. More about on the website https://sk.acs.si

Readers are particularly invited to the subsection of Publications at https://sk.acs.si/objave where English contributions might be found or a map https://sk.acs.si/zemljevid .

With kindest regards to all readers and visitors of EPALE platform

Nevenka Bogataj, nevenka.bogataj@acs.si

First introduced in 2016, the aim of the award winning DorfMOOC, developed by a working group of Evangelische Erwachsenenbildung (Protestant Adult Education) in Hessia/ Germany was to guide rural communities to become active in making their towns and villages more livable and reestablish a feeling of community.

The MOOC applies a methodology of "observing, understanding, acting" and takes participants (who at times live in quite remote places but still live in the same village) through 6 modules over 6 weeks looking at topics such as participation, integration of older people as well as migrants in the community, organisation and social media. It encourages the participants to view their villages with new eyes and to think about how they could tackle problems such as a lack of community meeting places or consider what a "good life" means to them.

A blog about the DorfMOOC is available in German with links to the MOOC and the organisers on the German language Version.

Oefenen.nl is an online platform that helps people in their social participation. In different programs they improve their basic knowlegde and skills. Reading, writing, numeracy and digital skills are an important part of all programs. This is also true for thematic programs, like health, numeracy and money. 

Oefenen.nl and citizenship 

Oefenen.nl wants to contribute to social participation of people. At home, in their immediate environment, at work and as a member of society. Several of the programs at Oefenen.nl contribute to that. 

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. 

One of the modules we offer is an accredited Level 6 module in Citizenship and Social Action delivered using our module of blended online learning.   The Citizenship and Social Action programme explores theoretical concepts of democracy, citizenship and social action. Students analyse specific case studies in relation to citizenship, social action and democratic participation in the age of the internet. Alongside this, they will investigate and identify strategies and practical approaches to support digital citizenship and examine the Irish and European Union policy frameworks with regard to citizenship and participation.  This module can be taken as a unaccredited module, accredited QQI Level 6 standalone module or as part of our Certificate in Leadership and Community Development.  

Anyone interested in finding out more can log on to our website on www.ancosanvcc.com, follow us on social media or contact me on Email on m.flanagan@ancosanvcc.com

Recognisability is the foundation of KLASSE! 

The majority of the illiterates hardly recognise themselves in society’s image of them at this moment. They don’t feel like they are the bottom of society and just an expense. They don’t lead an overly complex and problematic life, but just have a question. Apart from this question, their lives are in order. They don’t feel addressed by the message: ‘Learn how to read and write!’ since they possess these skills sufficiently. 

What should we do instead? 

KLASSE! focusses on the group of Dutch speaking illiterates; the people with a small question, which concerns participation in society. They want to be seen in their environment by doing something they like. This is not learning a language, but writing a book or reading news on the internet. KLASSE! maps the profiles of these participants very carefully and identifies the learning question; this is what activates the target audience. The (learning) question is the starting point and fits the stages of life and backgrounds of the participants. To optimise the chance of success – enrolment for the course – we want to address a potential participant as directly as possible with a matching approach (both communicative and methodical). We adapt the recruitment accordingly. 

To achieve this, we describe the profiles within KLASSE! as real people, with their own background stories. The communication shifts from supply oriented to demand oriented: the participant with his or her own question is the focus. 

We distinguish four recruitment profiles (Gerard, Elly, Wesley and Fatima) by answering the following questions:

1. Which Dutch speaking participants are there and what are their characteristics? (social, cultural, demographic) 
2. What (learning) needs do they have and how can we adjust the recruitment accordingly? (what drives them or what is their learning question) 
3. What channels do they use the most and how do they discover and share information? 
4. What role does their environment play? (partner, teacher, son or daughter, doctor) 
5. In what way would they like to be educated? 

With this approach, we are convinced that it should be possible to attract more participants. In KLASSE! we have formulated 50 learning questions for each profile. This could, theoretically, lead to 50 courses for each profile. These so called ‘camouflage courses’ can be used as an observation period to map the skill level of participants. Those with large difficulties with the basic skills can use the camouflage course as a stepping stone towards the regular courses in basic skills. For more information consult: www.ikwildatleren.nl or get in touch with Marian Janssen- de Goede of ‘Zet een Punt…’ at marian@zeteenpunt.nl 

All materials of KLASSE! are available as a free download at the website above. Participants are as well welcome at the website for courses, fitting their profile. 

You can download the guide from the EPALE resource centre here (available in German, English, Danish and Macedonian language)

Hello Everyone, 

We -as NSS Turkey- made a regional workshop in April. The aim of the workshop is to carry out the following objectives within the framework of the focus “Citizenship Education" designed for the months March-April-May within the scope of the EPALE. In all activities planned throughout the workshop, the aim is to increase the knowledge and skills of the participants on the concepts of citizenship and digital citizenship, as well as the positive and negative aspects of their attitudes and behaviors especially in the context of technology in view of their perception of good citizenship in their daily lives and work lives.