Address: Strada Petre Andrei, nr. 9, Iasi, 700496

Country: Romania

 School website

Project: Active Citizenship among our Students

Working language during the project:

• Romanian

Themes of the Council of Europe campaign “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:

• Making children’s and students’ voices heard
• Addressing controversial issues
• Dealing with propaganda, misinformation and fake news
   

Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:

• Responsibility
  Students from the 8th grade assumed responsibility for checking facts about a local problem that affects the whole community. Students from the 12th grade also proved they could take responsibility when they disseminated information to their peers about the importance of voting in the European Parliament general elections.
• Valuing democracy, justice, fairness, equality and the rule of law
  Students from the 8th grade acted as part of a true civil society when they set about to propose a public policy for a local problem. They also learned how to confront existing local regulations with human rights principals embedded in the European regulations and Romanian constitution.
• Analytical and critical thinking skills
  Students from the 8th grade had to do an in-depth research on reliable media sources in order to get the best information about their subject. Students from the 12th grade became acquainted with the checks and balances of the European Union institutions and the relation between the European Union with the member states and its citizens.
   

Target group age range:

• 15 - 19
   

Level of education:

• Upper secondary education

Short description of the project:

The initiative was named Active Citizenship among our Students and was formed of two main projects: A. The training course “The Citizen for history teachers from Moldova Region” in partnership with Intercultural Institute Timisoara, and B. The project FutureEU.

A. The training course The Citizen was aimed at history teachers from the Moldova Region who teach civic education to 7th and 8th grade students. The course took place in our school from March until June 2019. The project consisted of 40 hours of training. Teachers had to apply the method in their classes while still in training. The Citizen is a learning method by project and our students from the 8th grade learned how to propose a public policy for a local problem. The activity took place on a weekly basis, during the lessons on Citizenship, and students learned how to vote for a specific local problem they wanted to address; how to get valuable and meaningful information regarding the selected problem and the existing administrative solutions for it; how to use professional media websites and not fall for gutter press or outright fake news; how to check European regulations and the Romanian Constitution on observing human rights in the specific solution found to the problem; how to refer the proposed public policy to local administrative authorities.

B. The project FutureEU wanted to inform the students in the 12th grade about the European Parliament general elections and it was implemented from January to April 2019. The team project was made up of Cristina Timofte (principal of the school), Vlad Enasescu (12th grade student) and Emil Juverdeanu (history teacher). The activity aimed to promote European active citizenship and to inform the students about the importance of European institutions. We organised debates in which students participated. We followed themes such as: 1. The future of the European Union depends on our involvement in active citizenship; 2. EU institutions; 3. The rights for European citizens; 4. We can also be democratic leaders for Europe. The project was aimed at growing the number of well-informed young students who will vote in the European Parliament general elections.

Aims/objectives

1. To actively participate in elaborating a public policy for a specific local problem;
2. To learn how to get information from reliable media websites;
3. To identify specific problems that affect local community;
4. To identify the rights of European citizens;
5. To explain the importance of the European Parliament general elections for European democracy;
6. To increase the number of well-informed young students from the Informatics High School who will vote in the European Parliament general elections for the first time.
    

Expected results/outcomes

• 30 students from the 8th grade learn how to propose and refer a public policy to local administrative authorities;
• 150 students from the 12th grade are well informed about the rights for European citizens and the importance of the European institutions;
• Weekly lessons on European citizenship are given to 12th grade students from Liceul Teoretic de Informatica Grigore Moisil.
   

Changes

• Students from the 8th grade learned how to propose and refer a public policy to local administrative authorities;
• Many students of our school participated in the European Parliament general elections on 26th of May 2019;
• Many students of our school popularised the importance of these elections among their peers from other high schools from Iași;
• 15 (2%) students of our school enrolled in Associations that promote the democratic values like the UN Youth Association of Romania.
   

Challenges you faced

We are not allowed to talk politics in Romanian schools, so we tried to maintain a professional discussion with our students, which was challenged by our students' questions.

We also tried not to direct our discussions towards a certain political doctrine.

The students still think that politics can't be changed by ordinary people.
 

Time-frame of the project:

The project took approximately 4 months to complete.
 

Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice: