Address: Kratasiuki Street, Poti

Country: Georgia

 School website

Project: I – For Better Future

 

Working language during the project:

  • Georgian
  • English
     

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

  • Making children’s and students’ voices heard
  • Improving well-being at school
     

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

  • Valuing cultural diversity
    A website was created for the schools from three countries. The students could interact with the teachers and students with different cultural traditions and experience via online conferences and distance workshops.
  • Autonomous learning skills
    The students worked independently and had to communicate with students from different countries. They independently conducted surveys in their schools, made notes, analysed and expressed their opinions, and shared them with the students of the partner school. Presentations were made in English, which helped to strengthen the students' knowledge.
  • Knowledge and critical understanding of the self
    Project participants communicated with each other in English. This strengthened their linguistic knowledge. Research materials were shared with each other through information and communications technology. They critically studied the society of their own country and analysed their habits. Students had the opportunity to improve their communication and writing skills in English.
     

Target group age range:

  • 5-11
  • 11-15
     

Level of education:

  • Primary education
  • Lower secondary education

Short description of the project:

Understanding civic responsibility is one of the main topics that the school should support.

The initiators of the project contacted Poti Public School No. 11, Kramatorsk Lyceum, Stus No. 8, Ukraine, BP-Hasdeu Theoretical Lucium of the Public Institute, Drochia, Moldova, Jurmala State Gymnasium (Latvia), Al Hadi Women's School , Egypt. They were presented with the project idea and offered the possibility of joining the project to discuss the issue, to share their views and to present their country, speak about social issues and work together on recommendations.

Twenty-five students from the school organising the project (Poti Public School # 12) were involved in the project.

As part of the project, students observed the behaviour of citizens as regards civic engagement and then shared their observations with partner schools online.

Firstly, an online meeting was held between the schoolteachers and students and a plan was drawn up. The meeting was interactive and conducted in English. The schools subsequently worked individually on the following topics: civic responsibility in a democratic society, protection of the environment, human rights and citizens’ responsibilities. The students prepared materials for presentation and at the online meeting exchanged on how the citizens of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia see the above issues.

The following activities were planned and implemented within the project: students participating in the project observed the school yard, street, corridor, classroom, playgrounds and rest areas. They noted how citizens behave, and whether people show civil indifference? What is the reason for their indifference? Students later compared their notes with the other groups. In an online workshop, the students shared their data, facts, descriptions and outlined a common picture and common features. It was interesting for the students that they all drew a very similar general picture.

At a later stage, the students prepared a set of recommendations - the aim of which was described as "I - for a better future" and was to give students a sense of personal responsibility for civic indifference. Students created posters and slogans on what is the role of raising civic self-awareness. At the third online meeting, students shared their descriptions and recommendations, agreed on positions and set out common indicators, recommendations and clear characteristics. A final meeting was planned where school representatives presented their product. At the final stage of the project, an exhibition of the work was organised in the Poti 12th Public School. Students displayed their posters and slogans. Online discussions were held on raising civic self-awareness. As a result of the project, a school club called "I - for a better future" will be created, which will unite the primary and secondary classes of the Poti 12th Public School. The task of the club will be to work together to raise civic self-awareness with the participation of students.
 

Aims/objectives

  • Involve partner schools in the project and create a school network for promoting a democratic culture
  • Sharing the experience of different countries and creating a framework for a package of joint recommendations
     

Expected results/outcomes

  • Students participate in the project and gain experience of students from different school cultures.
  • The project creates a unified framework of recommendations to be distributed to all participating schools
     

Changes

  • The project created a school network with the participation of schools from different countries.
  • Students gained experience in making their own presentation material using international languages.
     

Challenges you faced

  • Different cultures and traditions of the partner schools involved in the project.
  • IT skills on online platforms.
     

Time-frame of the project:

The project lasted for two months
 

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

  • Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture
  • Living Democracy - manuals for teachers
  • Democratic governance of schools
  • We CAN!