On Wednesday 8 January, the European Commission’s Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) published a report on the first meeting of the ‘Jean Monnet for Schools’ group, which is part of the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme to support teachers and schools in integrating a European dimension into education.
Organised by the EACEA, the event, which took place on 6 and 7 June in Brussels, brought together 21 project beneficiaries - including Learning EU initiatives and Networks for Schools - from over 8 EU Member States to work on the notions of citizenship and democracy.
During the discussions, the participants said that the activities implemented had had an encouraging impact on pupils and students whose knowledge of and interest in an EU that seemed remote to them had previously been limited.
A better grasp of the EU’s values and a greater understanding of its workings have led to a certain transformation: pupils “feel empowered to engage in democratic activities”, as the report notes.
In addition, teachers have been creative in integrating a wide range of activities into busy school curricula, which is a first step towards making EU-related education an integral part of national curricula.
The ultimate aim is to see a “shift in attitudes and mindsets” that extends beyond the classroom to “families and adjacent communities”.
The report: https://aeur.eu/f/ez8 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)