What does it mean to introduce more effective and innovative civic education into schools?
This is the question that led to the creation of EuroConnect and which, with the launch of the first workshops in schools, now has a concrete platform for experimentation and development.
The first workshops began in Italy in April and will continue until October in both Italy and Estonia.
So far, the activities have involved two schools in Palermo, engaging around 70 people aged between 14 and 20 from a wide range of educational backgrounds, including mechanics, electronics, agricultural services, commercial and advertising services, biotechnology and applied sciences.
Towards an innovative approach to civic education
EuroConnect aims to make civic education more meaningful and relevant to young people’s experiences, moving away from a predominantly teacher-centred model towards a form of learning based on the collective construction of knowledge.
As active members of the community, young people already possess knowledge derived from their life experiences: participation in social life, engagement with local challenges, and an understanding of the needs and opportunities present in their local areas. Civic education can therefore become a space in which these experiences are valued and transformed into critical reflection, shared understanding, and the development of ideas and possible responses to concrete civic issues.
To achieve this objective, EuroConnect combines three complementary educational approaches.
- Non-formal education places transversal skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, entrepreneurship, communication and collaboration at the heart of the learning process. These skills are not regarded as secondary outcomes, but as fundamental elements for the exercise of active and informed citizenship.
- So-called ‘engaged pedagogy’, inspired by the thinking of bell hooks, views learning as a process that actively involves learners not only intellectually, but also emotionally and experientially. From this perspective, civic education is not something abstract, but an experience lived out in everyday life and closely linked to personal experiences. Educators take on the role of guides in the learning process, sharing with students the responsibility of constructing meaning, questioning assumptions and contributing different perspectives.
- The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach, developed by the educator and non-violent activist Danilo Dolci, is based on the Socratic idea of maieutics as the art of bringing out the potential already present in every person. Unlike classical maieutics, this approach is founded on an explicitly reciprocal dimension, based on dialogue around shared questions rooted in real-life situations. Through mutual listening and discussion, participants take part in a collective process of inquiry and knowledge-building. More than just a methodology, it represents an approach that can be applied to a variety of educational and social contexts, based on the idea that every individual possesses knowledge and that meaningful change requires the direct involvement of those directly affected by the issues at hand.
The workshops in practice
To date, EuroConnect has rolled out two workshops in secondary schools: “Practising Collaborative Deliberation” and “Reading Between the Lines”. Both are designed to transform civic education into a participatory experience and to promote key skills, including communication, critical thinking, the ability to consider different perspectives, peer learning and reflective participation.
“Practicing Collaborative Deliberation”
This activity was carried out with 50 class representatives from the Istituto Superiore Majorana in Palermo, who took part in a structured process of collaborative deliberation to reach shared decisions on realistic dilemmas concerning the school and the community.
The activity began with a discussion of the different ways in which groups can make decisions, ranging from debate-based models to those founded on collaboration. Attention then turned to the role of collaborative deliberation in promoting participation and reducing the risk of asymmetries in group processes, particularly in contexts where certain voices risk being marginalised. Subsequently, the students experimented with the method through defined roles – timekeeper, fairness monitor, minute-taker and spokesperson – co-constructed dialogue rules and a 5-level agreement scale, designed to structure participation and safeguard minority positions.
During the final reflection, participants explored the difficulties that can arise in collective decision-making processes and identified some key elements for effective participation: the ability to communicate during disagreements, to maintain engagement even in the presence of differing opinions, to manage emotions in group interactions, and to adopt more respectful and non-violent communication styles.
“Reading between the Lines”
This workshop involved 20 students from the ENDO-FAP Ente Don Orione Vocational School in Palermo, with the aim of developing useful tools for critically analysing journalistic and social media content, recognising double standards and implicit biases in media representations.
The activity involved comparing two texts that recounted similar events through different narrative perspectives. Through content analysis, participants observed how the same situation can be represented in different and sometimes contrasting ways depending on the viewpoint adopted and the stereotypes involved.
To make the workshop more relevant to the students’ own experiences, the scenario used was based on narratives linked to anti-Southern bias. This allowed for reflection on how representations of different parts of the country can influence perceptions of legitimacy, order and social behaviour.
Working in groups, participants analysed differences in language, tone and emotional emphasis, observing how these elements affect the interpretation of the same facts and can contribute to the creation of double standards. The concluding reflection then broadened into a more general discussion of stereotypes and prejudices, linking the findings of the activity to everyday experiences and the role that media narratives can play in reinforcing social and cultural representations, including within school settings.
Beyond the workshops
Over the coming months, the workshops will continue in schools, and the programme will be accompanied by updates focusing on the development of the activities, the results achieved, and the key insights that have emerged during implementation.
Feedback from students will be a key component of the process and will be gathered through pre- and post-activity questionnaires, as well as through qualitative reflection sessions.
The results obtained will also form the basis for a final series of online meetings involving project staff working on the school workshops and students on the Master’s in Education at the University of Göttingen. The meetings will provide a forum for discussing the experiences gained, the methodologies adopted and the relationship between educational practice and broader reflections on civic education.
For further information on EuroConnect, please contact Melisa Bucur: melisa.bucur@danilodolci.org.
EuroConnect – Strengthening Civic Competences and EU Democratic Life is a project financed by Erasmus+ (KA2- Cooperation partnerships in higher education) with the aim to strengthen young people’s connection to the EU’s democratic life by developing their civic competences and improving their understanding of how to apply them to participate more effectively, using innovative and hands-on methodologies.
Partner
- Coordinator: University of Tartu, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, Estonia
- University of Siena, Italy
- Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany
For further information contact melisa.bucur@danilodolci.org.