LEAP – Second biannual Newsletter

Dec 20, 2019News

LEAP – Learning to participate: What are the results we have obtained so far?

The LEAP project – co-financed with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme (Key Action 2: Strategic Partnership | Youth) – promotes youth empowerment through the experimentation of Project-based learning (PBL) in non-formal education. It aims to stimulate skills development and encourage youth participation.

The project objectives include:

  • Introducing PBL as work practice in non-formal education;
  • Supporting young people in the development of social and civic competences;
  • Strengthening common European values about youth participation;
  • Reinforcing intercultural dialogue and respect for diversity amongst young people;
  • Establishing a new form of collaboration amongst formal and non-formal education organisations participating in the project.

 

With this second project Newsletter, we are happy to present to you the main project achievements since our first meeting in Hannover, Germany.

 

Development of a Pedagogical Booket and of the Project-based Learning Methodology

During the last months, the partners have been working on the development of two important outputs that will be created within the project: These are (1) a pedagogical booklet and (2) guidance for youth workers to successfully implement the PBL methodology. Through a continuous cooperation and the sharing of good practices among partners, the LEAP partnership has managed to collect a variety of tools and establish a solid theoretical basis for these materials. The knowledge gathered so far will now serve as a basis for the upcoming project initiatives, namely the Training for youth workers and the mobility of young people in the project countries. The experiences and lessons learned from these initiatives will then be used to evaluate and finalise the pedagogical materials, all of which will become available by the end of next year. Another important result of the project will be the development of a Charter on Youth Participation: The partners have developed a shared understanding of participation as a point of reference, which will be further explored together with young people in the upcoming months.

 

Second partnership meeting in Palermo

Empowerment, competence development, social inclusion: these were the three main pillars around which the contents of the second project meeting were structured. The second partnership meeting was hosted by CSC Danilo Dolci in Palermo, Italy, on the 7th and 8th of November 2019. During the meeting, the partners verified the progress made so far and agreed upon the next steps to be taken within the project.

Specific topics that were discussed during the meeting include:

  • The aims and the contents of the Trainings addressed to youth workers. These trainings focus on the implementation of the PBL methodology and they are organised by the project partners between November 2019 and February 2020. Partners will be flexible to adapt their trainings to their respective national context and to the participating youth workers’ needs.
  • The organisation and pedagogical implementation of the upcoming Mobility Projects, where three groups of 15 young people each will travel to a partner country. At the meeting, the partners discussed how to facilitate the learning path around the mobility, defining the contents and activities for the phases before, during and after the mobility.
  • The next steps to further the development of the Charter on Youth Participation and a Videoguide on PBL methodology, which will be the final products of the project.

 

The Training Experience has started!

Two successful Youth Workers Trainings have already taken place in Austria and Croatia: A training event entitled ‘Learning Democracy and Participation’ brought together education professionals and youth workers in Vienna on 23rd November. The training was organised and carried out by Sapere Aude and University of Vienna. Udruga Mladih EU hosted a training on ‘Learning for active citizenship’ in Šibenik, Croatia, on 18th December. Participants of these trainings learned about the PBL methodology, which is based on interactive methods, collaboration and a youth-centred approach. The trainings enabled them to experiment with different methods designed to strengthen young people’s motivation to take action and to support them in acquiring skills useful for their active participation. These trainings were a very successful first step to kick off the learning activities with youth workers and young people, which will follow in the next months.

 

What’s next?

The upcoming months will be the core implementation period of the project, involving both key target groups of the project, youth workers and young people:

  •  Trainings in Italy and Germany: CSC Danilo Dolci will organise a Youth Workers Training in Palermo, Italy, in January 2020. Another training event will be held at University of Hannover in February 2020.
  • Mobilities are coming: In Spring 2020, a total of 45 young people will travel abroad and spend six days in a partner country – three groups will travel from Italy to Croatia, from Croatia to Italy and from Austria to Germany. These mobilities are part of a learning path which will have young people as main actors, where they will deepen their understanding of the topic of youth participation. The mobilities will follow the principles of the PBL methodology. By implementing their own projects, young people will learn how to make an impact in their communities. Youth workers who attended the trainings provided by the partners will be involved in the organisation of the mobilities and in the local work with the young people.

 

The partners will also continue working on the pedagogical resources and the Charter on Youth Participation. The next partnership meeting will take place in June 2020 in Šibenik, Croatia. We are excited for these next steps and look forward to taking LEAP further together with the youth workers and young people involved in the project. Make sure to follow us Facebook for updates.

 

PARTNERS