Secondary school students and their teachers spent one week learning about the European Union in Strasbourg in a push to strengthen European education.
From 14 to 18 February 2022, more than eighty secondary school students from all EU Member States (MS) had the opportunity to take part of the first edition of the “Lycée d’Europe”, an initiative launched by the French Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. One of the priorities of the French Presidency is to “prepare the Europe of tomorrow”. In that sense, the focus is put on young people and the ambition to enable exchanges more broadly for all young people, including in general education and vocational programmes. The “Lycée d’Europe” event aimed at increasing the knowledge of young students of the European Union and secondly at developing a sense of their European identity by reflecting on the common history and culture but also on the political issues and challenges that the Union currently faces. Such an event also falls within the framework of the European Year of Youth as it gives a voice to the youth. The ambition is to hold this event annually.
For one week, the students focused on four different topics: i. a historical space, memorial site; ii. mobility and networks to strengthen the link between European citizens; iii. the border issues in Europe; iv. preserving Europe’s environment. The first part of the week was dedicated to a series of conferences and talks with experts and EU representatives. The students then developed concrete projects that can help spread knowledge about the European integration process and the different education programmes that are in place. For instance, in the thematic group focusing on mobility and network, the students came up with an app – MobilEU – that gathers all the websites offering exchange possibilities for secondary school students, voluntary programmes and language study courses. The idea of creating such an app emerged because the information on internet is not centralised and young people use their phones more than a computer. The Erasmus+ app goes in the same direction by providing information on the Erasmus+ Programme opportunities and offering guidance throughout the mobility process. Aside from this app, students also created a virtual exhibition tracing the creation of the EU, an interactive map on the issue of external borders and a resolution that suggest different actions to combat global warming.
Teachers also benefited from the event. Aside from supporting the students in their different projects, they had the opportunity to follow workshops on: i. how to develop and enhance multilingual and intercultural European, multilingual and intercultural skills; ii. the use of eTwinning, an online platform supporting communication, cooperation and the development of projects between teachers from all over Europe; iii. to place intercultural mediation at the heart of its professional practice. The purpose of the workshops was to enable teachers to exchange best practices and experiences with each other. This kind of action echoed with the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies initiative, which aims at creating communities of practices and establish deep transnational cooperation between institutions of teacher training. Swiss teacher academies are currently not eligible to join Erasmus+ Teacher Academies.
Overall, the “Lycée d’Europe” aspires to develop a sense of ‘Europeanness’ in people, especially in youth. It goes in the same direction as the Jean Monnet Actions under the Erasmus+ programme, which support better EU education in schools. Originally, the Jean Monnet Actions were targeting higher education. However, under the new programme, its scope of focus was broadened to schools, pupils and VET. The Jean Monnet Actions are now divided in three different fields: i. Jean Monnet Actions in the field of higher education; ii. Jean Monnet Actions in other fields of education and training; iii. Jean Monnet policy debates (higher education and other fields of education and training). In the field of higher education, the projects can take different forms: modules, teaching posts (chairs), networks or centres of excellence. Swiss higher education institutions are eligible to take part in such actions. For actions in others fields of education and training like VET and secondary schools, only institutions from Erasmus + Countries can participate.