The Erasmus+ project titled „The Young European – A Conscious and Safe Citizen of the World” tackles two issues currently important in multicultural Europe, namely the struggle with the influx of immigrants as well as hostile attitudes towards immigrant groups and the resulting social and political environment, fraught with certain risks. The society has a rather fragmentary knowledge of the reasons for increased immigration to Europe or of the situation of immigrants. At the same time the feeling of insecurity shared within many European nations is growing. Harmful and baseless stereotypes are a common feature of the multinational World and therefore each country concerned undertakes various information campaigns on immigration and international security. Accordingly, multiculturalism and security/safety merge into once concept, which has to be viewed from the perspective of family ties, peer group relations, school and local community integrity as well as in light of its international significance/dimension. All project partners have agreed that the issues of multiculturalism and security/safety affect each partner institution and their local environment. A number of pupils learning at partner schools are the so-called Euro-orphans, i.e. children whose parents emigrated to work abroad (in another EU country), or immigrant children. Certain fears and the problem of hostilities against immigrants have emerged on the horizon. Therefore, the above-mentioned concept of multiculturalism and security/safety urgently needs to be addressed, mainly at the educational level, so as to diminish intolerance against people who seek assistance and support from European nations, reduce related concerns and raise awareness and knowledge of safety-related behaviours that can potentially either pose health risk or be life-threatening. The aims of the project include: - increase of: cultural awareness of project participants with regard to uniqueness of other European nations; understanding of the problems connected with immigration, including a wider context of migrations and specific problems immigrants face; tolerance of project participants towards cultural, social and religious dissimilarity of immigrants; comprehension of the dangers of the contemporary world; knowledge and skills related to personal safety and safe behaviours in various situations; - enrichment of: teachers’ knowledge and skills by way of exchange of experience with other teachers from partner institutions, as well as joint creation of didactic materials and tools related to the project subject; - eradication of: the tacit agreement to intolerance against multiculturalism, social exclusion (incl. that of immigrants), religious diversity, poverty, etc., - development of: project participants’ (pupils and teachers) competence and skills in use of ICT in education, use of English as a common language platform, CPR techniques; - maintenance of: international cooperation of schools.
The project is addressed to pupils, teachers and parents of the partner schools, and indirectly to local communities in which the schools function as well as to all other parties who aim to conduct educational activities in the field of tolerance and security/safety, who seek inspiration and are willing to share our experience and use project results/products made available through various information channels.
The main activities in the project include: initial and final assessment of knowledge of security/safety issues; analysis of the data gathered; creation of didactic games about multiculturalalism and issues related to security/safety; drafting of lesson plans on the major project topics; organisation of international contests; organisation of thematic workshops; first-aid courses; simple e-learning applications promoting multuculturalism and raising awareness in the field of security and personal safety.
The main project results include: methodological publications and didactic games connected with the project’s main topic. The main result of the project will be change in the attitude and awareness of the inhabitants of Europe with regard to the multitude of issues linked to security and personal safety as well as acceptance of multiculturalism.