Service-Learning for Democracy in Europe. Supporting Teachers in Applying Democratic Competences Models

<< Background >>Recent years have shown the vulnerability of European democratic societies. Thus, the relevance of civic education and the acquisition of democratic competences in schools has increased. The rising importance of democracy education is also portrayed by the development of theoretical frameworks for democratic competences, most notably the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC 2018) by the Council of Europe (CoE).However, many teachers struggle to transfer such theoretical concepts into their lessons. There is a missing link between theory and educational practice. According to the CoE, Service-Learning (S-L) is one suitable teaching method to allow students a holistic acquisition of democracy competences. It is a teaching and learning method that combines formal education with civic engagement. The effectiveness of this method has been scientifically proven and politically acknowledged (CoE, 2018; Reinders, 2016; Yorio & Ye, 2012). While S-L is becoming increasingly known in Europe and more and more schools are implementing it, the potential and the use of S-L for a structured acquisition of democratic competences has been under-developed in secondary school education across Europe. << Objectives >>The main goal of this project was to unlock the potential of Service-Learning (S-L) for the systematic acquisition of democratic competences. In more detail, the partners formulated the following strategic goals: - to support the integration of S-L in formal school education in participating countries by enabling schools and teachers to utilize the potential of S-L for the acquisition of democracy competences, - to strengthen students’ democratic competences through S-L and facilitate their active participation and sense of civic engagement, thus leading to a more sustained participation in democratic life- to strengthen education on Europe by facilitating cross-border S-L projects, providing teachers European experiences and creating a European community of practice among teachers in Europe- to facilitate the acquisition of key competences of teachers and students, such as 21st Century Skills, teamwork, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and reflection, as all of them are key elements of S-L- to increase the quality of teaching by learning about innovative approaches such as S-L<< Implementation >>- Implementation of a comparative country analysis on the respective schools systems, the application of democratic competences frameworks in the participating countries and how S-L can be applied in this context (WP2)- Development of a concept for a transnational training program (WP 3)- Development and publishing of pedagogical material and a self-study course that supports teachers in implementing high-quality S-L projects (WP3)- Preparation and implementation of an online training program (three modules and 10 webinar sessions and a web-based self study training) with on S-L and democratic competences for teachers with more than 140 participants (WP4)- Preparation and implementation of a transnational summer school in Athens with 50 participants and experts to prepare the implementation of S-L projects with their student son S-L and democratic competences for teachers (WP4)- Dissemination activities, community building and a European contest on S-L (WP5)- Monthly online project meetings, five transnational on-site meetings<< Results >>- Publication of the analysis “Democratic Competences and Service-Learning. A Comparative Analysis for Austria, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Romania” (WP2) - Development of a 21-pages concept for a transnational online training program (WP 3), covering 3 modules and 10 seminars- Development of a 16 pages-concept for an on-site Summer School (WP3) - Development and publishing of pedagogical material (videos, templates for projects, country-specific handouts etc.) and a self-study course (WP3)- Preparation and implementation of an online training program (three modules and 10 webinar seminars) (WP4)- Preparation and implementation of a transnational summer school in Athens to prepare teachers to implement S-L projects with their students on S-L and democratic competences for teachers (WP4)- Implementation of an evaluation of the online training program as well as the summer school (WP4)- Implementation of a transnational contest on S-L (WP5)- Creation of a website (slead-europe.eu), social media channels, continuous dissemination and communication activities (including 4 newsletters) (WP5)