Democratic and Intercultural Dialogue

We applied for this project to address the need for enhanced democratic participation, media literacy, and trans European dialogue among first-time voters of Europe. Our schools, located in diverse regions across Europe, faced challenges such as political disengagement and lack of digital readiness. The project aimed to bridge these gaps by fostering a sense of European identity, promoting civic engagement, and equipping students with the skills to critically assess information and participate in democratic processes. The students were taught the lifelong lesson that a wider, deeper, and more open dialogue will create a better opportunity for deciding jointly in a European public sphere. By engaging in intercultural exchanges and collaborative learning, students developed a stronger connection to European values and a better understanding of the importance of active participation in shaping the future of Europe.

The primary objectives were to prepare students for active citizenship by developing their knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage in democratic processes. We aimed to create innovative teaching materials using Problem-Based Learning (PBL) where working with real life problems enhanced critical thinking, media literacy, and political awareness. The project also sought to strengthen intercultural dialogue, enabling students to collaborate across borders and understand common European challenges. Ultimately, we wanted to inspire a new generation of informed, active, and responsible European citizens, capable of contributing to a more inclusive and democratic Europe and contribute to the creation of a common European public sphere.

We implemented a range of activities, including developing and testing PBL lesson plans, conducting digital PBL methodology workshops for teachers, and engaging students in online discussions using an existing digital collaboration platform. We organized two major multiplier events: one for primary pupils to learn about how the EU is relevant to them and another with hundreds of participants, including pupils of different ages, teachers and a broader public, which featured debates and sustainability activities at The Political Festival of Europe 2024. These activites were jointly decided and prepared by participants of the project during the LTTA which lead up to the Political Festival of Europe. Additionally, we held intercultural digital dialogues, interacted and visited sustainability stakeholders, and created transnational sustainability awareness campaigns. As an extra ingredient, students also took part in a cultural exchange as the Romanian, Slovakian, Spanish and Italian participants all met up in Hobro during.

The project successfully developed and implemented PBL materials for upper secondary education in two lesson plans, enhancing students' critical thinking and media literacy. It trained teachers, by using PBL workshops, to integrate democratic participation and intercultural dialogue into their teaching. Materials related to the lesson plans and the PBL methodology is accesible on the projects two websites created for this purpose. Surveys and focus group interviews performed by Halmstad University showed these lesson plans increased willingness among students to participate in politics, particularly in the EU. The project also fostered greater awareness of how EU decisions impact daily life. A LTTA and two multiplier events were held, engaging hundreds of primary pupils, upper secondary students and a broader public in discussions on European democracy and sustainability. Dissusions also took place online, as participants disucces common European challenges in Democratic Intercultural Dialoges. Additionally, the project is expected to result in research articles in 2025-2026 based on the data collected by Halmstad University.