Magdalena Bobek, Spring Day pedagogical advisor for Slovenia, reports on the Spring Day meeting which was held by the Czech Ministry of education in Prague, on 7-8 January 2006.
International collaboration and participation through educational programmes and projects have enabled people to step out into the world beyond their borders and create and learn globally. It has given them a wide range of options in the field of education, which in the long run can only lead to a more fulfilling and successful life. This has always been the priority of the EUN schoolnet. Many great projects have evolved in the past offering a mutiple choice of activities for young people from all over Europe and abroad. Schools today find it difficult to survive without becoming a component part within the great chain of collobrative projects that have been created for young people of every age and in every aspect of education. This is what the future of education is all about.
One such project is the Spring Day In Europe project, which started in the school year 2002/03. It's initial objective was to inform and prepare European schools of the the transition that was to take place in 2004 – The Enlargement of Europe. The Spring Day project is one of the rare projects launched by members of the European Convention, carried out by the EUN schoolnet and fully supported by the EU Commission, the EU Parliament as well as by European ministries of education in colloboration with a wide range of pedagogical advisers and national liasons. It is the only project that offers schools ways to celebrate and debate the future of Europe.
In 2003, 5501 schools debated the future of Europe within the framework of the European Convention. In 2004, 5627 schools celebrated and debated the enlargement of Europe and in 2005, 6620 schools all over the continent organized debates on the European Constitution and European values. It allowed Members of Parliament and other national and regional figures to visit schools and other educational institutions and to debate the future of Europe alongside young Europeans.
Pupils and students all across Europe were engaged in all sorts of activities which raised their awareness of their place within the European space. Using the guidelines set by the Spring Day team of experts and pedagogical advisors, they were able to show to the world the outcome of their hard work. Many contributions were published on the website especially prepared for the project. The use of ICT made it possible for many schools from different countries to participate in chats with important decision makers and in video conferences. Direct contacts enabled young people to share their questions and concerns directly with EU experts. The enthusiasm among the young in the past years has been immense.
This year Spring Day in Europe celebrates its fourth year of existence. Supported by thousands of motivated schools, the EU Commission and EU Parliament, Spring Day will take place again. This time round it will start on 21st March and continue until 9th May, 2006, making it even stronger, as it will be linked to Europe Day. Now that we live in a united Europe, we must look to what the future offers, especially when it comes to its most precious citizens, its youth – the leaders of tomorrow. Besides being an educational project, Spring Day has become a politically important campagne which will find its climax on 9th May in a debate planned at the final conference in Brussels. With the launch of Plan D by the European Commission, Spring Day now plays an even more important role in bringing this idea to the doorsteps of European schools in order to stimulate a wider public debate, to promote participation and to generate a real dialogue on European policies.
This year's overall theme, 'Debating Our Future', offers numerous activities for schools to participate in. Even though most of the activities have been planned for students from 12-19 years of age, younger pupils can also participate. In the past younger pupils have shown a lot of enthusiasm for the project, which is very important for their understanding of the world around them, the importance of accepting cultural diversity and for their future awareness of European affairs.
Of course, it takes a team of devoted workers to make things happen. The Spring Day Team in Brussels, 29 dedicated pedagogical advisors and liasons meet two to three times each year to plan and prepare for the project. Their work, however, does not end there. In their respective countries, as in Brussels, they continue to disseminate, advise, plan and organize Spring Day events to the best of their ability. These individuals are unique as is the project itself.
Two meetings for this year's project have already been held, one in Brussels, in late October, 2005 and one in Prague at the beginning of January, 2006. As the activities are being discussed, planned and evaluated, the focus is always on young Europeans and their right to express their opinions and reflections on European issues, as well as their suggestions for a better tomorrow. As young Europeans they must have the right to dialogue and debate with European institutions, so that they can get to know European democracy at work. They should also have the right to concrete proposals for a better future. It is from this viewpoint that the activities for Spring Day begin to evolve. It takes team effort to make the project interesting, attractive and easy enough so that more and more young people can to take part.
This year the project will concentrate on three major topics: - Learn and debate Europe - Making decisions for Europe - Together in the world
Activities related to each topic can be found on the Spring Day 2006 website. Have a look at My Proposal for Europe, Where is Europe?, Local Heroes, The decision-making process (similar to the DMRP activity in Spring Day 2005); A Peace Poem, Millennium Development Goals and Solidarity. All the activities are aimed at learning about Europe, debating about its future and teaching the young about values which are so important when living in the same European space.
Students will be able to take part in online chats with important European decision makers and video conferences with their peers in different countries. However, schools are not obliged to use ICT for all the activities for Spring Day. They can decide to do activities within their local community or invite representatives from the local commune and have a round-table discussion about values and how they can become reality in the community. They can make their voices heard by inviting reporters to their school, writing articles for the local newspaper or even appearing on the local TV or radio programmes to describe their thoughts and experiences of Spring Day. They will have fun and at the same time learn a lot about the world around them and hopefully be better equipped for the 21st century.
It is an opportunity not to be missed! We hope you will join us.
