On 3 September 2007, in partnership with the Museum of Europe, European Schoolnet launched the “50 Years Together in Diversity” school competition that aims to raise awareness about European cultural values, the milestones of European integration and the 50 years of unity in diversity. The competition is intended to enhance and support European citizenship education in schools, in the year when the European Union celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Competition audience
The competition addresses teams of students that attend schools or organisations in charge of extra-curricular activities in the 27 Member States of the European Union. The student teams are encouraged to submit entries resulting from a classroom-based activity, approached in a cross-curricular manner (involving a number of school subjects). Each student team must be coordinated by two teachers.
Competition theme
The competition theme is “50 years together in diversity”. The competition entries should consist of an essay and a visual composition. The essay should answer the questions: “In your opinion, what are the major challenges that the European Union will be faced with in the next 50 years? How can it deal with these challenges?” The visual composition should focus on the topic “Europe in our daily lives”.
Prizes
The competition prizes consist of a trip to Brussels to visit the Museum of Europe, in March 2008. There will be 27 winning teams, one team from each EU Member State. Each winning team will be accompanied by two coordinating teachers.
Competition website
The competition website harvests information about the competition, online tools and a set of teaching and learning resources that are intended to help participants get organised and focus on the competition theme. The resources are in 26 languages and available in various formats including Web links, learning objects, quizzes and webquests. The competition website URL is http://www.50years.eun.org/
European Schoolnet (EUN) is an international partnership of 28 ministries of education in Europe, providing major European education portals for teaching, learning and school collaboration. European Schoolnet also develops insight into educational use of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) in Europe, for policy-makers and education professionals.
The Museum of Europe is a non-profit association that is jointly chaired by two former Belgian Ministers of State, Ms Antoinette Spaak and Mr. Karel Van Miert, former Vice-President of the European Commission. The Museum of Europe is a cultural institution with the mission of showing Europeans the roots of their common civilisation, and aims to build a Museum of Europe in Brussels. “It is our history: 50 years of European Adventure” is the inaugural exhibition of the Museum.
For more information about “50 Years Together in Diversity”, please visit the website: http://www.50years.eun.org/ For further questions about the competition, please contact Petru Dumitru at the following email address: fiftyyears@eun.org
