From 2009 to 2011, the CVCE has been involved in the ‘REPERES' project, an educational partnership in the framework of the European programme GRUNDTVIG, which aims to provide adults with the resources to improve their knowledge and skills.

The focus of this cooperation project, launched by the Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Maison de l'Europe (France) and involving two further partners, the Rhodes House of Europe (Greece) and the European Network for Education and Training (Germany), is to devise a series of innovative modules in European citizenship training, based on situating the family and personal history of the adult learner in the context of European integration history.

The aim of rooting historical, political, economic and cultural knowledge in individual experience is to help learners establish a personal connection with the European project and become part of it, being aware of their role and their ability to take action in their environment.

REPERES is based on the emotional context that underpins the choices, judgements and actions of learners, a dimension that is often underestimated or missing from education systems when it comes to ‘transferring' values. Recognising the emotional context of learning should not, however, lead us to forget that ‘complex societies cannot be held together solely by feelings like sympathy and trust, which are geared to the local sphere' (Jürgen Habermas).

It is for this reason that the learners also have to develop basic citizenship education skills (judging, choosing, deciding, justifying, reasoning, discussing, supplying answers, committing, etc.) and also acquire skills in the areas of cooperation, communication and critical analysis. On completing the training, the learners should begin to assimilate a new vision of European integration and their personal role in the process.

The involvement of several partners has made it possible to develop training modules and transferable tools, taking into account multicultural visions, practices and skills.

 

Project managers: Marco Gabellini - marco [point] gabellini [at] cvce [point] eu and Nadège Mougel