'REPERES' project
Aims and methodology notes
The main aims are:
- A) To establish a new method for European citizenship training for adults in which the learners can increase their awareness of the strong European link which unites them through the sharing of their family history and individual experiences.
- B) European citizenship and its values. The aim is to place the learner in a situation of learning, understanding and acting, because his or her personal motivation will be based on affective, tangible memory.
- C) Experience and ideas are shared via discussions between the learners prompted by personal accounts. The tutor should facilitate this sharing approach, paying particular attention to the different characters of the learners and of the group, and should be capable of structuring communication among the group members.
True citizenship education takes place when the learners really get involved in the discussions, explore their past experience and link it to the stages and values of European integration, strive to find what unites them in diversity, and root their knowledge in personal experience.
This new vision is based both on their family experience and on the contribution of knowledge acquired during the training. The tutor must therefore be able to suggest ideas, concepts and tools for the learners when they are ready to compare their own experience and understanding with the values of European citizenship.
The tutor will have the complex task of helping the learners establish links between both their personal and family history and the history of European integration, and also between their emotions, judgements and prejudices and the true values of the European Union.
The chosen method (the sharing of the learners' family history and individual experiences) gives a European perspective to the training: it is rare to find European adults who do not have ancestors of a different nationality. Situating their origins and family background will provide a clear demonstration of unity in diversity and will help the learners experience this in a real sense.
This approach also shows the continuity of citizenship, which extends from the town of residence to the region, the country and the European Union as a whole.