Case study: Teaching European Active Citizenship (TEACh)-course, EU

TY - UNPB

T1 - Case study: Teaching European Active Citizenship (TEACh)-course, EU

AU - Milana, Marcella

AU - Bernt Sorensen, Tore

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Learning for democratic citizenship has been the object of several projects supported by the European Commission, under the Socrates / Grundtvig 1.1. Action. Nonetheless only very few had the specific aim of exploring the relations between learning for democratic citizenship and non-formal adult education. Among these projects, the Teaching European Active Citizenship (TEACh)-course was considered worth of a closer examination due to several reasons. Firstly, the course constitutes a follow-up of a Socrates research project which was co-financed by the European Commission within the same action scheme. The influence of prior research activity that was carried out at European level on the TEACh-course is evident in both the curriculum and the pedagogical approach applied. In this respect the course represents an example of dissemination of research results of EU co-financed projects as well as capacity building in linking research and supply in adult education. Secondly, the course addresses a very special audience: Adult educators in a variety of learning contexts - i.e. including lower and upper secondary school teachers. Thus it falls within the broader category of in-service training for different professionals in education.Thirdly, the course is to be considered on the edge of non-formal and formal learning activities, as it is organized accordingly to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Participants are awarded 3 ECTS points to be spent in a variety of learning and working contexts. Fourthly, the course has a point of reference in the political debate on active and democratic citizenship at European level. In particular, the course makes use of the conceptualization of competences for active and democratic citizenship developed by the European Union and the Council of Europe. The case study presented here is based on results from desk research and field work carried out over 9 months (autumn 2006-summer 2007). Data was collected by a combination of qualitative methods. The main source of information was participant observation at the TEACh course held in Milan (Italy) on February 9-13 2007. This was combined with individual semi-structured interviews with one teacher and one key actor involved in designing and planning the course. 

AB - Learning for democratic citizenship has been the object of several projects supported by the European Commission, under the Socrates / Grundtvig 1.1. Action. Nonetheless only very few had the specific aim of exploring the relations between learning for democratic citizenship and non-formal adult education. Among these projects, the Teaching European Active Citizenship (TEACh)-course was considered worth of a closer examination due to several reasons. Firstly, the course constitutes a follow-up of a Socrates research project which was co-financed by the European Commission within the same action scheme. The influence of prior research activity that was carried out at European level on the TEACh-course is evident in both the curriculum and the pedagogical approach applied. In this respect the course represents an example of dissemination of research results of EU co-financed projects as well as capacity building in linking research and supply in adult education. Secondly, the course addresses a very special audience: Adult educators in a variety of learning contexts - i.e. including lower and upper secondary school teachers. Thus it falls within the broader category of in-service training for different professionals in education.Thirdly, the course is to be considered on the edge of non-formal and formal learning activities, as it is organized accordingly to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Participants are awarded 3 ECTS points to be spent in a variety of learning and working contexts. Fourthly, the course has a point of reference in the political debate on active and democratic citizenship at European level. In particular, the course makes use of the conceptualization of competences for active and democratic citizenship developed by the European Union and the Council of Europe. The case study presented here is based on results from desk research and field work carried out over 9 months (autumn 2006-summer 2007). Data was collected by a combination of qualitative methods. The main source of information was participant observation at the TEACh course held in Milan (Italy) on February 9-13 2007. This was combined with individual semi-structured interviews with one teacher and one key actor involved in designing and planning the course. 

KW - Active citizenship

KW - Democratic citizenship

KW - In-service teacher training

M3 - Working paper

BT - Case study: Teaching European Active Citizenship (TEACh)-course, EU

ER -