Students’ European Awareness (SEAs) is a School Development Project under the Socrates Comenius 1 School Partnership programme coordinated by the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (GCHSS) in Naxxar, Malta.
SEAs is the brainchild of a group of GCHSS teachers spanning over three scholastic years from 2004 to 2007. Through this project, the coordinating institution (GCHSS) and four other partner institutions have been working on the development of a proposal to have a new subject in the curriculum named “European Awareness”.
Its adoption in all European schools as a single or interdisciplinary subject would allow students to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diversity of European cultures. It would also enhance the degree of integration between all European citizens not only through content-teaching but also through student and teacher mobility, exchanges, networking and the use of the latest means of communication. All schools in this project are working on the aims, objectives, content, teaching strategies and resources, target groups and evaluation criteria of this common transnational subject.
The coordinating school (GCHSS) and partner schools are secondary and post-secondary institutions which provide a general and/or vocation-/university-oriented education. Partner schools include AEVA from Aveiro (Portugal), Colegiul National Gheorghe Roºca Codreanu from Bârlad (Romania), Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore “D. Fioritto’” from Puglia (Italy) and IES de Mos from Galicia (Spain).
What makes this project interesting and exciting is the direct involvement of the students themselves (besides teachers) in the formulation of the syllabus through a process of collection of information, reflection and abstraction which will lead to its actual formulation.
The five participating schools selected for this project have already had several project meetings to work on this new subject, namely in Aveiro (Portugal) in December 2004, Mos (Spain) in April 2005, Malta in June 2005, Garganico (Italy) in November 2005, Bârlad (Romania) in May 2006 and the latest in Portugal in November last year. Future meetings will take place in Spain in April and finally in Malta in June.
This new European awareness transnational subject was sectioned into four modules to be discussed at different project meetings. These modules include Culture and Identity (Spain, 2005); European Organisations (Italy, 2005); Geography and the Environment (Romania, 2006) and Citizenship, Democratic Ideal and Human Rights (Portugal, 2006).
Different groups of students participated in this project through research for the various modules under the guidance of their schoolteachers. Moreover, online collaboration between students was also encouraged and proved to be profitable especially in theme design and the exchange of ideas and information with other teachers and students.
Work is not only done at each particular school but students from each school are also encouraged to visit neighbouring schools to share information, exchange and analyse ideas with other students and teachers mainly in the field of European studies.
This has helped to disseminate the project and its results in other educational institutions in the different countries and share not only ideas but also good practices leading to an enriched final product. Each module required a group of students from every school to give a presentation during the transnational meeting. These presentations are open not only to the groups of students and teachers from the other countries, but also to all the students and teachers of the hosting institution so as to get more feedback and an enriched end product.
For each module, each group of students’ presentations together with the research material and methodology used are to be made available on a CD both in the native language and translated into English.
A common website for the project is also under construction and is to be accessible not only to the partner schools but to all interested parties so that it may be of help in the dissemination, verification, analysis and exchange of results. This website will have all the information available in seven languages (English, Italian, Spanish, Galego, Maltese, Romanian and Portuguese).
One of the meetings held so far involved just teachers who shared good practice concerning teaching-learning strategies and methods. They compared the syllabi of the various subjects taught in the different schools with the view of introducing the concepts and themes developed from the four modules across the curriculum. They tried to find ways to build up a common cross-curriculum approach, and presented the project to local teachers and local authorities, the press and other institutions. They also met other teachers involved in the project.
The project meeting which was held in Romania last May discussed the module on geography and the environment. The delegation from GCHSS was composed of Joseph Cauchi (Subject Coordinator, English) who is coordinating the SEAs Project, Cettina Callus (teacher of Spanish) and Carmel Hili (teacher of Systems of Knowledge and Environmental Science).
The Maltese students included Matthew Vella, Antoine Hili and Brenda Schembri. Matthew’s and Brenda’s presentations dealt with the effects of climate on the environment and the individual with special reference to the Maltese context especially our physical traits, customs and way of life, temperament, leisure activities, diet, industry, economy, tourism, agriculture, buildings, pollution and its resulting effects of global warming on an island and geopolitical consequences. Antoine’s presentation took an in-depth look at the phenomenon of irregular migration, its causes including climate type, and its effects on a small island-state such as Malta.
The Portuguese presentation dealt with the changes in landscapes, man-made environments and human settlements as a result of environmental disasters using past and recent photos of the same areas to illustrate this.
The Italian students concentrated on irregular immigration brought about, among others factors, by climate and the resultant effects of this immigration on local demography and culture. Students carried out several interviews with immigrants residing in Italy.
The Spanish students’ research concentrated on human activities which are having a negative effect, at times even disastrous ones, on the environment while the Romanian students’ presentation laid emphasis mainly on the concept of national identity and Romania’s future in Europe, especially the European Union.
Participants were presented with a very detailed and interesting study on Romanian emigration and immigration over the centuries as well as a sociological inquiry on how present-day Romanian High School students (most of whom were either born just before or just after the fall of Communism in their country) look at the situation in their country and their fears and hopes for the future, with most of them expressing the desire to seek better pastures abroad after finishing their university studies.
In Romania we were given a very warm welcome at our host school by both teachers and students. Students entertained us with a show of traditional music and dances, drama, mime and singing all put up by the students themselves. Prior to departure, the Maltese delegation was invited to a local television programme to talk about the project and the experience in Romania.
The hospitality extended to us by the director of the school, Mîhaela Cososchi, the host school SEAs Project teacher-in-charge Cãtãlina Ciobanu, Cristi Putfanu and Ioana Cãlin (our teacher-interpreter), made our stay an unforgettable experience. The warmth of our Romanian hosts, both teachers and students, together with the exquisite dinner at a stunningly frescoed monastery, the visit to the Bicaz Gorges, rowing in the mysterious Red Lake, the beauty of the Romanian countryside and nature and delicious ciorba are all precious memories which I shall treasure for a long time to come. La revedere Romania. We miss you all!
Carmel Hili teaches Environmental Science and Systems of Knowledge at Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar
For more information about SEAs School Development Project, please send an email to the SEAs Coordinator at [email protected]