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A. Description of the project
Civil wars, violence and extreme poverty have forced hundred thousands of people to emigrate to the EU over the last few years. Europe is facing the greatest refugee crisis since the World War II. About one million refugees and migrants arrived in the EU in 2015, Europol
estimates, 27% of these are children. Especially countries in the Mediterranean region have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

Despite the fundamental values that lie at the heart of the EU such as respect for human rights, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, European societies find it difficult to assimilate such a large number of refugees. Communities in every country are affected by this phenomenon: culturally, politically and economically. All schools have pupils of migrant families. Social inclusion and an increase of tolerance are regarded as an urgent matter and need to be more carefully considered. Isolated cases of misconduct or wrongdoing on the part of refugees creates reactions.

“The primary purpose of education is not only to develop knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes and to embed fundamental values, but also to help young people to become active, responsible, open-minded members of society [...] Empowering teachers so that they are able to take an active stand against all forms of discrimination and racism [...] to impart common fundamental values and to prevent and combat racism and intolerance” (Decl. of Paris, 03/15) Bearing in mind this declaration schools from five countries decided to set up an interdisciplinary, transnational and multilingual project for exchange of good practice, whose aim is to guide students to energetically promote tolerance, whilst learning to working together and appreciating their differences. Student activism and its impact on all participants can play an important role in raising awareness on refugee issues, in direct cooperation with local human rights NGOs.

We want to support refugees and migrants to get a clear view of living in the EU so that they won’t have wrong expectations, they will respect the culture of the people in the area they are settled in and can be more easily integrated.
Due to our needs and environmental analysis in this project we want students to become aware of the concept of migration in modern society. We want to show that the EU is, to a large extent, a result of ongoing migration and integration processes.
The target group is pupils in the upper level classes, between the ages of 15 and 18 years.

Our main aims for students are to:
-analyze the current situation of migration and refugees in the EU
-investigate its causes and consequences in the pursuit of deeper awareness
-learn the long history of immigration in the EU
-develop awareness of the cultural diversity within the EU
-fight against prejudices and racism, mostly hate speech
-learn about human rights and UN’s laws that protect refugees-asylum seekers
-raise awareness of the human values/human rights issue in general, and those of immigrants and refugees in particular
-enhance and develop their skills, improve their social competence, build up teamwork skills in a multicultural environment.

Benefits are expected within refugee communities in terms of contact with local people and improvement of the atmosphere in the region the live.
Teachers will develop methods to promote the idea of an EU open to all cultures and to be a role model regarding the handling of refugees/migrants, to integrate and support them. We will create guidelines, based on the experiences made during the project.

Another important aim is to improve both teachers’ and students’ digital competences and also their language skills.
The immigration and refugees issue cannot be approached in depth if all of its aspects are not examined historically, geographically, economically, sociologically. A transnational cooperation is therefore strongly felt by partner schools as a crucial chance to develop synergies, share expertise and learn the best practices from each. It seems only natural that young students of different EU countries get in touch with each other and communicate about the matter as envisaged in the present project.

B. The tasks and responsibilities assigned to all partners are split up as follows:
Austrian school (project coordinator)
-will represent the link between all the partners,
-will be the "centre" keeping balance, encouraging dynamic action, offering advice, being also responsible for the time management according to the calendar, the first progress report and the final evaluation;
-will be responsible for the production of video documentaries and to collect all the produced interdisciplinary and multilingual lessons plans in a single volume/book.

Greek school will be responsible:
-for a part of dissemination activities, creating the project website and updating it with the materials (lesson plans, Power Point presentations, portfolios, questionnaires, interviews, brochures, videos, photos etc.) produced at each school and during the transnational meetings and the exchanges;
-for the production of a booklet containing the international laws (EU’s and UN’s) about the rights of refugees.

Italian school will be responsible:
-for another part of dissemination activities, creating the Facebook-Profile and the YouTube account, updating them with theproject activities and materials, encouraging also all kind of communication among students.
-for the production of a manual for educators. It will consist of a compilation of a non-formal education tool in the field of
migrations, refugees and human rights education and promotion amongst young people enrolled in formal education.

Spanish school (coordinator assistant) will provide help when needed and will be responsible:
-for project monitoring and evaluation.
-for the production of e-booklets, containing photos taken by participant students representing situations of migrations, refugees, human rights violations or protection in the different countries.

Turkish school will be responsible:
-for another part of dissemination, maintenance of the project content on eTwinning (TwinSpace) and reporting constantly all activities on it;
-for the creation of a guidebook compiled by students for students and young people with the support from NGOs. This guidebook will aim to describe how to react in everyday situations when migrants, refugees or human rights are endangered and how students
can personally take practical action to stand up for these themes.

C. Results expected:
- A project website, containing all project activities, educational resources and materials;
- A Facebook account, to launch awareness campaign and containing all project activities;
- Various lesson plans on the project topics for the following school subjects: Languages and Literatures (English, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Turkish), History, Geography, Maths, ICT, Philosophy, Psychology;
- Video documentaries;
- A YouTube account, containing all project related videos;
- Power Point presentations, portfolios, questionnaires, interviews, brochures etc.;
- E-booklets, containing photos taken by participant students representing situations of migrations, refugees, human rights violations or protection in the different countries;
- A booklet containing the international laws (EU’s and UN’s) about the rights of refugees;
- A guidebook compiled by students for students and young people with the support from the local NGOs. This guidebook will aim to describe how to react in everyday situations when migrants, refugees or human rights are endangered and how students can personally take practical action to stand up for these themes.
- A manual for educators. The booklet will be compiled during each transnational project meeting and will be published at the end of the project. It will consist of a compilation of a non-formal education tool in the field of migrations, refugees and human rights education and promotion amongst young people enrolled in formal education. It will brings together the various strands of the project through the years, the working techniques, instructions and examples on how to work with students on the project topic, the list of local partners holding workshops, lectures, etc. while at the same time reporting on the conclusions reached by students and measures they intend to take to promote a better integration and inclusion as well as a culture of human rights.

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