European Parliament Ambassador Schools eTwinning Group Newsletter December 2022

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AMBASSADOR SCHOOLS eTWINNING GROUP

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

Dear senior ambassadors and friends, I hope you are doing well.

The end of 2022 is a time for reflection and making plans for the year to come. Last Monday I joined an online (Dutch) event, a kind of recap of 2022. Before the event started there was a questionnaire: “are you more worried about the future now than a year ago?” The answers were quite obvious, 85 per cent of the interrogated were worried, including me. Some people warned us but what we never thought would happen became reality again, a war in Europe. Our thoughts are with all victims of war.

One of the other questions was about how the EU responded to all challenges in 2022. Most people were very positive! That’s also something to hold on to.

To me, “together” is the keyword. I feel very honoured to build and moderate the EPAS eTwinning group but I couldn’t have done it without strong supporters, without you!

It’s all about “together” and together is sharing too. Not only teaching materials or great projects but also emotions and doubts, happiness and sadness. Our strength lies in togetherness. Knowing that we’ll never be alone, There’s always someone who cares.

Although the EPAS eTwinning group is still “homeless” we are an EPAS group and community! We even welcomed many more schools/senior ambassadors to the group this year. We are a community of 400 EPAS schools/senior ambassadors right now.

Thank you for your trust and commitment to the group! Let’s make 2023 our year of togetherness again!

For those of you who recently joined the EPAS eTwinning group, welcome!

As soon as the EPAS eTwinning group has been transferred to the European School Education platform you will be able to see e.g. shared materials, links to interesting teaching materials/websites, recordings of our Webinars, meetings, expert talks and more. We know that we probably need to update the digital group’s space a little too. The more recent meetings and Webinar (September and November 2022) are not in the digital environment yet. Therefore you’ll find a recap in this newsletter.

I hope you'll appreciate this update.

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

EPAS recognition (Newsletter July and online meeting September 2022) You might recall the article in our previous Newsletter about the recognition of the EPAS programme. For easy reference: We are all senior ambassadors. Through the European Parliament Ambassador School Programme we teach our students about the European Union; the role of the European Parliament; European values; students’ rights as EU citizens and we encourage them to actively participate in EU democratic processes. Many of our students take part in eTwinning and Erasmus projects too.

You are probably responsible for the implementation of the EPAS programme in your school: the educational aspect; the selection and coaching of Junior Ambassadors; the supervision over the EU info point; the organisation of a Europe Day event; the coaching of other teachers involved in the programme; perhaps creating your own teaching materials; the communication with your liaison officer(s) and other (EU) stakeholders; the coordination of and participation in EU events and contest and trips to e.g. Brussels and/or Strasbourg etc. Every one of us is very committed to the EPAS programme.

Noelia, senior ambassador at IES Rusadir, and some of her colleagues started a lobby for EPAS recognition. We asked all senior ambassadors in our group to fill out a survey in this respect. We discussed the outcome of this survey in our meeting in September: EPAS recognition can surely be improved, in and outside schools. The topic is still on the agenda thus we might consider collaborative actions in 2023!

We also noticed that, although the criteria for becoming an EPAS school are quite similar, in some countries schools have to leave the programme after one, two, or three years (whether schools still meet the EPAS criteria or not). How can schools take the programme seriously if they know they’ll have to leave the programme in a year?

To be continued for sure!

The European School Education Platform (ESEP) What is there to tell? I am afraid not that much. Our digital Group is still in between the old and the new ESEP platform. Hopefully, the group will be transferred to ESEP before the end of this year. As soon as the group is on ESEP we’ll send an email to you and set up a meeting to get to know the features of our digital group’s space. We’ll upload some manuals too.

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

This might be useful too, the link to the Q and A of the European School Education Platform: https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/qa EuropeOurDNA Despite the issues with the European School Education Platform the eTwinning project for junior ambassadors called “EuropeOurDNA” is up and running!

About 100 junior ambassadors from 50 different EPAS schools participate in this project about Democracy and (social) Media. The project is for and by junior ambassadors. They shape the project. There are only a few teachers involved to support (if necessary) the teams and e.g. invite guests, organise Webinars and take care of a smooth collaboration.

Every senior ambassador with students participating in the project and with a relevant network could have applied to become a mentor: we are very pleased that Helen (Ireland), Theodora (Greece), Bernarda (Slovenia), Mireia (Spain) and Rita (Italy) are the project’s mentors this year. Viki (Ireland) is the co-founder and co-moderator of the project. The two of us support the project as mentors too.

The kick-off meeting with the juniors took place last week. Juniors collaborated in their international teams in break-out rooms: We were very impressed by the engagement of all participants. Every team presented the outcome of their team discussion spontaneously. And this was just the kick-off meeting.

We are already very much looking forward to the next meeting!

SELFIE (meeting September 2022) Viki (Ireland) explained SELFIE, a tool which allows us to reflect on how we use digital technologies in the classroom, and SELFIEforTEACHERS, a self-reflection tool for individual teachers to review how they currently use digital tools and technologies in their work. Viki’s presentation has been uploaded to our group space on the former eTwinning platform.

Since it’s not available yet, we’ll share the presentation upon request (email).

Please also note: The European Parliament “Youth Hub” The hub/website has been launched this year. It offers a wonderful overview of the European Parliament’s offer for young people (and educators):

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Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

https://youth.europarl.europa.eu/youth.html By the way, the European Youth Event, EYE2023, will take place on 9-10 June 2023.

Registration is still open: https://european-youth-event.europarl.europa.eu/en/ The Education for Climate Community Have you heard of the Education for Climate Community? It’s a European participatory education community involving students, teachers and education stakeholders, to support the changes needed for a climate-neutral society.

To celebrate their first year, they have put together a special compilation of some of their favourite moments from the past year: https://vimeo.com/778787659? embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=150099401 This is the link to the website: https://education-for-climate.ec.europa.eu/community/ EUcraft Yes, it sounds like Minecraft. It’s a new game produced by the Council. It’s a digital simulation game where you can step into the shoes of a national minister and experience EU decisionmaking by negotiating on real topics. It’s available in all EU languages and on mobile too.

I “played” the game. It looks really great.

Recommended age of your students is 15-18 years.

This is the link to the game: https://learning-corner.learning.europa.eu/learningmaterials/eucraft-digital-simulation-game_en You are right, that’s the EC learning corner webpage where you can find more wonderful teaching materials (e.g. videos, brochures, games): https://learningcorner.learning.europa.eu/index_en New funding for schools and teacher education providers A new set of Jean Monnet actions for schools will allow teachers and teacher training institutions to apply for funding to teach about the EU in Erasmus+ Programme countries.

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

The latest 2023 Jean Monnet call, published as part of the 2023 Erasmus+ Programme Guide, contains the following actions specifically to support schools: Jean Monnet Learning EU Initiatives – for individual schools https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-b/jean-monnetactions/education-training/learning-eu Networks of schools – 6 schools / 3 programme countries https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-b/jean-monnet-actions/networks Teacher training – for teacher training institutions https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-b/jean-monnetactions/education-training/learning-eu The deadline to submit a proposal is 14 February 2023. (thanks to the EC TTP) By the way, have you already seen the Erasmus programme guide (2023 Erasmus+ Call for Proposals)? https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-programme-guide Guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data The European Commission published a set of ethical guidelines for educators on the use of AI and data in education. The guidelines are intended for primary and secondary teachers. https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-232180?&lg=EN Eurostat You probably know Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union but have you already seen the Eurostat Education corner for teachers and students too?

Check it out, it’s really great even if you/your students don’t like statistics: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-corner

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

The European Year of Youth The year is coming to an end, 2022 was the European Year of Youth. No need to say that the pandemic has been a disruptive and very difficult period for young people in particular. We saw their struggle every day. The European Year of Youth was a recognition of the sacrifices that they made during the pandemic.

But it was also an important milestone in acknowledging young people’s expectations, their rights, and their needs. It was and still is also a recognition that we need the Younger Generation.

Young people are important change-makers and they are essential to build peaceful and democratic societies. The EU wants them and needs them, we need them, to help build a better future – greener, more inclusive and digital.

We were delighted that Mrs Biliana Sirokova, the EU Youth Coordinator, was willing to share everything there is to know related to the EU Year of Youth and beyond in our Webinar in November. We already shared her presentation by email. In case you missed it, please let us know. We’ll upload the presentation on ESEP as soon as our eTwinning group has been transferred to the new platform.

Even after this European Year of Youth there will be many opportunities for young people to get involved in the EU. We will keep you posted!

Ukraine Last but not least, Ukraine.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work. It gives recognition to individuals, groups and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought. The 2022 Sakharov Prize was awarded to the People of Ukraine in recognition of their bravery, sacrifices and resilience in facing Russia's war of aggression. Some of you joined the ceremony on 14 December, and I am pretty sure it was an emotional and wonderful event.

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022

You can watch the panel discussion via this link: https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/panel-discussion-on-the-occasion-of-theaward-of-the-2022-sakharov-prize-for-freedom-of-thought-to-the-brave-people-ofukraine_EP142693 There are Ukrainian schools that need our support too, they need to know that they are not alone. I visited Poland recently -thanks to the Anne Frank House/Stories that Move- and met youth workers/teachers from Ukraine. We spent only three days together but I will never forget those days.

The Ukrainian teachers would really appreciate meeting us, although online, and talking to us. Some of you already asked what we, as EPAS schools, could do to support the teachers.

This might be a good start.

We will therefore try to schedule our next EPAS (eTwinning) Group meeting with teachers from Ukrainian secondary schools mid-January (the 12th).

We’ll keep you updated of course!

For now, I wish you a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.

Let 2023 be a year of togetherness and peace. “war is not the answer for only love can conquer hate” (Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On”, 1971) All my love!

Nicole

EPAS eTwinning Group Newsletter

Vol.4 Issue 12 2022