Projects and Processes
URBAN SESSIONS
Learning in the heart of the city
The sessions bring together in the midst of urban heritage sites two groups from different schools with a maximum of 16 students per two-day session. This dynamic process that takes place during two full days on the site allows each group (half a class of each school) to develop skills related to the fields of history, geography, civic education, arts, sciences and technology.
The students begin by building their own “house of study” together, which involves building a strong intimacy and encourages the collaboration between students who have never met before. The dialogue initiated between the two students is followed by the engagement of the entire group and by the contribution of the people on the street during the educational activities.
The dialogue encourages these diverse groups of students to debate and listen to each other.
EPW (European Perspective Workshops)
Learning to act…
The development of the Workshops has as an objective to engage participants into a process of reflection, analysis and action. The methodological basis is inspired of a 4-phases process named IVAC (Investigation, Vision, Action and Change), while adapting it to the specific realities of the project.
The aim of the EPW is to develop a route between the reflection initiated during the Urban Sessions and the setting up of a possible action in the face of one of the topics discussed during the debates. The route from reflection to action embodies the possibility of acting as a citizen in the world around us.
The workshops run in parallel in 4 classes and in 2 cities, which allows to build on what each class does, thinks, proposes, implements, etc.
EDITING WORKSHOPS
The participants edit their own films, which becomes an activity in its own right of the project supervised by our teams.
The project continues in a computer room, within the school or in a specific place outdoors, where the students will mount and edit their films from images recorded during the Urban Sessions. This 3-minute film shows the trail from a chosen trace within the place explored to a contemporary subject. This theme is extracted from the history of the place, brought to the present, offering participants a reason to think and debate as well as to compare their opinions to those of the passers-by interviewed at the site.
The most accomplished films that respond to the objectives will be chosen by a jury, composed by member of local and central and will be screened at the Final Presentation.
Practical aspects: This activity lasts half a school day (3 hours approximately). We propose to bring together students from two schools that did the filming together.
TEAMS’ TRAINING
Learning and cascading a new pedagogy
The project’s teams offer regular trainings at different levels, local and European, and for different facilitators.
LOCAL TEAMS’ TRAINING
At each new stage, local teams receive a 2/3 days training, at least 3 weeks before the sessions. In the case of the cities where the project has already taken place several times, the experienced facilitators train and guide the newly recruited ones.
The training engages local facilitators; the team works on the project’s central idea and its objectives, the methodology and the work sites. More concretely, the training seeks to convey the structure of a project’s complete session, its methodology as well as the role of facilitators in the experience; it seeks to offer the necessary information on the stages before and after the sessions, and aims to create a team spirit between the facilitators, and between the facilitators and the coordinator.
EUROPEAN TEAMS’ MEETINGS AND ANNUAL WORKSHOPS
Each year, a meeting with teams from across Europe is organized to share experiences, foster a mutual enrichment, to deepen the pedagogy and to offer new work tools.
TRAINERS’ TRAINING
The facilitators and coordinators who have already participated several times in the project can become trainers if they wish to. In this way, the teams acquire a certain local autonomy and take responsibility for the project. This diminishes the ecological impact of mobilityand is part of the process outlined in the ECOLOGICAL CHARTER of the project.
FINAL PRESENTATIONS
The final celebratory event showcasing the participants’ work created during the Urban Sessions is organised an auditorium near the sites where the learning activities took place.
The making-of films done during the workshops are presented, as well as the most representative films done by our participants.
This event is with an invited audience of participants, families, interviewed people, local politicians all of whom help the sustainable development of the project. The participants, youngsters and adults, present the project and their joint work then participate in a debate on the role of the places of memory in our society and in Europe, to develop our ways of living together.
SPECIFIC PROJECTS
Depending on the specific needs of places, cities, countries or Europe, the project adapts itself to the demands of living together, whether short or long-term.
More concretely, the training aims to provide an overview of of a complete project’s session and its methodology as well as the important role of facilitators the educational experience. The training seeks to offer the necessary information about the steps before and after the on-site sessions, and aims to create a team spirit between the facilitators and between the facilitators and the coordinator.
EUROPE FOR CITIZENS
The project was selected in 2014-2015, 2017-2019 to participate in the Europe for Citizens program. The objectives of the Programme are to contribute to the understanding of the EU, its history and its diversity and to encourage the democratic participation of citizens at the EU level.
DISTRICT CONTRACT
The sustainable district contract Athénée covers the top of Ixelles for a period from 2017 to 2020 and it is developed around a project whose aim is to create a dynamic hub, open to the neighborhood, around the former Athénée Rabelais. The district contract, has a very high density of schools, focuses particularly on the issue of school planning and the synergies between the school and its neighborhood, in order to improve the quality of life for all.
PROJECT WITH BOZAR (Brussels)
PROJECT WITH BOZAR (Brussels)
DILCRAH (France)
The Interministerial Delegation to the Fight against Racism, Antisemitism and Anti-LGBT hate (DILCRAH), has supported the project in the French stages since the terror attacks in Paris in 2014. The Interministerial delegation, placed since 2014 under the authority of the Prime minister, has been given the task of giving a new impetus to public action in the fight against racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBT hatred.
