Learning to serve: innovative school practices to foster education to common values

This project is aimed to promote innovative practices for education in common values in primary schools based on the Service Learning (SL) methodology. Consequently the project contributes to supporting active citizenship and ethics in lifelong learning to foster the development of social and intercultural competences and offer opportunities for people’s participation in social and civic engagement through formal or non-formal learning activities, and also contributes to raising awareness on and understanding of the common EU values, the principles of unity and diversity. We live in times of profound political and social changes where the founding values of the European project are being questioned. Certain basic consensuses are blowing up, causing, among other things, hate speech to be presented as a legitimate moral option. To tackle this new problem, “Learning2Serve” endorses SL methodology as an appropriate one for school teaching

Students of the leading schools acquire relevant cognitive and non-cognitive competences and develop a more positive attitude toward common values. Teachers and community educators at local and national level are more aware about the challenges of education to common values. The whole school community and the volunteering NGOs and associations who provide the services in the SL projects are more involved with SL methodology.

The project management kit and the communication and dissemination plan were developed. A manual for innovative education on common values, based on the SL methodology, was created. It included guidelines for designing SL projects using a Global Citizenship approach, along with a toolkit and operational plans for schools. A training (LTTA) took place, after which consortium members and other participants conducted teacher trainings in Croatia, Italy, and Spain. Trained teachers tested SL proposals in their schools. A separate toolkit for creating Local Action Plans was also developed and tested through meetings with families, NGOs, and other stakeholders. An online course was designed, developed, piloted, and disseminated, and the web platform was launched, with active promotion of its registration process. Three multiplier events were conducted. Four planned Transnational Project Meetings (two in Spain, one in Croatia, and one in Italy) and the LTTA in Italy were successfully completed. All planned dissemination and communication activities were carried out.

These are the expected (and achieved) results of the project: R1 Didactic manual for innovative education to common values based on SL methodology. R2 Toolkit to foster cooperation in education to values through SL approach between schools, volunteering associations and NGOs, parents and other community stakeholders, including tools for Service-Learning practices. R3 Knowledge, learning and networking web platform about education to common values. (It was planned that at least 750 students and 75 teachers from Croatia, Italy and Spain will participate in the Project. Finally, the numbers reached have been 871 students and 99 teachers).