FACTS – Financial Crisis and Citizenship

Comenius FACTS - Financial Crisis and Citizenship

 

The effects of the European financial crisis on the perspectives of young European citizens in Germany and Ireland is a bilateral Comenius project. The financial crisis in the Euro Zone has left feelings of insecurity, doubts and anxiety among younger citizens. This subject is often discussed by them both in class and through private conversation. Potentially it could change their perspective on being European citizens and effect their standard of living significantly.

In this project, after having time to reflect on their own financial situation and its impact on their day to day lives students will developed with their partners a questionnaire to examine how much the financial crisis has shaped their attitudes towards European citizenship and how this differs between countries. The students compiled the information they had gathered and presented their results in a format which will make the information available to others who are interested in studying European citizenship.

Students worked closely with their partner college for the duration of the project and through this work a close inter-cultural dialogue was established. This led to a higher level of understanding of each other`s living conditions and difficulties experienced as a result of the crisis. However throughout the project the continued benefits of European citizenship was stressed and the advantages of working together within the European Union formed a core concept of the project. The students were encouraged to use the language of their partner country and over the course of the project the language ability of the individual students improve significantly.

For many students this was their first introduction to our partner countries language. Students were encouraged to communicate with each other both in a formal and social context throughout the project. Email, Viber, Skype and Facebook were the primary tools of communication between the students on the project and through these media students exchanged relevant project material. A high level of student ownership of the project was encouraged with student involvement in all aspects of the project implementation.

 

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