Target Groups & Goals
Our Goals
Fit4EU aims to provide teachers with the tools needed to give students a contemporary civic education on the EU. The tools are problem- and action-oriented, methodologically diverse, and tailored to meet student needs. By applying the methods and approaches presented, teachers can give students the understanding, confidence, and values needed to begin engaging in EU politics. All four teacher trainings enable and motivate teachers to encourage their students to get involved by participating in the democratic decision-making procedures of the EU. This is achieved by giving students the necessary knowledge on the EU, critical thinking skills, the ability to participate in EU political decision making, and an outline of core democratic values. At the same time, attitudes are fostered in students that promote tolerance, willingness to consider different perspectives, appreciation of pluralism of interests, and the ability to find compromises while being encouraged to act based on their own interests and views.
By 2024, we will have trained up to 400 practicing teachers to transfer these skills and knowledge to their classrooms. This will be done via the development and implementation of our teacher trainings as well as a summer school program we plan to launch in 2024. Digital networking meetings will also facilitate the connection between German and international teachers. The selected learning materials, some of which are specifically developed for this project, will be made available beyond the project’s duration. In this way, we hope to make a lasting contribution to teaching about the EU in various types of school in Germany and Europe.
In addition, we want to use systematic research to gain more insights into the needs of teachers and the success factors for teacher training on civic education (on the EU) and make these findings available to the academic community and the interested public.