Since the last face-to-face meeting in Krakow, the Living Lab has met twice online to continue developing and discussing local pilot projects. The proposed projects address various competencies, from solidarity participation to deliberation and critical thinking, many to highlight the importance and resilience of the democratic system. Some Living Lab members will work on supporting the student council, from organizing elections to leading projects and accountability processes, to strengthen students’ voices in the school and demonstrate possibilities for social engagement. Others will organize workshops and interviews to raise awareness about student rights and different aspects of the democratic system. Some initiatives also aim to create a deliberative space for various stakeholders, including students, teachers, and parents, to collectively resolve issues affecting education in Poland and address the needs of youth.
In May, after discussing the current phase of the project, participants were divided into breakout rooms to discuss the choice of appropriate methods to achieve the desired objectives and the participatory approach in different stages of project planning and implementation. During the online meeting in June, we invited Living Lab members to examine their projects in terms of the competencies of responsible democratic citizenship they aim to develop. The starting point for the group discussion was the list of competencies prepared during the DEMOCRAT project.
While the local pilots are a main priority for the Living Lab currently, it still functions as a space for knowledge production and sharing, with impacts extending beyond the group. That’s why during the last transnational meeting, Anna, Olga, and Piotr (project leaders) reported on their trip to Dublin and introduced us to the local pilot projects from the partner countries they learned about. After this part of the meeting, Anna brought up the topic of the public hearing on the possible new subject of citizenship education, which some attendees had participated in. Although the subject emphasizes practice and project-based learning, concerns were raised about the lack of time to implement such a rich program and scepticism about introducing a new subject instead of integrating Education for Democracy into existing subjects (which would require more systemic and top-down solutions to encourage teachers to include such topics in their curricula).
During the summer, the members of the Living Lab will hopefully take a well-deserved break. After the holidays, they will return to improve their projects for implementation in the next school year. Our next in-person meeting will be in Krakow.
Written by Inga Hajdarowicz
