Profile of the participants:

The participants are teachers (working in kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools etc.) or adult trainers active in the sending organization interested in non-formal methods that can be used to include and integrate every student, with or without previous experience, willing to develop themselves professionally not only through the course, but by involving themselves in preparatory and follow up activities. They must be interested in other cultures and in developing the institution’s European dimension.

Objectives:

• To develop competences regarding applying non-formal education activities and techniques in order to encourage democratic life in the school and active citizenship of the students
• To increase awareness of European values and principles
• To develop skills for dialogue, tolerance and collaboration, using games and exercises;
• To develop communication, collaboration, presentation, problem-solving, negotiation, critical & creative thinking skills;
• To increase the school’s European dimension
• To share best practices and transfer knowledge and methods between different cultural zones and different learner ages regarding successful active citizenship approaches
• to enable students to make visible changes in their immediate world in areas of importance to them
• to increase positive engagement among students and provide an alternative for constructive rather than destructive behavior 
• to provide stuents with skills in analyzing and tackling problems, along with concrete opportunities to use these skills in meaningful ways 
• to provide outlets for creative energy and the chance to address issues of concern to youth by youth
• To increase students empowerment to engage in the local community 
• To develop the participants’ competences of ensuring harmonious group building in civil society engagement of students by usage of non-formal group dynamics
• To be better aware of inclusion issues in different cultures