FEEL – Future Empowered European Leaders

About project
Students of today are the future citizens. Are they being prepared to lead and make
appropriate decisions?
There is a need to prepare students to be active, responsible European citizens. The project
helps students to acquire and use knowledge about the past, to learn from the consequences
of past events and decisions made, and to plan future actions based on this. It demonstrates
methods for collecting materials and analysing them. Gives research tools to develop a list of
European problems, select priorities and seek solutions. Teaches how to cooperate in an
international group, how to present one's own position, how to discuss constructively and
how to reach a consensus.
Language
English
Skills students
Age group of pupils
12 – 18 years

Project duration
1-2 school years

Level of difficulty
Medium

Authors
Anna Tobiacelli, Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących Nr 1 STO (Poland)
Nathalie Scerri, St Theresa College Secondary School (Malta)

Project description
‘FEEL - Future Empowered European Leaders’ aims at developing 21st century skills in
students and teachers of schools from different countries through project-based,
competence-oriented collaboration, leading to prepare students to be active, responsible
European citizens. During the project, young people reflect on the past and assess the present
situation by analyzing hot issues such as the environment, climate change, food, inclusion,
artificial intelligence, people and jobs. This help them to suggest and develop future solutions
that can make Europe a happier and healthier continent. It is reinforced by exploring the
situation in different countries, and use debates to discuss pros and cons of such differences.
Debating is an innovative educational strategy that allows for enhanced critical thinking, public
speaking and delivery of speech. The project promotes the 21st century skills students may
require for an unknown future and for jobs that have yet to be created.

Pedagogical goals
The project focuses on the development of critical thinking, digital skills, foreign language
competences as well as transversal skills: communication, collaboration and creativity.
Students enhance skills needed for future education and work: a sense of intercultural
awareness and the importance of values related to diversity and inclusion. These
competences are the hallmarks of responsible citizenship, reinforcing opportunities to
learners and teachers to become active European citizens.

1. Encourage the participation of young people in EU DEVELOPMENT.

2. Develop students as future DECISION-MAKING CITIZENS.
3. Improve students’ UNDERSTANDING of the DIVERSITY OF EUROPE, increasing the sense of
intercultural awareness and value.
4. Enhance students with THE SIX CS OF EDUCATION.
5. Develop LANGUAGE SKILLS through communication and debates.
6. Develop students with ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS - students decide on actions that Europe
would benefit from and work on them virtually as some international divisions of a project
‘FEEL European Company’.
7. Support teachers in DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE TEACHING METHODS and in promoting
cross-curricular collaboration on project-based, competence oriented students’ work.
8. Improve EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF EDUCATION by collaboration with foreign partners,
strengthen openness and tolerance.

Introduction
- Teachers describe the rationale of the project on a TwinSpace page.
- The partner schools introduce themselves, for example via ThingLink.

Project stages

The project is organised in four major stages, one stage leading to another.

1/ HERITAGE MATTERS (CONNECTING PAST TO PRESENT) dedicated to the past, with

presentations and discussions based on the common heritage of partner countries. This will
broaden students’ understanding of the European diversity.

Students’ works:
• ‘Famous people of my country’ – presentations, videos, posters; online discussion.
• ‘Good and bad decisions made in the past whose effects continue in the present’ -
Finding good past processes and listing controversial decisions which led to
unpredictable bad situations such as: climate change, pollution, diminishing resources,
 food wastage, exclusion in terms disabilities and gender, intolerance towards national
and religious minorities etc.
• Debates focused on things that join and separate us Europeans.

2/ UNDERSTANDING PAST AND PRESENT TO WRITE FUTURE focused on relating past to

present; students observe present times and focus on common grounds to build a united
future. A portrait of a contemporary, responsible European individual is created cooperatively
during this stage.
Students’ work:
• ‘What does it mean to be a European?’ - Written statements and online discussions.
Selection of the best works for the collaborative ebook.
• Online debates on European topics chosen by students

3/ RESHAPING OUR WORLD focused on a better future.

The project ‘FEEL European Company’ communicates and collaborates on scenarios that will
make Europe a better continent to live in.

Students’ work:
• Selection of the most urgent European issues to be addressed.
• Discussions on possible solutions and voting for the best ones.
• Setting up the ‘FEEL European Company’ and working online.
• Online debate on the topic ‘Young people can shape Europe’s future’.

4/ PLAYING A PART - OUR VOICE FOR EUROPE'S FUTURE dedicated to working on the final
proposals (posters, ebooks, videos), making contact with local MEPs and organizing a video-
meeting in a selected EU institution in Brussels to share students’ proposals for future Europe.
This allows dissemination of the students’ ideas to higher authorities, who actually have a say
in the formation of Europe.

The project is mainly open to 12 to 18-year old students. Younger students (schools with
primary classes) can work on selected project tasks.
Teachers of different subjects may be involved throughout the entire project.

Results

- By the end of this project, it is expected that students will become tolerant and
responsible decision-making citizens.
- Through debates they will nurture rational thinking, organization of thoughts,
persuasion and public speaking.
- New entrepreneurial skills will allow them to be innovative and persistent.
- Apart from widening the horizons of participants, all schools will improve the quality
of education. They will operate at a transnational level, share and confront practices.
Virtual cooperation will make the learning process more enjoyable and meaningful.
- A significant interdependence between personal progress of participants and long-
term development of schools is expected.
- There will also be materials that can be disseminated: descriptions of a portrait of a
contemporary European, pupils' proposals for solutions to the most important
 European problems and summaries of debates on the influence of young people on
the development of Europe.

Project activities we propose are flexible and can be adapted to the situation in any school.
However, an ideal situation would be when partner schools cover a wide spectrum of
European countries: continental and Mediterranean, from the East, West, North and South,
schools in big cities, small towns and villages. It would maximize the vision of Europe as a unity
in diversity and help to achieve the project’s objectives.
Our project included simultaneous meetings in the Erasmus+ partner schools and online
activities (virtual meetings, debates and the FEEL Company online youth collaboration). All the
activities we propose can be carried out in an eTwinning project or made a part of an Erasmus+
project.

This project has been co-funded

by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union