European awareness - a proposed new curriculum subject

Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (GCHSS) in Naxxar is co-ordinating a Socrates Comenius 1 school development project that is working on a proposal to introduce a new subject in the curriculum of all European schools called 'European Awareness' to enable students to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diversity of European cultures.

The proposed new subject will have four modules: culture and identity, European organisations, geography and the environment, and citizenship, democratic ideals and human rights.

The project, entitled Students European Awareness (SEAs), is the brainchild of a group of GCHSS teachers and is spanning three scholastic years (2004-2007).

What makes this project interesting and exciting is the direct involvement of the students, under the guidance of their teachers, from all the project partner schools in Portugal, Romania, Italy and Spain to formulate the syllabus of the new subject through a process of collection of research, reflection and abstraction.

Moreover, online collaboration between students is also encouraged and this proved to be profitable, especially in theme design and the exchange of ideas and information with other teachers and students.

Besides the work done at each participating school, students are also being encouraged to visit neighbouring schools to share information and exchange and analyse ideas with other students and teachers mainly in the field of European studies. This helps to disseminate the project and its results in other educational institutions in the various countries. The sharing of ideas and good practices will also lead to an enriched final product.

In formulating each module a group of students from every school is required to give a presentation during the trans-national meeting. These presentations are open not only to the groups of students and teachers from the other countries but also to all the students and teachers of the hosting institution so as to get more feedback and enriched the end product.

For every module, each group of students' presentations together with the research material and methodology used are to be made available on a CD-ROM both in the native language and translated into English.

Meetings to discuss each module have already been held in Aveiro, Portugal, in December 2004, Mos, Spain, in April, 2005, in Malta in June 2005, in Garganico, Italy, in November 2005, Barlad, Romania last May, and in Portugal again last November. Future meetings are to be held in Spain in April and finally in Malta in June.

The meeting held in Romania last May discussed the module on geography and the environment. The GCHSS delegation was composed of Joseph Cauchi (subject co-ordinator, English) who is co-ordinating the SEAs project, Cettina Callus (teacher of Spanish) and Carmel Hili (teacher of Systems of Knowledge and Environmental Science).

The Maltese students included Matthew Vella, Antoine Hili and Brenda Schembri. Mr Vella's and Ms Schembri's presentations dealt with the effects that climate has on the environment and people. Special reference was made to the Maltese context, especially our physical traits, customs and way of life, temperament, leisure activities, diet, industry, economy, tourism, agriculture, buildings, pollution and its resulting effects of global warming on an island and geopolitical consequences.

Mr Hili's presentation took an in-depth look at irregular migration, its causes and its effects on a small island-state such as Malta.

The Portuguese presentation dealt with the changes in landscapes, man-made environments and human settlements as a result of environmental disasters, illustrated by past and recent photos.

The Italian students concentrated on irregular immigration brought about by, among other factors, climate and the resulting effects of this immigration on local demography and culture. The students had carried out several interviews with immigrants residing in Italy. The Spanish students' research concentrated on human activities that are having a negative and sometimes disastrous effect on the environment.

The Romanian students' presentation mainly emphasised the concept of national identity and Romania's future in Europe, particularly the European Union.

There was a very entertaining, detailed and interesting presentation on Romanian emigration and immigration over the centuries and a sociological inquiry on how present-day Romanian high school students (most of whom were either born on the eve of or just after the fall of Communism in their country) look at the situation in their country and their fears and hopes for the future. Most of them expressed the desire to seek better pastures abroad after finishing their university studies.

The host Romanian teachers and students gave the meeting delegates a very warm welcome. Students put up a show of traditional music and dances, drama, mime and singing. The warmth of our Romanian hosts, Professor Mîhaela Cososchi, the host school director, Cãtãlina Ciobanu, the school's SEAs project teacher-in-charge and Ioana Cãlin our teacher-interpreter, and the students, made our stay an unforgettable experience.

The exquisite dinner at a stunningly frescoed monastery, the visit to the Bicaz Gorges, rowing in the mysterious Red Lake, the beauty of the Romanian countryside and nature and delicious ciorba are all precious memories which I shall long treasure. Before departing a local television programme invited the Maltese delegation to talk about the project and the experience in Romania.

A Webpage for the project is under construction and will be accessible to the partner schools and all interested parties to help in the dissemination, verification, analyses and exchange of results. It will be available in seven languages (English, Italian, Spanish, Galego, Maltese, Romanian and Portuguese).

One of the meetings involved teachers alone who shared good practice concerning teaching-learning strategies and methods. They compared the syllabi of the various subjects taught in the different schools with a view to introducing the concepts and themes developed from the four modules across the curriculum. They tried to find ways to build up a common cross-curriculum approach, and presented the project to local teachers and local authorities, the press and other institutions. They also met other teachers involved in the project.

All the partner schools are secondary and post-secondary institutions that provide a general and/or vocational/university-oriented education. Apart from GCHSS the partner schools include AEVA from Aveiro (Portugal), Colegiul National Gheorghe Rosca Codreanu from Bârlad (Romania), Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore 'D. Fioritto' from Puglia (Italy) and IES de Mos from Galicia (Spain).

For more information about SEAs project send an e-mail to the SEAs co-ordinator at gcurmi.hss@gov.mt