Last week, a teacher from Germany came to experience our training course “TEACHING
EUROPE. The EU, Its Function, And New Priorities Towards”
The aim is to give our teacher trainees the competencies and the knowledge to start
considering including Europe as a content in the subject taught.
Nowadays, many teachers feel reluctant to pursue the theme of Europe integrated into their
school subjects because they believe it is another autonomous program (which is NOT) that
takes away precious hours needed to cover the school content (which it does NOT).
Teaching Europe doesn’t mean only teaching a subject.
It’s a cross-sectorial topic connecting more subjects.
The week’s course started by introducing some theoretical frameworks in which Europe is
well-defined and what the European Union is.
We went through the explanation of the bodies of the EU and the responsibilities of the
various institutions, how the European Union works, and who does what in the EU.
We focused on the most important dates of the EU’s history, from the first “Treaty for
Cooperation”(ECSC) during the 1950s until the 1990s when, in 1993, thanks to “the
Maastricht Treaty” the European Economic Community became the EUROPEAN UNION.
We talked about the principles and Values of the European Union and how this latter,
through various projects, helps new generations of Europeans to become active citizens with
the skills, knowledge, and experience to tackle the challenges facing our society, both now
and in the years to come.
In the following days, we identified the priority areas the Commission has established to
foster cooperation in building the best practices in the field of education and training and on
the benefits of why studying Europe:
-WORD PERSPECTIVE (Expand their world view & travel experience);
-CAREER OUTLOOK (Enhance the career opportunities with invaluable experience)
-COMMUNICATION (Strengthen communication team building & adaptability skills
-CULTURE (Experience and learn culture firsthand)
-GLOBAL NETWORK(Make new friends from around the world)
-LANGUAGE ( Learn another language and dialect)
-DISCOVERY (Discover new things about their own culture)
-LEADERSHIP (Boots students confidence and community leadership)
The TEACHING EUROPE course wants to deepen knowledge about including EUROPE at
school and to be aware of the importance of the diversity concept.
Through several online tools and practical activities, teachers improve the concept of culture
by looking at cultures not only at a European level but throughout the world.
Author: Roberta Muratore, JUMP Trainer
