As part of the Social Action strand of the programme focusing on schools, we organise thematic events, workshops and competitions to facilitate partnership building between schools in the UK and EU.
We aspire to highlight the role of young people aged 15–18 as changemakers, active global citizens and leaders at local, national and European level.
Key activities include:
- virtual thematic events on topics of common interest, generated by young people themselves through participation in an online survey
- international school partnerships between schools in the EU and the UK working together on social action campaign projects.
Winners of the school partnership competition will have the opportunity to take part in an international face-to-face workshop on digital campaigning for social purpose!
School partnerships
This strand of the programme brings together schools from the UK and the EU in school partnership groups involving young people aged 15–18. The groups will be guided in their joint work through a small number of facilitated online meetings. Each group will consist of two schools from the UK and three from EU countries and will have the opportunity to take part in the following activities:
- four facilitated sessions with a British Council facilitator (October 2023–January 2024), and two preparation sessions with teachers and two involving pupils
- classroom resources/activity plans to support the work of the group – these could be used as part of the curriculum, in tutor time or as part of an extra-curricular activity
- development of a common social action project (October 2023–January 2024) – examples include collaborating on advice packs for schools receiving refugees, a joint film on social media on the impact of climate change in different towns and cities across Europe
- a social action competition (February 2024) – the winning group will have the opportunity to send one teacher and three students from each of the five schools to an international face-to-face workshop on digital campaigning (April 2024).
Online events
There will be three Stronger Together online events beginning in the autumn term 2023 that any school can sign up for. These events will involve experts who will explore in detail the themes chosen by the partnership groups. Some background reading will be provided before the events and pupils will have a chance to pose their questions to the expert panel. The events may include themes such climate, sustainable development, integration of refugees in Europe, fake news and disinformation.
All events will be held in English.