Dream Your School
Ideas about changing school almost always come from adults – who are no longer at school! These ideas are often the instrument of a political strategy, and fail to take into account the interests and aspirations of children, who experience the school day by day.
That is why the Evens Foundation has launched a European project, “Dream Your School”, in which children are invited to express their ideas about improving their school, or, more broadly, education in general. This will help children to learn how to take responsibility and discover their potential at a young age, and thus in turn help to develop their democratic and civic skills.
The project is being developed together with three partners – a21-Apprendre au 21ème siècle (France), ONCA (UK) and CEO (Poland). Each partner run a series of workshops with schoolchildren to brainstorm and develop proposals about school and education. They then organize public events where students and education specialists will discuss these proposals. Finally, the resulting ideas are disseminated through a publication among policymakers and the broader public.
In this project, children are considered as partners in an inclusive approach that takes into account their ideas and even their dreams for their school and their education. This approach is both educational, in encouraging the growth and development of children, and political, in that it will encourage policymakers to engage in a profound change in education.
For more information about the Dream Your School project in each of the three countries, just click on the relevant link above.