Participants: European Sacred Heart Schools from various countries of Europe and other partner schools in the EU. (Especially new member states) Aim and goals: Students and teachers worked towards various projects referring to the EU identity and core values such as freedom, democracy, human rights, peace, solidarity, constitutional legality and tolerance. Identity is a social construct. At the moment, the European Union and its inhabitants are doubting and feeling insecure about the European idea and what concrete means it takes to live in the EU and how to identify with this information. Nationalism and other political groups are fighting against the idea of a common Europe. Young people do have a desire to own an identity. This project enabled the students to identify, understand and implement theses values into their lives and act as multiplicators and opinion leaders in their environment to strengthen the idea of a common citizenship. Workshops, research, discussion and presentation of results should contribute to a better understanding of the idea of the EU in the 21st century. Also, this project aided in promoting the cooperation among different faculties of the Sacred Heart Schools in Europe and set up a platform for a European learning and better understanding of our goals. The main goal of this project was to create and develop new teaching materials online and in print about the topic. We could reach this aim in our three meetings in France, Estonia and Spain At the end of the project we planned a small conference with all the stakeholders of the project in Vienna. The objective was to promote and foster the dissemination of the results of our project. We also wanted to make sample lessons to present the outcome of the project to an interested community during this project meeting in Vienna. Unfortunatley we had to cancel the last meeting in Vienna due to Corona.

Context/Background of the projectThe background to this project lies in the most recent wave of immigration to the European Union and the movement of citizens within the EU-27. Recent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has seen thousands of refugees make the attempt to gain access to the European Union in order to seek a better life for themselves. This has lead to many deaths as in desperation those who are in most need will attempt the most riskiest of passages in order to escape persecution, war and famine. Combined with this wave of immigration has been the movement of workers within the European Union, most notably from new accession states in search of jobs and economic advantage. In many host countries this has lead to tensions with some questioning the rationale behind EU immigration policy. As immigration rates to the EU rise with current world events within founding member states of the European Union there has been a rise in 'Race Hate' crime combined with attacks on what are seen as one of the core principles of the European Union, that is the Freedom of speech and expression i.e. Charlie Hebdo attacks. Commentators have said that the European Union has become too big and should effectively close it's door's to immigrants, while within the European Union, in some member states, there has been a growing sense of nationalism and drive for self determination. Within this social and political context there lies a need for open and honest discussion about the impact of immigration on host and home countries, a need to examine how immigrants have integrated. Each of the project partners mentioned within come from a different socio-economic and political background and it is with these project partners that we aim to openly discuss through the medium of film the true impact of immigration within the EU.Objectives of the ProjectKey objectives include the promotion of Tolerance, Respect, Diversity, Perception and Inclusion.Enhancement of the ideals of the European Union and Scared Heart Education.Development of transnational skills for EmployabilityNumber and Profile of Participants4 Project Partners from across the EU have been identified3 of the Partners have experience of working on European ProjectsStrong Leadership teams and core teams have been established Excellent ICT support is available to the lead school and partner schoolThe Project will be carried out with 30 16/17 year old pupils' in each partner school.Description of ActivitiesTransnational meetings (target setting, sharing good practice, planning and review)Digital Storytelling WorkshopGuest speakers from Political groups, N.G.O's, local and national CharitiesCulture DaysInterviews with minority groupsArmagh Film FestivalDebates/Question and Answer sessions about immigrationPoster and Postcard campaignsCreation of Blog re: ImmigrationExhange and Collaboration on using Social MediaMethodology usedSMARTER targets, RACI matrix, SWOT analysisMix of qualitative and quantitative assessmentCore Teams in each school Timetable of activitiesRegular monitoring, dissemination and communicationRelationship building combining ICT methodologies (skype/ Blog/ Podcast) and visitsDescription of Results/Impact and BenefitsDevelop transversal skills in participants - particularly in the area of Digital LiteracyHigher inter cultural awarenessHigher interest, tolerance and respect for other countries, cultures and people.Have a greater knowledge of the reasons for immigration, the causes and consequencesHave an understanding of EU formation, objectives and expansionHave a better knowledge about living/ school life in other countriesEstablish personal contacts with pupils from cross sector and partner schools through ICT and mobilitiesBuild on the desire to travel and explore new placesDevelop social skills and the ability to work in teamsRaise awareness within the local community about local minority groups with whom interviews and films are being made.Local minority community involved in Culture DaysNationally minority groups will be involved in postcard and poster campaignsProject discussed and modeled as 'best practice' with other schools at local levelProject discussed with other schools internationally (that are part of the Sacred Heart Network) and modeled as 'best practice' at the European and International Heads and Deputes meetings.News coverage at a National level will have a wide impact in forming peoples opinions and views.Lobby and advocate for a change in LawsLobby in order to change views and perceptionsCreation of films which provoke, inspire, enthuse and cause people to examine their perception of immigration and immigrants