VOICES is an international project of those who want to let themselves be heard in Europe. It has arisen from a network of existing partnerships of different schools within Europe. Although the majority of us is taking part in ongoing projects, all of us represent an attitude of not being able to idly stand facing everyday-life issues and situations; on the contrary, all participants are ready to act – detect new issues, discuss and analyse them, create an opinion and share it via the most powerful way – the power of the written word. 

 

Accomplishing the main objective, establishing an online student created European magazine, will empower students and provide them with the skills needed to succeed in their future lives. First, it seeds the idea of entrepreneurship and engagement among the youth willing to write, edit and enrich their classmates, teachers, and communities by developing their digital skills in order to share their thoughts to a wide audience. These digital skills will include mastering a number of web tools necessary to edit and design an online magazine, upload and edit photos and videos, create comics and diagrams, write blog posts, and maintaining a website. The acquisition of these skills will benefit students in their future lives. Secondly, the magazine is not written in their native languages. English is used as the “lingua franca”, which will lead to general improvement of writing skills and other forms of expression in this useful language. Each of the contributors – pupils and teachers– enrich their vocabulary, deepen their sense of grammatical structures, practice accuracy and fluency. Besides the linguistic skills, personal and inter-personal competences are developed, too. Prompt, flexible and empathic communication is the essential condition for all participants. 

 

Eighty students and ten teachers from the five participating countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and Macedonia will take part in the student exchanges and the short term staff trainings. At least twenty students from disadvantaged backgrounds will be included in the project activities. Whole schools – both students and teachers – will take part in the project through questionnaires, attending public presentations and participant-led staff training, and viewing and reading the magazine. Students and teachers who are not able to attend the trainings and pupil exchanges will be able to actively participate through the online portion of the project on E-twinning. Over the course of the project students and teachers from these regions will work on their own development by taking up new skills, learning from their own experience through innovative approaches leading to a general improvement of the quality of teaching and learning processes at schools. 

 

There will be five student exchanges, along with five teacher training in each participating country. During the student exchanges students will lead the work on completing the first five issues of the magazine: cultural heritage, modern technology, human relations, fashion, and environment. Students will be required to critically examine issues from their own communities and come up with solutions. They will be engaged in different types of activities to complete all aspects of the magazine. Students will work in groups on the main issue, history section, analyzing and writing articles on the questionnaires, creating comics, presenting the host country’s cultural and educational information, photo diary, blog, and vlog. 

 

Teachers will receive expert-led training on the following topics: how to deal with student motivation and failures, modern technology in the classroom, inclusion, creativity, and Content Language Integrated Learning approach (CLIL), and student social-emotional intelligence. As a result of the creation and distribution of VOICES, we expect our students to develop key skills and competences necessary to succeed in today’s digital world. Students will also significantly improve their English writing and speaking skills, and cultural awareness. By having them reflect and come up with solutions on critical contemporary issues they will become and continue to be active participating European citizens. 

 

As a result of students working with their peers from countries across Europe, we expect them to understand and embrace equality, diversity, and inclusion. From the teacher’s training in this project, we expect teachers to become better educators positively affecting their students` future and society in general.