The first project work year is going by fast! Over the past months, the project focus was on work package two: Active Citizenship across Europe: a comparative analysis. In this work package, coordinated by KU Leuven, we build the evidence-base  for the subsequent work packages of the project. By analyzing and comparing the current situation in each participating partner country, we are learning from real practices in different European countries and we can identify opportunities and challenges at local, national and European level. Historical overviews, curriculum and policy analyses, literature research and a collection of real practices come together in what is promising to be a rich publication with many different perspectives.
Together with an analysis of the current European-wide policies and strategies on active citizenship education, this will result in a printed and online publication under the title ‘Active Citizenship across Europe’ (available in 2025).

Apart from that, a questionnaire surveying both teachers’ and pupils’ opinions and experiences with active citizenship education was launched in all six partner countries. This survey should give the project team insights on the actual perceptions, experiences and opinions of our key stakeholders: teachers and learners, in both a national and comparative European perspective. We reached a dazzling number of over 3,600 responding pupils and almost 700 teachers throughout the project partner countries. In the next months, we will analyze the data and gain further valuable insights for the project team.

Afterwards, each partner institution will organize reflection sessions on the results with individual school teams, involving teachers and pupils, but also parents, school leaders or other stakeholders. In that way, the awareness on active citizenship education will continue to grow and strengthen the implementation at different levels within the school field.

The combination of the European and specific country studies, combined with the insights from the survey and reflection sessions with teachers, will serve as a base to develop joint strategies for the elaboration of the other work packages.

We are already starting to delve into learning outcomes and assessment strategies, but first of all: time for some summer!