Let’s play citizenship

School activities, self respect, respect of the others, violence, discrimination, bullying, citizenship, role playing game, sketch

Informative Campaign

Pupils of the 5th and 6th primary classes

The « Right of young people » Service, Liège. With the support of the French Community of Belgium.

Belgium

English

Teachers, Young People, School Directors.

The « Right of young people » Service, Liège. With the support of the French Community of Belgium.

This Service, questioned by the exclusions of pupils in secondary education and the spreading of the phenomenon to primary education, even to nursery schools, organises activities since 2008.

The schools react today more quickly to the slightest fact of violence or bullying because, according to them, the school population has deeply changed and in particular the parents’ education. The circulars concerning the exclusion processes are better known and the schools don’t hesitate to utilize them.

Recreational, educative and preventive activity concerning everyone’s rights and duties. First of all, it is an early-learning activity about the working of our society and the life in community.

Its objective is to develop a public-spirited and responsible comprehension of the individual right notion with the aim of a real social integration. It offers a tool of thought for the teachers and their pupils.

It is inspired by the Pedagogical Guide « Repères » (published by the Council of Europe) that offers a wide range of thematic and methodological approaches concerning human rights, democracy and citizenship.

In concrete terms
The « Right of young people » Service offers two types of activities, for all types of schools (in villages or in cities and of all networks) :

1. Violence, discrimination
The activity starts with a report on violent situations, on vexations that the pupils experience: striking, pushing, insulting, rejecting, mockeries, swearwords, scapegoat…
Then a conflict is proposed: some pupils play a sketch and, in small groups, the other pupils have to propose solutions.
At the time of the synthesis, the educators make the pupils distinguish physical, verbal and psychological violence that can be expressed together or separately.
They also lead the pupils to the notion of « bullying » and invite them to consider the consequences that the intention to harm can bring.
They propose solutions to avoid the « bullying » or to react for instance by informing somebody or by calling for a third party. It’s not so easy because some pupils prefer to solve the problem between them.
At the end of the activity, a short evaluation is asked to the pupils in order to assess the impact.

2. Self respect and respect of the others
This activity is the same as the previous one, without the “sketch”.
It is more a global reflexion. The pupils exchange in small groups of 4/5 and propose solutions by consensus, what is difficult for them.
Through the activities, the « Right of young people » Service also broaches the “International Convention on Children’s Right” on the basis of a game.

From 10 up to 20 schools are concerned by these activities

Definition of bullying or cyberbullying, Classroom management, Teacher training, School conferences.

The « Right of young people » Service thinks that :

1. The difficulty in this type of activity is that there is no « feedback », because the service does not come back in the school after the activity.
The ideal solution would be to set up a more specific evaluation, for instance to meet the teachers and the headmaster again a few days after the activity.

2. The impact of the activity on the children is not easily measurable in the long term. A follow-up should be carried out by the teacher and/or the headmaster, or the activity should be integrated in a class or school project, for instance, “one week on citizenship”.

3. The participation of the teachers is lukewarm. Some of them take actively part in the activity and see an opportunity to benefit from complementary activities, but some others withdraw because they are not interested in this activity imposed by the headmaster.
It would be better to propose the activity via a contact with the CPMS (psycho-medico-social centre) of the school rather than by sending a mail to the headmaster.

4. It would be interesting to carry on this type of activity earlier, with pupils of the 1st and 2nd primary classes.
pages

General website « Right of the young people » in the French Community of Belgium : http://www.sdj.be/index.php

The « Right of young people » Services are local services that provide juridical information and, on request, a support for the young people. They make sure that the institutions respect the young people and their rights. They want to fight social exclusion and to foster the access to autonomy for the young people and the families.

Council of Europe online bookshop for the practical guide “Repères” :
http://book.coe.int/FR/ficheouvrage.php?PAGEID=36&lang=FR&produit_aliasid=1326

Martine PRIGNON

INFOREF

Management of projects