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Description
We will implement the participative budget in the Helena Raszka Primary School No 7 and the 5th Secondary School in Szczecin. In both these schools pupils engage in voluntary work and participate in debates. But after talking to them, we know that they still lack competencies necessary to pursue activities in areas they are interested in. Very few of them are aware of the youth participatory budget. We wish to change it, especially given the fact that the Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej study results indicate that co-deciding on school matters translates into higher civic engagement in adult life.Hence, we will organise classes devoted to self-governance and participatory budget principles and implementation. We will divide pupils into age groups and ask them to prepare several ideas for utilising the budget under the supervision of school employees. Then they will be broken down into workgroups implementing the budget and selected idea together with coordinators and mentors. We will also run workshops on children’s rights, democracy, as well as assertive and empathic communication in schools. We will run outdoor integration workshops on relation building and group communication.Our partners include two schools whose pupils will participate in the project. The third partner is Sociology Institute at the Szczecin University that will support us with its experience in social research and diagnosis so that we can address pupils’ needs more effectively. The last partner is the Ośrodek Doskonalenia Nauczycieli by the Zachodniopomorskie Centrum Edukacji Morskiej i Politechnicznej. It will inform other Szczecin schools on the project and will also co-organise meetings presenting the project and its outcomes.
Summary of project results
As part of the project, we implemented participatory budgeting in six primary and secondary schools in Szczecin. In all these schools, male and female students are involved in volunteering and participating in debates. However, from the interviews we conducted with them, it was obvious that they still lacked the competences needed to implement activities in the areas they were interested in. In schools, very few people knew that youth participatory budgeting was a tool as youth participatory budgeting. We decided to change this, especially as research by the Center for Civic Education shows that co-determination in school matters translates into greater civic engagement in adult life.
So we organized lessons for male and female students on self-governance and the principles and implementation of participatory budgeting. The groups, broken down by age, and in collaboration with school staff and employees, prepared several ideas for using the budget. The male and female participants were divided into working groups, which, together with a coordinator or coordinator and a mentor or mentee implemented the budget and realised the selected ideas. A total of 28 initiatives were implemented, including a relaxation zone, Country Fest, a Day without electricity, Active breaks, gym equipment, a ''Wolf Dance'' workshop, a pink box and a sensory garden, among others. In the schools, we also held workshops on children''s rights, the principles of democracy and empathetic and assertive communication. In the surrounding green areas, inclusive workshops on relationship building and group communication or ecology.
Our formal partners were the two schools whose students participated in the project. The third partner was the Institute of Sociology at the University of Szczecin, which supported us with its experience in conducting research and social diagnosis to better respond to the needs of pupils/students. The last partner was the Teacher Training Center, which helped us reach out to schools in Szczecin - informing them about the possibility of taking part in the project and its effects, and supported us in conducting quantitative research on self-governance in schools.
Our interviews with male and female pupils, we know that their sense of agency has increased, they have become more decisive and cooperative, and their interest in self-governance has grown. In addition, we noticed an increase in their willingness to get involved in various extracurricular activities.