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Description
The Citizenship Education project aims to foster a systemic change in citizenship education and strengthen the role of civil society organizations in public policy and in promoting a more tolerant and involved society. Specific project objectives include: creating a metric to assess students’ “citizenship skills level” to design tailor-made programs to meet the needs of each group and measure the impact of education actions for citizenship; promote citizenship skills in the students of the schools involved; promote close cooperation between NGOs and schools, benefiting from their knowledge in different areas and also strengthen NGO intervention in public policy.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to address the need for systemic change in Citizenship Education and to strengthen the role of NGOs in public policies and in promoting a more tolerant and engaged society. It focused on three pillars present in the National Strategy for Citizenship Education: NGO-School partnerships, development and evaluation of competencies, and the Whole School Approach.
Implemented by Gonçalo da Silveira Foundation in consortium with CEDH-UCP between March 2019 and August 2022, the project involved a wide range of stakeholders, including three NGO-School consortia, the EWC for external monitoring and evaluation, and a multistakeholder Advisory Panel. The project aimed to develop a citizenship competency assessment tool for students, promote citizenship skills, foster close cooperation between NGOs and schools, and reinforce NGO involvement in public policies.
The project was developed around three major components. The first component, Citizenship Education in Schools, involved selecting three NGO-School consortia through a national competition. Each selected consortium had to implement and monitor an Action Plans for Citizenship Education in a school context, and accompany the Action Plan activities over three school years (2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/22). The focus was on 3rd cycle students (ages 12-15). One Consortia Meeting was held each year.
The second activity, Citizenship Skills Assessment, included constructing a competency framework, developing and validating data collection instruments, conducting three data collection phases in the three schools, and analyzing and returning the results. The process involved systematic data collection and analysis for diagnosing needs and assessing project outcomes. The competency framework was co-constructed by the project team, based on national and international references, and adapted to the current Portuguese society. It was tailored to the 3rd cycle age group and designed to be useful and adaptable for schools and teachers in the future.
The third activity, Dissemination and Coordination among Stakeholders, involved creating an Advisory Panel with annual meetings, holding bilateral meetings, organizing an open sharing and networking event, and producing a final publication in September 2022. The Advisory Panel facilitated ongoing dialogue and feedback, while bilateral meetings ensured direct communication and collaboration between key stakeholders. The open event provided a platform for sharing project insights and fostering connections, and the final publication documented the project''s processes, outcomes, and recommendations.
Throughout the project, the team maintained a high level of commitment and motivation from schools and NGOs, evidenced by the increasing involvement of their management, the participation of more than one person from each NGO in the implementation teams, and the inclusion of non-teaching staff, students, and families in the action plan implementation teams.
The project successfully demonstrated the utility of the citizenship skills assessment tool, which was even adapted by the Gondifelos consortium for a recent international project. The project also consolidated change processes, emphasizing local partner coordination, student protagonism, and democratic relationships among school actors.
The project''s communication strategy highlighted its contribution to the National Strategy for Citizenship Education (ENEC) and garnered positive feedback from key political actors, such as the Ministry of Education.
The final conference attracted around 250 participants and nearly 400 registrations, and over 700 printed copies of the project''s publication were requested.
In terms of results, the project achieved significant outcomes for various stakeholders. The overall evaluation of the project''s implementation was very positive, as confirmed by the external evaluation report, which stated that the project fully met its objectives.
The organization and structuring of activities were closely aligned with the goals achieved. The project maintained a high level of commitment and motivation from schools and NGOs in the three consortia, evidenced by the increasing involvement of their management, the participation of more than one person from each NGO in the implementation teams, direct coordination between consortia in supporting specific activities, and the inclusion of non-teaching staff, students, and families in the action plan implementation teams.
The correlations between the implementation of action plans in the three consortia during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 school years and the results of the second phase of the citizenship skills assessment tool demonstrated the tool''s utility as a privileged instrument for collaboratively rethinking each consortium''s action plans.
The project consolidated the identified change processes, particularly emphasizing the value of local partner coordination, increased awareness, effort, and intentionality in enhancing student protagonism in various activity phases (from diagnosis and planning to implementation and evaluation), and promoting democratic and participatory relationships among different school actors. The quality of information collected through consortia progress reports, statistical results of the citizenship skills assessment tool, and other collective reflection documents was high.
The project established a narrative line for communication, highlighting its contribution to the National Strategy for Citizenship Education (ENEC). The level of adherence to the project''s Advisory Panel and the positive feedback received during the presentation of processes, results, and learnings from various implementation phases were notable.
The project impacted annually around 800 students of which approximately 390 (target groups of the project) were directly involved in the project key actions.
The continuity dynamic was ensured not only in disseminating project products but also through at least one international follow-up (Erasmus+ project with the Gondifelos consortium) and another local follow-up (Famalicão municipality), along with interest from the Ministry of Education and the Regional Secretariat for Education of Madeira.
Finally, the experience of three consortia in different territorial and socioeconomic environments gathered insights on how NGOs can intervene in schools in a structured manner, ensuring a whole school approach with the participation of the entire school and parents.
The project''s success was fundamentally based on the trust established among stakeholders, the common understanding built around it, and the ability to adapt activities to the specificities of each territory and context, including during the pandemic period.