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Description
Lithuanian society suffers from low-level of civic participation, lack of solidarity and trust among society members. Civic education, supposedly an integral part of school’s curriculum, has not delivered in 30 years. Most of the civic education initiatives were carried out on a short-term project basis and have not achieved a systemic effect. Up until the present day the quality of civic education depends entirely on the motivation and qualification of each teacher.
Unfortunately, the same can be said about the online educational VOD platform “Inconvenient Films Class” (www.nepatogauskinoklase.lt), which was founded by the applicant in 2016. Though it has a substantial educational material and almost 2000 registered users (teachers), the lack of resources do not allow to implement quality control of its practical use, teachers are left on their own and cannot receive human rights and media literacy training, which is essential in using film as an instrument for civic and human rights education. Thus, the platform fails to realize its full potential on structural level. Systematic changes can only take place when contemporary methods are used by motivated and qualified educators, inspiring civic activism among pupils.
The project “Inconvenient Films Class: Inspiring Systematic Change” aims to utilize existing VOD platform, converting it into a fully accredited programme for the development of professional qualification of teachers. A pilot group of 60 teachers from various regions of Lithuanian will receive a 40 hrs. long certified training, combining civic education, human rights and media literacy knowledge. Moreover, each teacher will also be given assistance (both by mentors and by 40 project volunteers), identifying social issues on class, community or town (country) level and taking practical steps in addressing those issues. Thus at least 1200 teachers and 60 teachers will engage into a voluntary civic activity, addressing issues, which they find important.
Summary of project results
The aim of this project was to strengthen the field of civic education in Lithuanian formal education institutions, so that educators working in the field of civic
education have a modern, high-quality and widely available tool that promotes creativity and critical thinking in their daily work and know how to use it. In
this way, it was aimed to create a sustainable, systemic change covering the entire country.
The project was based on the work of the online educational platform "Inconvenient Films Class" as the starting point for development, significantly
expanding the circle of educators using this platform, based on its content, the program for teachers was created and achieved official accreditation by the
Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, which was later piloted by a selected group of 53 pedagogues from various regions of Lithuania within the
framework of the project. The pedagogues who strengthened their professional qualifications in civic education and received a practical tool also helped
their students realize their civic competences in practice by carrying out voluntary civic initiatives with the help of professional mentors and project
volunteers. The project''s target groups - educators and pupils - were directly reached, educators - enabled to reflect their attitudes and talk about citizenship
topics with students in classes, students enabled to contribute to changes in their communities. The project especially strengthened the platform and
awareness of documentary film education as a tool for citizenship education and human rights issues among Lithuanian educators and pedagogues, enabled
school communities to speak qualitatively on topics important to the growth of society.
The project significantly expanded the circle of educators using online civic and human rights film education platform (from 2,000 at the beginning of the
project to 4,000 at the end of the project), also achieving accreditation by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The program, developed in the
framework of the project, raised professional qualification of 53 pedagogues from various regions of Lithuania. At least 530 schoolchildren took part in the
activities of the project promoting citizenship and raising awareness of human rights issues, while at least 2900 young people directly participated in the
“Inconvenient Films Class” educational activities implemented within the framework of the project, all promoting advocacy of and sensitivity to human rights
and other social issues, civic engagement, media literacy and counter-discrimination.