Mobility in Lithuania

From 30th January to 5th February, 2022 project teams from Romania, Turkey, North Macedonia and Lithuania met in Marijampolės Sūduvos gymnasium to participate in the third Short-Term Exchange of Groups of Pupils of the Erasmus Project “Participation of pupils in European schools: How democratic are our schools for pupils in Europe?“. Due to the pandemic situation the team from Germany could not attend the meeting in Lithuania, but they joined us online and successfully implemented all the workshops. The main topic of this mobility was to discuss practical ideas for more pupils‘ participation at school. The organized activities included not only workshops related to the Project, but also some cultural visits, icebreaking activities and non-formal gatherings so that the attendees could experience Lithuanian culture and way of life.

On the first day of our meeting participants got acquainted with the programme for the week, expressed their expectations for the mobility, participated in the icebreaking activities organized by the educators from the Institute of Society and Business Development, who specialize in youth affairs in Marijampolė municipality. All teams had an opportunity to visit Marijampolė and Sūduvos gymnasium and learn something about Lithuania‘s education system and history of our town.

A visit to Lithuania‘s capital Vilnius on the second day of the mobility was not only cultural, but also educational. Participants visited Seimas Palace - the Parliament of Lithuania, where they were introduced to the Seimas’ activities, its structure, the development of parliamentarism, buildings of the current Seimas – the Seimas Plenary Chamber, the Hall of the Act of 11 March, meeting rooms and Press Conference Hall. In addition, we also visited the Centre for Civil Education where the permanent exhibition is located on the three floors of the President Palace of the Republic of Lithuania. The exhibition introduces the essential elements of the state: its territory, inhabitants, institutions and their functions. Various parts of the exhibition are dedicated to citizens' freedoms and rights, their opportunities to become involved in the state governance by knowing their country, participating in its life, and building their own future and that of their fellow citizens.

On the third day of our meeting students participated in the workshops where they revised the main key words of the Project, got acquainted with the young person‘s guide to a political participation, looked for ideas on how to increase the pupils‘ participation at school that were later exchanged and discussed with other members in the group. In the evening everyone was invited to a traditional Lithuanian dinner to taste some local cuisine, dance some traditional dances and at the same time share their own that resulted in a fusion of different cultures.

On the fourth day students shared their ideas on how to make pupils more active, they made presentations about it that resulted in creating a common mindmap of ideas. But only adressing and making up the ways to help wasn‘t enough, that is why a discussion about practical implementation of these plans was also necessary. All the ideas were written down on a computer and uploaded on TwinSpace for future reference. For all of this to go according to plan, students made „To Do Lists“ for their schools in the form of posters. After all the workshops the Project participants went on a trip to Kaunas where they had a guided tour around the beautiful city.

Problems that need to be solved and that shall lead to an increase of pupil`s participation (German group)

On the fifth day the students had their final workshop - future visions. They had to create a timeline for their schools with future visions by justifying why it‘s necessary for their schools to implement some changes. Eventually, all participants received the certificates of attendance - a proof of their active participation and contribution to the Project.

Having an online video conference with the vice mayor of the city and giving an interview for a local TV station served as a means of dissemination for the project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzBhpHufc84

All things considered, the objectives of the mobility were accomplished and we have progressed even further to achieving the goals of the project.