Engaging Rural Youth (ENGAGE) is a 29 month project aiming at supporting rural youth (12-14 years old) getting involved with rural development. The objective is to equip young people in rural communities in Europe with the necessary tools, competences and skills for them to actively participate in future decision making in their communities and have a meaningful engagement with stakeholders and implementation of various actions related to rural development.
PARTNERS
Friends of rural development (FORD) and NORTH Consulting are project leaders in partnership with Nesskóli in East-Iceland, Anttolan yhtenäiskoulu and Kaakkois Suomen Ammattikorkeakoulu in Finland, Montenova Montessoriskola in Sweden, Salas pamatskola in Latvia.
Outputs
ENGAGE intellectual outputs will include the ENGAGE training course curriculum, Handbook for teachers, Pilot training and Assessment tools:
O1: ENGAGE training course curriculum is a pedagogical framework for a four-week training course were participants will discuss topics related to rural development, the revitalization and sustainability of rural communities. They will then, both individually and in groups, develop innovative ideas to strengthen their own communities. The ENGAGE curriculum provides a framework for the pilot implementation of the ENGAGE training course. This includes definition of course objectives, learning outcomes, themes, context, organization, outcome evaluation and assessment. The curriculum is an open educational resource that can be applied by primary schools and teachers outside the ENGAGE partnership.
O2: ENGAGE training Handbook is based upon the curriculum, it provides guidelines for teachers which explains the background of the course, pedagogical strategy and methods for implementation and guidelines and activities related to discussion of themes, the development of innovative projects (entrepreneurship activities) and setting up youth decision-making bodies. This output will also include teachers workshops, where curriculum and handbook will be presented, discussed and piloted within the teachers group.
O3: ENGAGE pilot training will be implemented in two phases that is Spring and Autumn semesters 2021. Including summaries on pilot implementation, perhaps a list of and links to courses agendas/information in each country … hosted on partner websites?
O4: ENGAGE assessment framework and analytical report: Including practical assessment tools as well as assessment of the ENGAGE process and outputs.
News
The ENGAGE team welcomes you to our website. Here will we publish our outputs, youth training workshops and their assessment.
ENGAGE External Review
Andrea R. C. Kasper, EdD., was hired contractually in January, 2022 to begin her external review of the ENGAGE Project. The review ran from January to end May 2022. See more details about the external review of the ENGAGE Project here:
Learning visit to Iceland
At the beginning of 2022 a window finally opened to plan a face-to-face pupil training meeting. The partnership decided to give all the pupils who had participated in the ENGAGE project and piloted the ENGAGE learning course and opportunity to meet in Iceland from 28th March to 4th April. The visit to Iceland was hosted …
Teacher training in Finland
The teacher training workshop was organized in Finland on October 4-6, 2021 in cooperation with Anttolan yhtenäiskoulu and Kaakkois Suomen Ammattikorkeakoulu in Finland. All participating schools presented their models in pupils’ participation in their schools. See more details about the event here: TRAINING ACTIVITIES – 4. TEACHER TRAINING IN FINLAND
Training activities
Three of the ENGAGE educational workshops were held online, as COVID 19 changed our plans.
The teacher training before Piloting of the curriculum and Modules was held in Mikkeli, Finland and finally the pupils had a chance to meet on site in Iceland, Neskaupstadur, in an educational workshop including art methods, cultural heritage and presentations of their innovations for their own societies.
ONLINE WORKSHOP 1 Pupils getting to know each other
ONLINE WORKSHOP 2 Internet and hobbies
ONLINE WORKSHOP 3 Food and food sustainability