HaveYourSay - New Ways to European Citizenship Literacy for Adults

The Brexit debate in the UK since 2016 has been making it evident: many citizens in the EU are illinformed about what the EU is, what it does, and how decisions in the EU are made. Mistrust into the idea of international cooperation, and recourse to nationalistic doctrines are growing in many of the 28 EU member states, and populism has become a problem everywhere. So-called Euroscepticism is particularly widespread not least amongst the less educated.

In the Have Your Say project we address these problems by developing innovative forms of
educational activities for low-skilled adults to help them re-assess their attitudes towards the EU in a process of reflexion, discourse, and fact-based thinking, delivered in an activating, communicative, possibly joyful and inspiring way. The new methods, tested in 8 pilot projects in 7 partner countries, will tend to be out-of-standard-classroom activities including games, interaction, movement, creativity. They will be applicable in other adult education contexts as well.

The project title – Have your Say – indicates that this is not about forcing an opinion on people. It is about giving people space and freedom to formulate and express their thoughts, leading them through a process of testing these thoughts in interaction with others, and help them underpin opinions with verifiable facts rather than hearsay or popular myths. We expect that this will eventually lead to a shift of attitudes in most participants, but this is not an obligatory result. What is obligatory is that participants leave the pilot projects with increased ability of facts-based thinking and reflection on the motives of their attitudes and opinions. This will strengthen European civic education on a basic skills level.

Partner countries: Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy, UK, France, Hungary