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For Schools

FMA logoThe Historical Archives of the European Union offers tailored educational programmes designed and built for students of all ages, from kindergarten to university. These programmes aim to introduce students to important topics related to the history of European integration and to current developments of EU institutions by focusing on the original documents preserved in the Archives. The program creates social spaces for interactive reflection, discussion and learning about issues related to Europe, democracy, and citizenship.

The HAEU school programme is organised in collaboration with FMA, the Former Member Association of the European Parliament. This collaboration involves former Members of European Parliament meeting with Florentine students and sharing their experiences in European politics and their views on the European Union.

Educational offer for students


The educational programme for Florentine schools for the school year 2020/2021 focuses on the theme of solidarity, a key element of the European integration process and the central focus of the multi-lingual exhibition curated by the HAEU on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration.

Previously targeting elementary and secondary schools only, the HAEU educational programme, starting this year, also aims at reaching kindergartens. Each class is invited to participate in two meetings with the HAEU education team: usually, the first meeting takes place at school, while the second at Villa Salviati, seat of the Archives. During the first session, students learn about the history and functioning of the EU institutions in a cooperative way, with the guidance of our trainers, through innovative teaching methods. The second meeting is dedicated to the Schuman declaration and its relevance in and impact on the history of the European integration.

This educational programme is organized in collaboration with FMA, the Former Member Association of the European Parliament. This collaboration involves former members of the European Parliament meeting Florentine students and sharing their experiences in European politics and their views on the European Union.

Taking into account the Covid-19 emergency, the HAEU educational programme offers this year the opportunity to participate to the programme both face-to-face and in distance learning mode (DaD).

  • Chiavi della Città – Infanzia “C’era una volta l’UE” (face to face, DaD)

  • Chiavi della Città – Primaria “Un, due, tre. Eu-ro-pa!”– Laboratorio sulla memoria orale e visuale” (face-to-face, DaD)

  • Chiavi della Città – Secondaria di 1° grado “La libertà di circolare – Un valore europeo” (face-to-face, DaD)

  • Chiavi della Città – Secondaria di 1° grado “L'Europa e gli europei 1950>2020: 70° anniversario della Dichiarazione di Schuman” (face-to-face, DaD)
  • Città Metropolitana – Secondaria di 2° grado “L'Europa e gli europei 1950>2020: 70° anniversario della Dichiarazione di Schuman” (face-to-face, DaD)

 Classes and teachers of kindergarten, primary and lower secondary schools in the Florence area wishing to participate can refer to the Chiavi della Città platform, while all other interested schools can send their request at [email protected].

For an impression of our work with primary schools, please have a look at our video.

If you wish to visit the Historical Archives of the European Union with your class or your group, our Educational team is at your disposal. We also organise tailored projects on different topics related to the European Union and our archive, also for schools from outside Florence or outside of Italy. Please send us your idea or interest and possible dates and we make you an offer depending on the resources and availability of our educators.

For further information, please send an email to the following address: [email protected].

Training Offers for School Teachers


In the context of its educational programme and in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the HAEU’s education team is organising a series of online training sessions for school teachers. The project is organised in collaboration with the Direzione Istruzione del Comune di Firenze and with the participation of the EUI's Engaged Academics network.

The training sessions focus on the topics of the 2020 edition of the HAEU’s education programme for Italian schools: ‘Europa in movimento’, built around the free movement of persons and the dynamics and memories of mobility across the European Union. The online sessions aim at bringing together teachers and discussing issues the European Union is currently facing and addressing in relation to the health emergency due to Covid-19 and in the face of the challenges to democracy and citizenship (freedom of movement, solidarity, migration, civic education, sustainable development). The first sessions will take place on 24th and 26th November 2020.

Each session of this ongoing project consists in a one-hour video conference, divided in two parts: a 30-minutes presentation by the HAEU trainers and Engaged Academics, followed by a roundtable discussion with the participating teachers. Teachers have the opportunity to interact with others, debate, deepen their didactic experiences, and develop new teaching skills. The video conferences take place in Italian language.

To register and to read the full programme of this training cycle, consult the Chiavi della Città platform.

Based on the guidelines made available for the compulsory teaching of civic education (Law 92, 20 August 2019), a questionnaire for teachers was designed to collect feedback for the preparation of the HAEU training offer. The questionnaire (5-10 minutes to complete) is available here.  

Documentation and Resources


The Web radio project "Europe in your Living Room" is a joint initiative of the Historical Archives of the European Union, the EUI network of Engaged Academics, and the independent online radio managed by researchers from the European University Institute ‘Radio Cavolo’. Each episode contains a short interview - in Italian and other languages - in which the HAEU educational team, the HAEU archivists, and the schoolteachers propose dialogues and brief debates on important issues related to Europe and European integration. The interviews are accessible and can serve as educational material.

The digital exhibition "Europe in Movement: the perspective of the new generations" is an exhibition (soon available online) curated by the Historical Archives of the European Union and bringing together the reflections, narratives, as well as the personal and collective perceptions of students of different ages who took part in the activities of the educational programme in the school year 2019-2020 (which focused on the free movement of people and the various forms of mobility as central theme).

For an analysis of our work with lower and upper secondary schools, please refer to the evaluation reports prepared for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years.

 

Page last updated on 25 November 2020

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