How do European Union (EU) institutions work? Why do they matter? What rights does the EU guarantee? What opportunities does it offer for young people? What does it mean to be a European citizen?
The Young European Citizens (YEC) project seeks to equip local high school students with the knowledge and skills to answer these questions. Launched in 2024 by the Fondazione CR Firenze in collaboration with the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU), the University of Florence (UNIFI), the European University Institute (EUI), and the Tuscan Regional Education Office, YEC is an educational initiative focused on elucidating the EU institutions, their workings, and selected policies concerning education, training, and employment opportunities.
YEC is co-designed by trainers from the Historical Archives’ education programme, coordinated by Dr Leslie Hernandez, and faculty from UNIFI’s Faculty of Law. The two institutions are responsible for the educational materials, teacher trainings, classroom laboratories, and an on-site visit and workshop at the HAEU.
After the success of the pilot project completed in June 2024, YEC recently initiated its second cycle of activities involving students and teachers from the Istituto Alberghiero Saffi and the Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci in Florence. Around 120 students from the two highschools, aged 16-19 years, will participate in the 6 month course of study from January through June 2025.
Understanding European citizenship
According to Dr Leslie Hernandez, coordinator of the HAEU’s education programme, the 2023-2024 YEC project proved to be an especially effective civic education course. The many hours of instruction and variety of participatory laboratories provided students with the knowledge and vocabulary necessary “to speak confidently, accurately and with conviction about the European Union.” “They also developed the tools to criticize and articulate their own expectations of what the EU should offer citizens,” she said.
As a programme aimed at the secondary school level, YEC is unique and benefits from the participation of early career researchers in law, history and international relations from the UNIFI and EUI. “Having historians and experts in European law elevates the level of the course,” said Dr Hernandez. “They can handle technically difficult questions about European institutions and European law, and push themselves to explain it in a way that can be understood by highschool students.”
The course materials used throughout the project draw heavily from the deposits of the Historical Archives of the European Union. Selected documents, presented and explained by HAEU archivists, help students understand the competencies of the European institutions and the creation and evolution of EU policy.
As for 2024, the 2025 project will conclude in June with a two-day summer school at the Historical Archives during which students will actively engage with and debate contemporary themes of European citizenship.
Learn more about the YEC project here (in Italian).