As the Global Citizenship Education (GCE) Worker at LYCS I was offered the opportunity to go to Luxembourg with Gaisce – The President’s Award for an Erasmus+ study visit. I deliver our GCE Gaisce Programme with young learners from our Community Training Centre who are completing their Gaisce Bronze and Gaisce Silver awards. I headed over for a week in mid-October for a series of workshops, trips, and activities with fellow youth workers and Gaisce PALs (President Award Leaders) that offered further insight into how programmes like Gaisce can positively impact and empower young people across Europe.
The week began with a study visit to two schools in Luxembourg to get a look at how they facilitate the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE – Gaisce equivalent) with their students. The first was the highest fee-paying school in the country and displayed how wealth can so often impact opportunities within education. The students were very friendly, and we were given a tour around the campus by their DofE participants. The second school was a state funded ‘Arts and Crafts’ school, and the access to high level resources was a testament to the country’s dedication to upholding high standards of education for all. The classes are small and students can take classes in engineering, photography, and even filmmaking, with access to a film studio, cinema cameras, and a dolly system. The first day ended on a high note as we were able to attend Luxembourg’s Award Leader Night at the Big Beer Company with HRH Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg! We had traditional Luxembourgish and French food in a very casual setting, and got the chance to have a chat with the Prince over locally brewed steins of beer.
We headed out into the countryside for the rest of the week and stayed in a youth hostel nestled in the Luxembourgish forest. Team building activities were on the agenda as our orienteering skills were put to the test with a hiking challenge up into the woods. The overall highlight of the trip was the chance to get to take part in workshops from the other countries present, and to facilitate a GCE style workshop with them. The presentations were curated to be both engaging and informative, allowing us a glimpse into the many similarities and differences between Gaisce and the DofE awards.
LYCS’ workshop focused on how our learners are completing their Community Engagement section of their Gaisce award by taking part in a 26-week Global Citizenship Education programme (find out more about our GCE programmes here!). In participatory sessions, our groups explore ways to tackle social justice issues, and as of recent, rising far right sentiments. I presented our sessions as a space to facilitate tough conversations and use participatory activities to mitigate potentially dangerous opinions, always linking local back to the global to display a larger system at play. To further highlight the ways in which LYCS facilitates GCE, I engaged everyone in a walking debate on the theme of accessibility when taking part in Gaisce/DofE, which was great fun! Many of the facilitators had never taken part in one before and it generated really stimulating conversations, shining a light on how different communities and individuals have drastically different needs.
The Lithuanian presentation focused on how they support and encourage their students to do incredibly challenging things, including how a group of visually impaired participants completed their adventure journey without any external assistance. They also highlighted the idea to empower past Gaisce participants to become ‘Gaisce Ambassadors’ to encourage new participants and share their own experiences over the award process. The Luxembourgish presentation focused on how best to guide students through the adventure journey, exploring approaches to effectively prepare participants to take on the elements – solo!
The final – and most interactive – presentation was the Finnish workshop. They introduced a game called Timeout which is a constructive dialogue method used whenever a deeper understanding of a topic is required within a group. It’s an approach to communication that even Finnish politicians use in specific contexts! The game is designed to create a space where everyone has the chance to speak and no one gets spoken over – body language and sign replace verbal agreement and the act of disagreeing is discouraged. Statements on a topic are fed to the group and the discussion begins! It was a brilliant way to end the knowledge share, offering a deeper reflection on our time in Luxembourg as Gaisce PALs.
With special thanks to Gaisce – The President’s Award and Erasmus+ for the opportunity.
