A workshop on civic citizenship for school children age 13 and 14

The intervention addressed students of 13 -14 years of age and proposed activities in the field of civic and citizenship involvement/education. The intervention was realized considering the release, in 2024, of the International Civic and Citizenship Education, International Report. The report is titled "Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Challenge" (2025). Romania and Serbia participated in the study, both countries ranking lower scores (compared to other countries in the study) in terms of "Liberal Democracy Index". The workshop started with physical exercise with the group standing in a circle, raising the level of energy of the group and supporting the participants in connecting with each other. We then shared the emotion that each participant was feeling at that moment (happy, sleepy, optimistic, energetic, curious, surprised, grateful). We then followed up with the idea of "talent", something each one of us is good at. The students wrote on a separate piece of paper their talents: playing football, swimming, decorating, arts & crafts, photography, playing tennis, cooking, drawing, singing. The next step was to invite the participants to organize themselves in groups of 3, making sure that they have different talents in the group. Their next task was to imagine and plan an activity which could have a positive impact on themselves and on the community: the class, the school or the village. We offered a few supportive questions: What do we do? When does it take place? Where does it take place? How do we do it? Who participates? Materials needed & budget. What is the result, why do they feel like doing this? The participants worked in groups, structured their activities, and presented the results to the class. At the end of the workshop, we all gathered in a circle again, saying out loud the talents which were at the origin of the activities planned by the students. We then discussed how our activities contribute to the life of the city and how citizenship is co-constructed within a community. The workshop was organized under three rules agreed upon with the participants: no wrong answer, everybody participates, ask questions anytime.
The workshop aligns with the ideas promoted by the ICCS study, such as "the “whole
school” environment that promotes participation and non-formal civic learning through experience among students at school" (Schultz et al., 2025). In terms of learning, students pointed out that working collaboratively and inviting every student from the group to participate contributed to the success of the activity.

Reference
Wolfram Schulz , John Ainley , Julian Fraillon , Bruno Losito , Gabriella Agrusti , Valeria Damiani , Tim Friedman. (2025). Education.for.Citizenship.in.Times.of.Global.Challenge¡.IEA.International. Civic.and.Citizenship.Education.Study.8688.International.Report¡.Springer Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65603-3