Ignite the spark, Participation Lab2: What is the future of civic/political education?

Across Europe the understanding of what participation actually is differs – mainly at the divide between social, civic and political participation. This project assumes that all three forms are interrelated, and lead to a greater democratic participation and active citizenship. Reflection on this concept is at the core of “Ignite the spark”. This long-term project aims are: - Contributing to a better understanding of alternative and diverse forms of participation in democratic life; - Promoting their value for a vivid and contentious democracy under development; - Bridging the ability to articulate an individual interest to an ability to articulate a common interest with others; - Reflecting on the learning of participation as a way to inspire critical citizens; - Enabling multipliers to empower young people to take an active role in democratic society. The project has a core interest in strengthening participation for groups which are normally underrepresented and have less access to ways of influencing their living environment. This includes young refugees and migrants, people of black and ethnic minority background (BME), NEETs, young apprentices, trainees and workers, young people in vocational training centers, schools or non-formal settings such as youth initiatives. This activity will be the second of a set of 3 Participation Labs with 25 – 30 participants with a good mixture of field experts, researchers, practitioners, trainers, political educators and other multipliers. Each lab will bring together experts and multipliers to explore a current challenge and find out about the burning questions, existing knowledge and models of practice. This may lead to one or more training courses in the future as result of the labs. The first lab was implemented in Bonn, Germany in November 2016 and it focused on how to give young people with fewer opportunities a voice. The agenda of this Participation Lab is added below, it provides you with more information about our educational programme.