One of the best things to do is to teach the students what are their civil rights.

For example me, I will be grateful and I will do my best to preserve them. This area is really important to be known and protected, so the youth has to be informed about it Vasilena Koleva, 11 b class. Civil Rights play a big part in everyones life and students ought to be introduced to them sooner, not only in 12th grade. There should be more lessons dedicated to the subject. More projects and debates should occur in order to provoke students interest in the topic, Denitsa Panaiotova, 9d The school can organize more classes in the field of Civic Education to improve the competence of students. Teachers must set examples following the accepted principles and moral rules of EU. They can make more presentations about basic human rights and assignee more tasks, Georgi Andonov, 9 b class In order to build a world without intolerance and war, we need to accept everyones right to life and happiness, Yan-Nikolai Lechev, 11 b class

Workshop preparation and design: Donka Georgieva, Ivailo Stamatov, Izabela Balyan, students from 11th class, Language School Frederic Joliot-Curie, Varna and CoSSoL Team | 2010/2012 Booklet producer: Donka Georgieva - Language School Frederic Joliot-Curie, Varna Cover graphic by Slavena Simeonova, former student

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Mercator Berufskolleg - Moers, Germany, December 2011

Phase 1: Gathering data from all the 11 partner schools in the field of social sciences and civic education about studied subjects, number of lessons and practices. Link to Wiki: http://cossol.pbworks.com/w/page/47798208/Civic%20Competences Phase 2: Are you a problem solver? The session began with educational film telling the dramatic history and development of human rights from earliest times to the presents day. The whole group of teachers and students watched DVD: The Story of Human Rights prepared by Youth for Human Rights International. Divided into 6 small international working teams, participants had to: choose a human rights situation from true-life examples and workout a solution. Each group leader had to supervise a discussion session and make sure if everyone could share his ideas. Group secretaries wrote down all of the ideas. Participants had to decide which idea their group will develop into a workable solution and who will present it. Groups received some printed materials: Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Charter of Fundamental Rights; colored sheets and a feedback form. Teams produced posters with the results. Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYjzHJBnjjE

Fourth Language School Frederic Joliot-Curie, - Varna, Bulgaria

The Workshop HOW TO MAKE OUR STUDENTS BETTER CITIZENS? is a part of Comenius project Concepts for a Successful Self-organized Learning It aims at gathering knowledge about participants experiences and visions. The goals of the planned activities in the framework of the civic competences are an attempt: to make what goes on in the classroom more connected with the reality of the world outside the classroom; to give greater recognition to the various skills needed to function in society as human being, worker, citizen, consumer, parent; and to accept the principle that learning is an active process that involves skills of critical thinking, independent inquiry, group participatory behavior. Participants consisted of people with different roles: teachers, students, local authority representatives. The workshop went through three phases:

Phase 3: Solutions were reported to the Big group. Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npeD5GM5Ls8

A representative of the Local Authority joined the meeting and told the audience about their practices promoting democracy. Mr. Paul Ser from Mercator Berufscolleg showed a video focusing on social competences. Participants discussed the issue: What can the school do to improve students competences in the field of Civic Education? and gave written feedback with ideas. Finally students and teachers examined at all the materials that have been made during the workshop. At that stage participants reflected on how the ideas for improvement might be generalized and if they seem meaningful to others as well. The structure of the workshop was designed to enable the participants to express themselves by talking, constructive thinking and producing output. Active learning methods used, acknowledged the students and teachers level of competence and experience. The workshop results are suitable for further project activity.