Europe@school - active lessons about the European Union

What is it?

'Europe @ school - Active lessons about the European Union' is interactive teaching material about the European Union for secondary education. The material is modular (the teacher chooses which components suit the pupils best), contains many different methodologies (educational games, a role-play of the European Parliament, a debate exercise on European values, ...) and is ready-to-use . It is about history, Member States, what the EU does and decides, as well as current European events.

This teaching material is based on the original '28in1' teaching material, which Europahuis Ryckevelde developed in 2016 on behalf of the Information Office of the European Parliament in Belgium in French and in Dutch. In 2018, our organisation revised this teaching material for all Member States of the European Union and it also became available in the 24 official languages ​​of the European Union. The teaching material was thoroughly updated in 2020.

Download all teaching materials for free from this website.

Modular approach and active methods

This material is popular with students and teachers due to the choice of active methods such as educational games, a role play of the European Parliament and exercises to learn to debate.

All modules of the material can be used individually. As a teacher, you choose the module (s) that best suit your students and their curriculum. There is a teacher's manual with each module.

Based on educational principles

• ‘Europe@school’ has been developed according to a number of strong educational principles. The principles guarantee creative and solid educational material with a real impact:
• Tailor-made for the target group: ‘Europe@school’ has been developed for students in secondary education throughout the European Union. As this is a widespread target group, the choice was made for a modular approach: The teacher chooses the assignments that correspond best to the educational needs of his/her pupils.
• Ready-to-use: The material can be used immediately in the classroom and is user-friendly.
• Working from experience and based on the educational needs of the target group: During the development of the original material for Belgium, a taskforce of teachers and stakeholders were involved. The material was also tested by the target group.
• Quality: All educational material made by Ryckevelde vzw carries the Trusty-label. The Trusty-label stands for quality information custom-made for children and young people. It indicates that the information carrier was designed for the level of the target group and that the content has been developed in a simple and didactic manner.
• Contemporary: ‘Europe@school’ uses contemporary media
• Neutral: The information is offered in a neutral way. It is up to the students to form their own opinion.
• Creative and motivating: ‘Europe@school’ uses active methodologies that motivate teachers and pupils alike to work on the theme of ‘Europe’ in class and at school.

‘Europe@school’ incorporates a clear pedagogical approach and growth model for teaching Europe at school, corresponding to the EU Paris Declaration (2015) that calls for strengthening the role of education in promoting citizenship and common EU values: ‘The primary purpose of education is not only to develop knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes and to embed fundamental values, but also to help young people to become active, responsible, open-minded members of society.’