eTwinning Citizenship- A new ethic for the 21st Century.

Florence 21st-23rd September

The conference began in the most amazing setting with beautiful art adorning every wall and ceiling. The theme of the conference is citizenship and the role eTwinning can play.  Anne Gilleran talked extensively about the role eTwinning has in school, supporting inclusion and fighting intolerance.  She talked about eTwinning teachers being innovative and forward thinking.  The connections made between teachers and pupils are shown on the photo above which is not a map of Europe but an image of connections being made.
Lynn Davies, the keynote speaker addressed the issue of preventing extremism, in which she talked about the ways in which we can work better to prevent extremism.  This is something that in my school I had talked about when delivering safe guarding training.  I had used eTwinning as an example of one of the ways in which we can develop collaboration amongst children and change/challenge their views.
There were some fantastic ideas that could be incorporated into an eTwinning project, for example, giving the pupils the skills to be active in creating change and be able to campaign for change.  This could be achieved through volunteering, campaigning, citizen research or crowd funding.
Lynn Davies also suggested that young people need to encounter strangers and this should be with people who have differing ideas and values.  She suggested that these encounters need to be collaborative not just learning about differing views.  Again, I can see how eTwinning can provide a way in which young people could encounter young people with differing views to their own.
The view presented was one in which we ensure that young people take responsibility in combating racism sectarianism and hatred.  We need to empower young people to play a part in change for the better.