Youth Public Speaking Skills Development Towards a Democratic Society in Contemporary Europe
Project Code: 2022-1-SE02-KA220-YOU-000086337
Welcome to the Speak It Up! Project
The main aim of the Speak It Up! project is to provide a modern informal educational package for youth workers and youth trainers/educators to develop young people’s (age 18-30 yr.) public speaking ability in politics. The educational package surrounds youth workers with required knowledge to help advance youth’s perception of democracy and their participation in democratic structures and institutions through practical activities. Educational package also includes an app and a board game to catch youth’s interest in the learning process.
More About The Project
According to Sloam (2014), there is a strong correlation between the engagement of those aged 15 to 24 and overall membership in the EU. However, a child’s educational level is more closely related to socioeconomic status, which is a key determinant of young people’s civic and political engagement.
As per Sloam’s findings in 2014, there is a strengthened, freed link between education and political engagement. Sant (2015) found that while even young people are skeptical of traditional electoral politics, they are able to distinguish between these old forms of political engagement and more contemporary alternative forms. Political participation should be viewed as a progressive process, according to Emler (2011). Politics receiving attention must be seen as a turning point.
Furthermore, during the focus group discussions, the young participants’ conceptions of political involvement included ideas of being involved in politics, being informed about politics, and having a variety of political perspectives (Xenos, Vromen, & Loader, 2014). Grasso and Smith (2022) discovered that there are gender variations in young men and young women’s political activities across countries. They discovered, however, that young women are more engaged in societies and more likely to petition, boycott, and volunteer (Grasso & Smith, 2022).
Based on the preceding conversation, the project outlines a contemporary informal educational program for youth workers and youth trainers. It also includes a board game and an app to help young people (aged 18 to 30) improve their public speaking skills in the political arena.
The educational package aims to give students communication, interpersonal, presentation and other public speaking abilities. The app and the board game serve as tools to support the intellectual experience.
Objectives Of The Project
The objectives of the project are the following:
- Promoting an innovative non-formal educational package for youth trainers and youth workers to assist young people (aged 18-30) in developing and/or improving their life skills related to public speaking.
- Devising an interactive app and a fun learning game to supplement target group's training and catch the youth's interest in their learning process.
- Motivating the processes that youth trainers/educators and youth workers benefit to encourage youngsters to attend democratic structures and institutions through their participation in real-life activities.
Target Groups
Target audience for the Speak It Up! project:
- Youth workers and youth trainers/educators: During the lifetime of the project they had the chance to take part in different project phases. The participants acquired important skills and knowledge and they interacted with peers from the project's partner nations to discuss issues related to youth engagement in politics and active citizenship.
- Young people/Youth: Young people were invited to take part in project activities like training and Multiplier Events in order to obtain the best overall project outcome.
- Other stakeholders, including educational and VET institutions, youth organizations, HEIs, decision- and policy-makers, etc.
- Staff members and connected partners were directly involved in the project's development, and by this means, they improved their public speaking, training, and gamification knowledge and abilities in relation to the youth sector.
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