PHASE I: 1999 - 2003
Four organisations involved in adult education – from Denmark, France, Finland and Hungary – got together in 1999 and formed a partnership that, for the years to come, would work on a EU-financed project researching the relationship between active citizenship and the non-formal adult education in Europe. The research team led by the Danish scientist Ms. Marianne Horsdal interviewed tens of active citizens in small European communities and used their life stories as basis for creating a model of active citizenship. Years of research with a wide European input offered opportunities to widen traditional perspectives and distil the essence of active citizenship into eight fundamental competencies. These competences, alongside the good deal of knowledge gathered over the years, were integrated in two publications produced by the partnership:
Haas, Claus (2001). What is citizenship? An introduction to the concept and alternative models of citizenship. Copenhagen.
Horsdal, Marianne (2002). Active Citizenship and The Non-Formal Adult Education in Europe. Copenhagen.

The publications were received with great enthusiasm, and within weeks the partners ran out of copies. The success encouraged the partners to include some of the findings of the project in their own curricula, and there have also been several occasions to disseminate the main results of the research at international conferences. However, what was missing was a structured way to move forward and circulate the knowledge regarding the competences related to active citizenship. How could we, following Grundtvig’s path, take the knowledge out of those publications and make it ‘live’? In other words, how could we ensure that the model for active citizenship proposed does not end up on the bookshelves but actually in the hands of those involved in lifelong learning?

PHASE II: 2004-2005
The opportunity materialized through another EU-financing programme. Three of the partners decided to go on working together and put up a Grundtvig/Comenius In-Service Training Course dealing with active citizenship. The context for this was the Socrates Call for Proposals of the European Commission, namely the Grundtvig 1 Action – Developing Training Courses. Västra Nylands folkhögskola Finland agreed to take the coordinator’s role in the new venture.

To give the training an even wider European dimension, the partnership was enlarged with other partners from four European countries. Thus the partnership spanned the continent, from the UK to Hungary and Cyprus and from Finland to Italy and Southern France, and it included ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU Member States, while the organisational profile diversified and covered virtually the whole spectrum from University to Social Centres to private consultancy. This has represented a significant added-value to the work undertaken, and the process of elaborating the training course was in itself enlightening for those who took part in it. The partnership has also brought together a team of very experienced individuals who would devise the content and the teaching approach of the course.

Thus, even if the TEACh course would finally be strongly grounded into the prior research from Phase I, the first planning stages involved assiduous work in clarifying the concepts and their understanding in different European contexts. The team introduced significant additional material in different disciplinary fields – i.e. adult education, education for democratic citizenship in school-related contexts, narrative and paradigmatic thinking, etc. - carried out by independent researchers. A common feature agreed on eventually was the emphasis on active citizenship competences, highlighting the need for participation in critical debate, personal involvement, and coping with a variety of people and their different opinions and attitudes. This is reflected, for instance, in the preference for concepts and definitions defined by the Council of Europe rather then those used by the European Commission, which are considered more bureaucratic and economically oriented, thus less comprehensive and individual-centred. Nonetheless, several research projects financed by the European Union, through the Socrates / Grundtvig granting scheme, proved an important source of inspiration for defining the key concepts of “democratic citizenship” and “key competences for democratic citizenship” that would be applied in the TEACh Course.

In terms of the pedagogical approach, this has been mainly inspired by the tutors’ own professional experience. Most of those involved in the planning had long-term experience as teachers or educators in various contexts, and were often personally engaged in various citizenship projects or political actions. These proved an essential contribution to the development of the pedagogical approach applied to the course, which goes beyond the traditional classroom-methodology and incorporates three main approaches: transmission of knowledge, a process approach and a transformation approach. The last approach would demonstrate itself as the most innovative, since tutors leave the development of the training sessions to the trainees, who thus become literally active in modelling the course content and materialisation.

The teaching methods applied during the course are also meant as a source of inspiration for the participants own teaching practices. The course is thus to be considered as addressing both knowledge and practical content.

Once the team agreed on all above, the course was tested twice in the autumn of 2005 (in the UK and Denmark), and its content and methodology fine-tuned based on feedback received from professionals who took part in the piloting. A final version was getting ready. That is by no means to say that the course will ever reach a final shape – it will always depend on the most important part of the course materials: the participants themselves.

However, by the end of 2005, after more than one year of intensive planning – both face-to-face and online, the TEACh Team, based on their previous experience at national and/or international level, had developed and piloted an in-service training course aimed at improving the training of persons involved in formal and non-formal adult education in the area of teaching active citizenship. The methodology used is state-of-the-art, combining a wide variety of activities, addressing all learning styles and stimulating all types of intelligence. The intake of trainees and the sharing out of knowledge could finally begin…

PHASE III: 2006 onwards

The In-Service Training Course is now included in the Comenius/Grundtvig Catalogue of The European Commission and it is offered to teachers/trainers from all over Europe at various locations. The course has the capacity to stand on its own, independent of the organisations that have brought it into existence and without direct financing from the European Commission. The course has been offered so far 9 times, and several new sessions are planned for the next years. Read more about future courses here.

Apart from the continuous offering of the course as a Grundtvig/Comenius event, the TEACh Team are also looking into other possibilities to move forward the agenda of European Active Citizenship and to increase participation in democracy throughout the continent. Some of the activities planned are:
The organisation of a Conference for TEACh Graduates, which will allow, inter alia, for an evaluation of the long-term impact of the TEACh training (depending on the financing opportunities available, the conference should take place during the autumn 2008 or spring 2009);
The establishment of a TEACh Institute, as a non-governmental accreditation body, which would serve as dissemination channel, support frame, and networking platform for those who took part in the TEACh Courses or are interested in the work we do;
The development of a set of training materials that will enhance interest in political debate and participation among young adults;
The transferring of the TEACh Curriculum from European level to national-level and its translation in different languages, to allow for a maximisation of its impact among those who do not have English as a language of communication;
The possible accreditation of an elective TEACh module in initial teacher-training programmes at various universities.