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England: Fiona Collins
Ireland: Dervil Jordan
Portugal: Anabela Moura
Malta: Raphael Verla
Czech: Marie Fulkova
Germany: C. P. Buschkuehle

© The Faculty of Education
Charles University in Prague

Images and identity

Images and Identity is a two-year collaborative curriculum development and research project that began in October 2008, and which is funded with support from the European Commission under the Comenius scheme. The participating institutions are:

• Roehampton University (UK) (lead partner);
• The National College of Art and Design (Ireland);
• Instituto Politecnico, Viana do Castelo (Portugal);
• University of Malta (Malta);
• Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic);
• Justus-Liebig-Universitaet Giessen (Germany).

project number: 142345 LLP-1-2008-1-UK- COMENIUS-CMP

Art and Citizenship

The project links the disciplines of Art and Citizenship education using digital technology as a means of expression and communication across Europe. It is exploring ways in which discussion and production of visual images pertaining to identity can contribute to Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC). The link between art and citizenship education has not previously been investigated in the European context and this is a new area of curriculum development and research. The project is training teachers and teaching assistants in digital imaging processes, platforms and techniques as a medium of cross national communication. Throughout the project the photo-sharing website Flickr and the virtual learning platform StudyZone have been systematically employed to document the action in each country and facilitate sharing of information, visual resources and evaluation.

Action research

The project is being conducted within an action research framework. Teams of university professors, teachers and student teachers in each partner country are engaging in three cycles of action.

• In year 1, a visual education resource of images by contemporary European artists was created, and school children's visualizations of Europe were investigated.
• In the Action Research completed in year 1, the teams planned, implemented and evaluated educational interventions in schools in each partner nation using these resources.
• In year 2, a selection of schemes of work are being piloted and evaluated for inclusion in a cross-national training product.

Training materials

The project will publish the following teacher training materials through this website in October 2010.

• Guidelines and strategies for engaging school children in reflection and critical discussion of images that represent their personal and collective identifications;
• Suggestions for facilitating lessons in which school children represent and explore their own personal and group identifications using digital media;
• Case studies, examples of schemes of work and lesson plans that integrate citizenship education content, resources and methods (including a political dimension and human rights) into discussion of visual images;
• An image bank and support materials for facilitating teaching about European citizenship in Art and Citizenship lessons.

Disclaimer

"This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website 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."