1. what were the issues or challenges the project aimed to address?
Shaping attitudes of solidarity, responsibility and social involvement among young people is an important task of schools, and at the same time the mission of many social organizations. In the project we want to develop such a model of cooperation that will be supportive for both sides and at the same time for local communities in municipalities across Poland.
Based on our experience and available data (CBOS report: Youth 2018, Klon/Jawor: Condition of ngo sector, 2018), we have identified 3 main challenges: lack of up-to-date diagnosis of cooperation between schools and organizations, difficulties in recruiting employees and volunteers in organizations, and low level of knowledge about organizations among young people.
The third sector in Poland is associated with a few large organizations, charitable activities and working for free. In the organizations themselves, on the other hand, a major challenge is building and maintaining a team. Thus, in the project Switch on School! we wanted to show community organizations, on the one hand, as an important element of civil society in all its diversity of activities and functions, and, on the other hand, as a serious and attractive career path for young people.
2 What did the project do?
So the project had two main levels of activity – education about the 3rd sector in schools and strengthening cooperation between schools and organizations. We started it with the first exploratory survey in Poland. We checked how this cooperation looks now, what the motivations and main difficulties are. This helped us plan the next steps in the project.
We created a set of educational materials for teachers, including a card discussion game about the diversity of the 3rd Sector, 3 filmed study visits to organizations, an animation about myths about the sector, and 4 lesson plans. Initially we planned the project to older youth, but during implementation we expanded this group to include students in grades 1-3 and prepared a special edition of the memo game and an additional lesson scenario for them. The finale of the project in schools was the Internet Festival of Cooperation on the occasion of Volunteer Day, which was attended by 425 male and female students.
In the area of strengthening cooperation between the 3rd sector and schools, we developed a Code of Good Cooperation. We invited an expert group to create it – a group of people from organizations and representatives of principals, teaching staff, youth and parents from various schools in Poland. We also prepared webinars – for the headmasters on planned changes in education law, for teachers on integration.
3 What results did the project achieve and for whom?
From our perspective, the project was a success – people who took part in it appreciate the attractiveness and usefulness of the educational materials and see the value of cooperation with organizations. 8670 young people know more about the 3rd sector, and for 125 schools participation in the project has resulted in greater commitment to cooperation. Both the tools and the Code are designed so that they can be successfully used by teachers on their own even after the project ends.
Ukrainian children in Polish schools after the war broke out, and for community organizations around the Code.
