A major partner, a large-scale project, a huge undertaking – after all, we had never before developed an educational compendium covering such a wide range of topics and target groups. Simply put, everything about this project was on a grand scale. Consequently, we were a bit daunted when, in the winter of 2024, we received a request from the European Parliament to carry out a comprehensive revamp of its educational resources. But we’re all the more proud of how we’ve now brought the whole thing to fruition, always in close collaboration with the European Parliament. We believe the results speaks for themselves – in 24 languages (with more translations to come!). 

We’ve drawn a great deal of inspiration from returning to the fundamentals of political education and from the newly developed resources. And, of course, you and others can too. So, if you have an educator friend, please do point this out to them – whether they teach in Bulgaria, Portugal, Finland or Oer-Erkenschwick.

Overview of the project

Our initial task was to carry out a comprehensive needs and gaps analysis in order to develop, on that basis, an overarching framework that could be applied in a wide variety of learning contexts with learners aged between 11 and 24 – and which would, at the same time, enable teachers and educational professionals to quickly and effectively find and implement the activities relevant to them.

We then had to integrate existing content into this overall concept and fill any gaps with new resources, so as to cover the fundamentals and key topics relating to what the European Parliament is, what it does, and what it stands for. Finally, we also supported the European Parliament in the design of the resources – in short, we were responsible for implementing the process throughout, from clarifying the didactic principles through to the realisation of the redesigned resources.

Fundamentals of (EU) political education and best practices in parliamentary education

What requirements must a parliamentary education programme meet if it has to work across a wide range of contexts? The core principles of political education underpin our day-to-day work, yet we rarely have the opportunity to explore them in such depth and from such an international perspective as we did in this project. We also conducted a broad review of educational programmes offered by parliaments around the world to identify best practice in parliamentary education. On this basis, we developed the “learning trail” as an initial framework. Each learning trail begins with an opening question and can then incorporate further activities flexibly, depending on the learners’ interests.

In a second strand of work, we analysed the large number of existing – and, for the most part, excellent – educational resources developed by the European Parliament itself, its Liaison Offices in the Member States and institutions associated with the Parliament. Our ‘jour fixes’ became a regular fixture every Tuesday morning, discussing and evaluating educational resources as well as overall progress of the project together with our partners at the European Parliament.

Alongside this analysis – which covered almost every relevant aspect, from the target group’s age and prior knowledge to group size, duration, learning objectives and competence development – we also drew on the findings of a large-scale survey conducted by the European Parliament on its existing resources. In total, we reviewed more than 90 different activities and resources in detail, selecting around 60 of them for the next stage of the process.

We compiled the findings in a comprehensive report outlining the central requirements for the revised educational offer: a learner-centred approach, interactive learning formats, a focus on developing the competences needed for active citizenship, and a broad yet easy-to-navigate range of resources.

Concept development: Learning Trails and Direct Routes

With these findings in mind, we continued refining the concept. The learning trail became the central structure, enabling experienced teachers and non-formal educators to create their own combination of activities. Each learning trail begins with an opening question and concludes with a reflection and activation section.

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At the same time, thematically organised trails bring together resources on the most important topics in a single document. Each trail also includes a “direct route” that requires little preparation and can be delivered within 90 minutes. The topics range from the EU’s fundamental values, the division of competences, the European Parliament’s role in the legislative process and the EU’s impact on everyday life to digital policy and the Parliament’s budgetary powers. Throughout, particular attention is paid to the European Parliament’s role as the EU’s only directly elected institution and its commitment to the rule of law, free elections, media freedom and equal rights for all. The definition of these trails was a continuous – and very fruitful – process of back and forth between our educational perspective and the communication and policy perspective from the European Parliament. The result was a clear concept that covers the most important aspects of what the European Parliament is, what it does, and what it stands for.

Using this concept, we developed the first trail, which we were able to test directly at the European Parliament’s Educators’ Event in Brussels. One hundred formal and non-formal educators from across the EU examined the trail from their different perspectives and tried creating a learning trail for the groups they usually work with. The feedback was very positive: participants found the resources clearly structured and said that they could quickly identify the activities most relevant to them – one of the concept’s central aims. We also received highly valuable feedback on the activities themselves, which we incorporated shortly afterwards. The event also produced the excellent graphic recording above, created by Jon Dorsett.

From concept to the educational resources
The next stage was a continuous process of matching and combining specific activities across the individual trails. Which activities addressed which areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes, and what gaps remained within each topic? What new activities were needed, and which methods would ensure the broadest possible range of approaches? How should existing activities be updated?

Ultimately, we integrated almost 60 existing – in some cases updated – activities into the redesigned educational offer and developed more than 25 new ones. Here, the policy expertise from the European Parliament proved indispensable in the creation of not only highly interactive, but also highly relevant and up-to-the-latest-date resources. The accompanying manual also provides an introduction to the learning trail concept, a toolbox of methods for opening questions and reflection, and an overview of further educational offers by the European Parliament and other EU institutions.

The resources then had to be designed and translated into all 24 official EU languages before they could be published. Again, we closely supported the European Parliament in this process, with a lot of calls on short notice to discuss one or the other aspect of implementing the materials in a didactically sound, aesthetically pleasing, and brand-compliant manner. After this process has now been completed, all the resources are freely available on the European Parliament’s website. Have a look!

A major project…
All in all, it was an absolutely extraordinary project – after all, it is very rare that we have the opportunity to design an entire educational offer of this scale from scratch. Nor is it common for the resources to be translated into all the official languages of the EU and used across Europe to explore the European Parliament – the only directly elected representative body of European citizens – and the future of the EU. None of this would have been possible had the European Parliament not stood fully behind the project as a partner – with commitment to the process as well as policy and communication expertise. We are incredibly grateful for the excellent collaboration! It’s all the more wonderful that we’re currently still working with the Parliament on another thematic learning trail. But more on that another time – for now, we’d like to invite you to have a little browse through the resources that have just been published – we’re sure you’ll find something exciting there!