COMENIUS COSSOL

Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2010-

2012

Human Rights Key Competence 6

Social and Civic Competences

workshop 18.04.2012

Civic competence is based on knowledge of the concepts of democracy, justice, equality,

citizenship, and civil rights, including how they are expressed in the Charter of Fundamental

Rights of the European Union and international declarations and how they are applied by

various institutions at the local, regional, national, European and international levels.

Full respect for human rights including equality as a basis for democracy, appreciation and

understanding of differences between value systems of different religious or ethnic groups lay

the foundations for a positive attitude. (source: KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

European Reference Framework)

On the 18th

April 2012 a workshop on Human Rights was held in Zespół Szkół nr 2 in

Rybnik, Poland as a further implementation of the Comenius CoSSOL ideas presented by

Donka Georgieva from Bulgaria during sessions at an international level in Moers 2011. The

participants of the workshop in Rybnik were students from the second form of bilingual high

school and teachers of foreign and native languages. The workshop was run by Beata

Kocjan.

The session started with a discussion to work out the definition of what human rights are,

followed by a video about human rights. All the participants found the film very informative,

gripping and enjoyable as well.

COMENIUS COSSOL

Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2010-

2012

The next step was group work on the basis of materials presenting various aspects of human

rights. The task was to choose the area where human rights are violated and to present

possible solutions to the problem.

COMENIUS COSSOL

Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2010-

2012

The heated debate was followed by presentations given by the representatives of each group.

The last step of the workshop was evaluation .

Answers concerning the final evaluation also appeared in a questionnaire prepared by Hanna

Skowrońska – the school coordinator of the project. Both students and teachers provided

feedback on the workshop.

The results gathered from the questionnaire were summarized

by Kinga Matyjach - a teacher of English in ZS nr 2.

Evaluation Questionnaire Analysis

the workshop: 18.04.2012

Human rights

1) The students and the teachers participating in the lesson claim that they had only the

basic, general knowledge about the human rights before the workshop e.g. they knew

that the rights exist, that we all possess them but they are not obeyed or restricted in

some parts of the world; others associated them with dignity, freedom and respect or

defined them as the national or even the international law.

2) The students and the teachers say that during the workshop they realized that there is

a great number of human rights but many of them are violated, disrespected. They

acquired more specific knowledge especially about the history of human rights, thanks

to the short film at the beginning of the lesson. Others claim that they learned how to

solve the problems because they gained some skills and ideas how to deal with the

abuse of human rights. Some people stress that they got to know about key

competences e.g. civic competence, mathematical competence or cultural awareness.

3) What the participants enjoyed the most during the workshop was the idea of

cooperation between students and visiting teachers, the group work, the usage of

multimedia (especially the mentioned film), the presentations of the groups.

COMENIUS COSSOL

Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2010-

2012

4) Almost all students and teachers claim that the workshop was really interesting and

useful, not only in terms of the subject of the workshop but also in terms of the

interaction between the students and the teachers. Others add that it was some kind of

entertainment.

5) The great majority of participants remark that the cooperation between the students

and the teachers was very good and emphasize very often that it was even surprising.

Some say that it was stressful for them.

6) A great number of the participants claim they wouldn’t change anything in the

workshop. The timing was perfect and the lesson included an element of innovation

because it was the first lesson open to the audience with voluntary visitor participants

(teachers of English and other subjects) which was based on teachers-students

cooperation. Teachers had a chance to observe and participate which also broadened

their knowledge and they gained new experience in teaching field. However, some

participants would like to have more time for conversation and lengthen the time of

the lesson to give everyone a chance to get more involved in the conversation. Others

say it should be more spontaneous because some students were stressed and it didn’t

seem natural. But they also say it is inevitable when it comes to public performances.

Report / photos

Hanna Skowrońska, Zespół Szkół nr 2

Rybnik, Poland

Teachers who took part in the workshop