Putting a human face on Europe

Traditionally, the European Union has been seen by many people as a remote benefactor. European issues appear to boil down to money whether they be in the form of Euros, structural funds or green pounds. `Europe' is a place where the farmers go to when looking for improved grants and it is `Europe' that coughs up the money for all those road widening schemes that are driving the young eco warriors up the trees.

It can be easy to forget the idealism which lay behind the decision to launch the European Community in the first place, the idea that Europeans should come together in a spirit of co-operation so that the threat of war could be banished for once and all.

In the run up to the Maastricht Treaty, the treaty on European union, it was recognised somewhat belatedly by the Community's member state governments that EC/EU institutions were suffering from a serious democratic deficit and that a symptom of this was that the EU had fallen down in the whole area of cultural and educational co-operation.

So, the Socrates programme was launched to promote partnership between educational institutions across the Union, right from nursery school to third level. The existing Erasmus programme which promoted student and teacher exchanges at third level was brought under the wing of Socrates. The Erasmus approach has now been extended to primary and second-level schools around the EU through what is known as the Comenius programme, the second "chapter" or strand in Socrates.

Comenius was a 17th century Czech theologian and supporter of human rights. Under the programme bearing his name, funding and support is provided for school partnerships, teacher training and student exchanges.

At the heart of the initiative is the school partnership programme. The idea is that at least three second-level or primary schools in three different EU countries should come together to co-operate on joint projects.

Leargas, the exchange bureau, was been given the job of launching Comenius in this country. The job of co-ordination was taken on by Bridin Gilroy, a languages teacher who took leave of absence from the St Louis Convent in Rathmines, Dublin.

Over 230 Irish schools are now involved in Comenius partnerships. There has been a very low drop-out rate. As Gilroy observes: "This is the first time that primary and second-level teachers have been afforded the opportunity to become involved in school exchanges."

The money involved is not enormous. Ireland's share of the Comenius divvy out runs to 500,000 ECU each year - a little over £400,000. Each participating school gets 2,000 ECU for each year of what is a three-year programme. On each project, one of the participants acts as project leader, in which case the school in question gets an additional 1,000 ECU to meet additional administrative costs.

Inevitably, where Brussels is involved, a lot of paper ends up getting shuffled. Each year participants must apply to the relevant selection committee for renewal of funding.

"We recommend that between four and six schools get involved," says Gilroy. "If only three are involved, the project could fail if one of the schools pulled out."

Comenius is a timely initiative, coinciding as it does with the explosion in the use of the Internet. An increasing number of schools are now going on-line and the pupils in the different countries are beginning to send each other email.

Genuine enthusiasm appears to have been aroused at grassroots level. Sister Kathleen Fitzgerald of the Loreto Senior Primary School in Crumlin, Dublin, says that the project has had "a huge impact" on her life. "For me, it has given a meaning to being in the classroom where there is a dullness, a sameness. I needed something that was wider, broader."

The school linked up in 1996 with another Loreto school in Seville, Spain, and a school in Stavanger, Norway. A fourth partner in Stockholm, Sweden, is being added to the list.

The visits of teachers from Seville and Stavanger have sparked great interest among the Loreto pupils who range in age from 10 to 12. Two of the four Norwegian visitors were musicians who contributed to lively musical sessions.

A very broad theme - "Together we explore" - has been chosen. The visitors have been brought to Irish music sessions while information has been exchanged with the Norwegians which relates to the Viking heritage of both countries. As a result, the Crumlin pupils have become much more interested in the fate of Scandinavia's whale and reindeer population and its flora and fauna generally. There is considerable variation among the hundreds of Comenius projects. Some are highly practical. For example, St Catherine's Vocational School in the fishing port of Killybegs, Co Donegal, is working with partner schools in ports in four other European countries. The entire local community has become involved.

St Anne's School in Lucan, Co Dublin, is involved in what is described as a "multilateral crosscurricular school magazine", while Oliver Plunkett national school in Monkstown, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, is working on a joint project to develop childrens' mathematical skills. Some schools were already involved with schools on the Continent before getting involved with Comenius. St Josephs CBS in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, has been running a musical exchange with a school in Germany for the past six years, having been put in touch with the school through the Gay Byrne radio programme. This activity was funded out of the parents' pockets.

Now, involvement with Comenius has resulted in such ventures gaining much greater momentum. As a result, over 400 of the school's 640 pupils are now studying German, according to Siobhan McCarthy, the teacher involved in organising the programme.

Several joint ventures have got under way under the programme, including one dealing with teaching geometry by computer. Apart from the Germans, a school in Paris is involved.

Four teachers have been over to Europe and a number of cultural seminars have been organised. St Josephs has no plans to apply for funding for a fourth year, but the schools will remain in contact through email, McCarthy insists.

Shelagh Hand of Carlow VEC expresses concern at the fact that funding for Comenius activities normally dries up at the end of the third year. "We are only getting into it now," she says. "I found the first year very tough, trying to organise meetings at weekends. We've got to know each other well, but I'm afraid things will taper off once funding stops. It's also a pity that funding does not allow for student exchanges."

A practical, tourism-based partnership has been set up between Carlow VEC and schools in England and Belgium. The teachers first met at a partner finding seminar in Belgium. The schools have decided on their own initiative to start up a student exchange which is likely to be permanent. It's likely that the schools will look for local sponsorship.

The AIM of the project is to look at how tourism operates in the three countries. The VEC has received a lot of backing from local tourism bodies. Hand is struck by the cultural differences between the Irish and the Belgians in particular. "If a child over there is told to walk on the left-hand side of the corridor, they will do so," she says. The Irish were also struck by Belgian eating habits and by the early start to their working day.

In Bridin Gilroy's view, Comenius has been a boon to many teachers. She sympathises with those who complain about the shortness of the programme's duration. The problem is that the gravy must be spread among a very large number of schools. Moreover, priority is now being given to the EU new eastern member states.

"The EU's attitude on this is categoric," she says. "They want to ensure that everyone gets a chance." The initiative is of interest in that it has not been focused on narrow issues of languages learning but is cross-curricular. There are real signs that the seeds of longer term future co operation have been sown, though as in so many other ventures there is heavy dependence on the commitment of teachers, many of whom have had to sacrifice countless weekends to get projects up and running in their school.

What is clear is that interest among the teaching profession has grown. About 70 Irish teachers applied for 20 funded teacher international training places under Comenius.