18-30 January 2025 | Cluj-Napoca, Pechea & Horia, Romania
What does meaningful civic education look like in today’s classrooms? How can teachers equip young people not only with knowledge about democracy as an abstract theoretical concept, but with the confidence and practical skills to participate in it?
These questions were at the heart of the ASPYRE EUROPE Co-Creation Workshops, organised by Polylogos across Romania in January 2025. Bringing together 80 people from diverse educational settings, the workshops marked an important milestone in the development of the ASPYRE EUROPE Toolkit on Democracy and Youth Civic Participation.
Rather than presenting a finished educational resource, the project invited educators to become co-creators of the toolkit; sharing their experiences, testing activities, and helping shape a resource that responds to the realities of schools and youth work today.
Taking the workshops across Romania
To ensure that the toolkit reflected the diversity of educational contexts across the country, Polylogos organised workshops in three different regions: Cluj-Napoca (Cluj County), Pechea (Galați County), and Horia (Neamț County).
Travelling beyond major cities was a deliberate choice. By meeting teachers where they work, including in smaller towns and rural communities, the project ensured that a broad range of perspectives contributed to the final educational resource.
Learning by doing
The workshops were built around the same educational philosophy that underpins the ASPYRE EUROPE project: experiential, participatory, and learner-centred education.
Participants explored the draft toolkit together, discussing both its content and the broader challenges of civic education in Romanian high schools. Rather than simply reviewing materials, teachers actively participated in practical exercises, reflected on classroom experiences, and exchanged ideas on how democratic values can be integrated into everyday teaching.
Discussions focused on:
- current needs and challenges in civic education;
- experiential and bottom-up learning methods;
- practical facilitation skills for classroom workshops;
- democratic values and principles in education;
- strategies for engaging young people in future ASPYRE EUROPE activities.
By experiencing the activities themselves, participants gained a better understanding of how these methods can encourage critical thinking, dialogue, collaboration, and active participation among young people.
Educators helping educators
One of the strongest messages emerging from the workshops was the importance of collaboration among educators.
Teachers appreciated the opportunity to exchange experiences across schools and regions, highlighting how valuable it is to learn from one another while jointly developing practical educational tools. Many also expressed the need for more opportunities to share good practices and continue building a community of educators committed to democratic education.
The workshops also provided valuable feedback that directly influenced the final version of the toolkit. Their contributions helped ensure that the toolkit is both engaging and realistic for use in everyday educational settings.
A strong foundation for the project
The impact of the workshops extended far beyond the toolkit itself.
All participating educators expressed their intention to use the toolkit in their classrooms, and every respondent stated that they would recommend the training to colleagues. Many also committed to involving their students in the next phases of ASPYRE EUROPE, including the Active Youth Forums and Civic Cafés.
Building democratic classrooms together
Democracy is not learned through textbooks; it is learned by experiencing participation, dialogue, collaboration, and shared responsibility. By involving educators as partners in designing the educational toolkit, ASPYRE EUROPE ensures that the project is rooted in classroom realities and has the greatest possible impact on the young people it seeks to serve.
The ideas, feedback, and partnerships developed during these workshops will continue shaping ASPYRE EUROPE as the project progresses, helping hundreds of young people across Romania and beyond discover that democracy is not a spectator sport – rather, it is something that only works if we all participate and contribute to making it work.
Download the Education Toolkit now in English and Romanian:
