The project “Making teachers EU sustainably competent” aims at developing and applying a methodological concept for teacher training courses that introduces the EU as a change agent in global processes of socio-ecological transformation, and integrates the use of makerspaces to enable learners to participate actively in these processes and understand how EU policy serves as enabling background for their own participation ideas. A major part of Europe's young generation lacks the knowledge of economic, political and scientific means to address socio-ecological challenges, and is unfamiliar with the EU system of governance from EU to local level. This consequently results in young people feeling incapable of participating actively in (trans)formation processes and their ensuing disengagement. The current addressing of EU knowledge in schools is mostly cognitive-based and falls short in reaching decision-making and actionability. Moreover, many teachers lack the digital competencies to provide learners with appropriately complex learning environments. MakEUs intends to address these challenges by developing and applying a teaching concept that familiarises learners with concrete sustainability issues addressed by the European Green Deal while integrating mobile makerspaces as innovative experiential learning environments. Prototypes for appropriate mobile makerspaces will be developed, tested and implemented in initial and further teacher training courses. To provide learners with an unbiased access to the EU sustainability discourse and to train their language competence, the concept will apply the Content-and-Language Integrated Learning approach (CLIL). Outcomes of the project are 1) a methodology for teacher training courses for using makerspaces to teach European topics 2) learning environments including mobile makerspaces and accompanying OER learning materials in English and German and 3) a network of certificated ‘makerschools’ that serve as multipliers.
