The student vote in European Parliamentary elections: an innovative simulation designed for the final year of compulsory secondary education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/reire2017.10.11016Keywords:
Citizenship education, Political participation, Educational simulationAbstract
This article describes an innovative teaching experience carried out with secondary students to coincide with the 2014 European Parliament elections. Just under 800 students, aged 15–16, participated in the assessment and education simulation of these elections in May 2014 in nine secondary schools in Catalonia. The principal goal of the project was to increase student knowledge of the European democratic system and the general election process. The project was also aimed at encouraging students’ future active engagement both in conventional forms of participation such as voting, and in other forms of participation. The culmination of the project was a simulation of election day, two days’ prior to the actual European Parliament elections in Spain. This paper outlines the theoretical and methodological basis of this experience, the process of the design and development of the teaching materials and programme, and the execution of the teaching experience from the perspective of the participating students, teaching staff and research group. It highlights the assessments and recommendations made by the participating teachers.References
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