Education for democracy is a task of growing social urgency. As John Dewey already pointed out: "Without everyday democracy, representative democracy erodes". Developments such as the rise of populist and far-right movements in Europe, globalisation and migration, and the increasing importance of the digital world challenge our democracy.

In everyday life, democracy seems normal to us, but the younger generation is often unaware that the rights we have today have been hard won.

Democracy has to be "learned". Schools must do this by providing opportunities for students to experience participation, consultation and responsibility. It is also possible to develop skills that promote democratic behaviour, such as empathy, change of perspective, open-mindedness, the ability to express and defend one's point of view, the ability to deal with conflict, etc. These skills should also be taught in the classroom. These should also be transmitted indirectly through the project.

Our project, co-financed by the EU's Erasmus+ programme, aims to encourage young people to become enthusiastic about democracy. It is intended to raise awareness of the determinants of democracy and of the opportunities for everyone to participate in it and to contribute to its sustainability.

Future educators play a role as multipliers. In this way, the younger generation is made aware of democracy as early as kindergarten, and the foundations are laid for the skills needed to participate in it.

The two-year project "Mach mit - Wie kann Schule zur Demokratiebildung beitragen?" aims first of all to enlighten young people about the concepts of "democracy" and "participation" from a theoretical point of view and to illustrate them in a historical context.

As our project brings together 5 European countries - Poland, Romania, Germany, Italy and Belgium - we will have the chance to compare the application of democracy in our different nations and the possibilities to participate as citizens. The students taking part in the project will be able to refine their judgement and more easily detect potential anti-democratic tendencies.

The project, which fits in perfectly with the normal teaching, therefore not only strengthens the European dimension of the school, but also aims to achieve concrete results by encouraging students and teachers to become more involved in their own institution around a common project that will undoubtedly have repercussions on the civil society of which we are all a part.

As described above, our working group consists of 5 schools from 5 different European countries. Four of them are general secondary schools and one is a vocational school.