EUCLASS Alliance

Categories: EU Citizenship
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About Course

Welcome to EuClass Alliance course,
an e-learning path developed in the framework of the project EuClass Alliance (101176100) financed under Erasmus+ – Jean Monnet Projects 2024-Networks

 
The course is designed for VET teachers, with the primary goal of providing them with reliable, certified resources and in-depth knowledge on EU integration, institutions and policies. The focus is not on offering ready-made content to pass directly to students, but rather on empowering teachers with expertise. The underlying belief is that, once teachers have a solid understanding of the subject matter, they will be better equipped to adapt and deliver it effectively and confidently in their own classrooms.

 

In addition to the course, the EU CLASS project includes other activities, such as summer camps dedicated to developing and refining strategies for transferring content to students. There will also be a collection of best practices and lesson plans, designed to inspire teachers and support them in creating and adapting engaging activities for their own students.

 

Course Structure
The course is divided into two core modules (Module 1 “History of EU Integration & EU Institutions” and Module 2 “EU Policies and Actions”), each covering a specific set of subtopics presented through individual lessons. Each lesson includes a video lecture, typically lasting between 20 and 30 minutes, followed by self-paced learning using external resources. To reinforce learning, each lesson concludes with a final quiz assessing participants’ understanding. On average, each lesson is designed to engage participants for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours, including:
  • A 20–30 minute video lecture delivered by a university professor or researcher;
  • Around 1 hour of self-paced exploration through additional learning materials and teaching resources;
  •  A 5–10 minute knowledge quiz.
The learning journey begins with an initial evaluation questionnaire to assess trainers’ prior knowledge of EU-related topics. After completing each lesson, participants are invited to take a short survey to reflect on what they’ve learned and evaluate their knowledge gains.

 

📍 For more information about the project, please visit the official website:euclass.enac.org

The European Commission’s support for the production of this online course does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

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Course Content

Pre-course Assessment

  • Pre-Course Assessment

Introduction Module 1: History of EU Integration & EU Institutions
This module aims to familiarize teachers with the historical development, institutional setup, and decision-making in the EU. It introduces the history of European integration, tracing key treaties and events that have shaped the EU. It then examines the major EU institutions: the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and the European Central Bank (ECB), explaining their roles and functions. Finally, the module outlines how EU decision-making works, with a focus on legislative processes and policy coordination among institutions. Taken together, these topics provide a comprehensive overview of European governance. At the end of the module, teachers will be able to identify key developments in the history of European integration and better understand the functioning and organization of the main EU institutions.

📑Module 1 Lesson 1:History of European Integration
This lecture highlights some of the themes that we might want to introduce the history of the European Union and European integration. It tries to point out how there were good reasons in 1945 for European leaders to find a way to avoid war and to seek to reconstruct after the destruction of the first half of the twentieth century. It highlights how the EU grew in membership and in things that it does often as a response to a crisis.

Introduction to EU Institutions
This short video offers a clear and accessible introduction to the three main institutions of the European Union: the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission. It briefly outlines their purposes. This video sets the stage for the next modules, where we’ll take a deeper dive into how each institution functions in practice.

📑Module 1 Lesson 2: European Parliament
This lesson tries to show how the European Parliament is that part of the EU that tries to represent European citizens. It points out how we might want to show how Members of the European Parliament are not there to represent their national interests but a political position on different issues that the European Parliament has to decide on. It highlights some of the EP’s powers and how it plays an important role as a co-decision making body in the EU.

📑Module 1 Lesson 3: European Council
This video points out how the European Council is the EU institution that represents the 27 member states. It is here where representatives from national governments present and promote their national interests in an attempt to arrive at European policies. The video points out the different forms the Council can take.

📑Module 1 Lesson 4: European Commission
The video looks at the European Commission as the institution that ensures that the interests of the European Union as a whole are protected and promoted. It has a range of powers, from being able to introduce legislation to making sure that European laws are implemented by the member states.

📑Module 1 Lesson 5: European Court of Justice and European Central Bank
This lesson examines the composition, structure, objectives, and key responsibilities of two important EU institutions: the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the European Central Bank (ECB). It specifically highlights the CJEU's role in interpreting and enforcing EU law, as well as the ECB’s responsibility in managing monetary policy within the Euro Area.

📑 Module 1 Lesson 6 : Decision Making in the EU
This lesson provides an overview of the EU decision-making process, highlighting the interactions between EU institutions and their roles within it. It also covers various decision-making procedures, including unanimity, qualified majority voting, and co-decision and emphasizes the differences among these procedures.

Introduction Module 2: EU Policies and Actions
This module provides a comprehensive understanding of the EU policies. It highlights both deeply integrated areas and those with more limited cooperation at the EU level. Key policy areas explored include Economic Policy, with a focus on the Single Market and its role in driving economic growth and integration, as well as Social Policy and Sustainable Development. Additionally, this module also examines areas where EU-level cooperation has historically been less developed but is increasingly advancing, such as Defence, Security, and Foreign Policy, especially in response to evolving geopolitical challenges at the EU's borders. Lastly, this module addresses EU citizenship and EU’s core values of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. By the end of this module, teachers will gain a better understanding of the EU's diverse policies and how they evolve in response to the changing global context.

📑Module 2 Lesson 1: Economic Policy: Single Market and Innovation
This lesson explores the cornerstone of EU integration: the single market. It focuses on the fundamental economic freedoms: the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. It also examines principles underpinning the internal market, as well as its role in fostering economic integration and competition. The lesson also covers recent challenges, including the impact of digitalization, climate change, highlighting how the EU adapts to these challenges.

📑Module 2 Lesson 2:Social Policy and Solidarity
The EU is often only associated with free trade and economic integration but over time it has developed a number of policy areas that we can call “social” Europe and are meant to create solidarity across the continent. They essentially try to reduce some of the economic and social consequences of having an open economy in Europe and with the rest of the world. These policy areas include agriculture, regional development and youth.

📑Module 2 Lesson 3:The EU and Sustainable Development
In this video we look at how the EU has developed into a global leader on protecting the environment, especially climate change. It looks at the Green Deal and the different measures that the EU has introduced to meet the objective of becoming emissions neutral by the middle of this century.

📑Module 2 Lesson 4:The EU and the World: Foreign Policy
This lesson examines the EU’s role as a global actor, focusing on the institutional framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and its key mechanisms, programmes, and initiatives. It also addresses how the EU promotes human rights worldwide, engages in international cooperation and development, and enforces the rule of law through measures such as sanctions. Through analysing the EU’s foreign policy strategies and challenges, it also provides insight into the EU’s influence on global affairs and its evolving diplomatic, security, and economic relationships.

📑Module 2 Lesson 5: The EU and the World: Security and Defence
This lesson explores the EU’s security and defence approach, focusing on cooperation among member states and its evolving relationship with NATO. It examines key areas of collaboration, strategic alignment, and the EU’s role in addressing global security challenges. Given increased geopolitical instability and ongoing conflicts near the EU’s borders, the lesson analyses the EU’s security and defence agenda, including efforts to enhance military capabilities, strengthen crisis response, and the future of European defence policy.

📑Module 2 Lesson 6: The EU and Borders
This lesson focuses on the EU's borders, highlighting the benefits of the Schengen Area alongside the challenges associated with issues such as illegal migration. It examines how the EU and its member states regulate the Schengen Area to minimize risks for citizens while maintaining the principle of free movement. In this context, the lesson presents examples of various mechanisms and instruments that are influential.

📑Module 2 Lesson 7: The EU and You: Citizenship and Culture
This lesson examines the emergence of the concept of European citizenship and the rights that come with being a European citizen. The lesson looks at the key areas of the Charter of Rights that protects all Europeans. These rights reflect some basic values that are also at the heart of a European culture and way of life. The lesson shows how there is not a single European culture but there are some core values that Europeans share and that are promoted through different policies of the EU.

📑Module 2 Lesson 8: The EU and You: Values and Democracy
The last lesson looks at how democracy is at the heart of the values that we share as Europeans and what has made European integration possible. The EU is many things but above all else it is about sovereign states agreeing to work together on the basis of respecting rules and institutions that are part of the European experience with democracy. The lesson shows how we might teach this to young people who maybe do not have the immediate memory of the war and its destruction, which we saw in the first lesson.

Key Resources on the European Union

Evaluation of the online Teacher Training
Your opinion matters! Thank you very much for taking part in our Teachers’ Training online course. Through this short survey, we would like to investigate your opinion on the course. Your feedback is highly valuable for us to improve our learning offers. Thank you in advance for your contribution!