Paths for Ambition and Citizenship on European Territories

"The PACTEs project concerned a territory where social contrasts are very strong: the city of Deauville and the Normandy coastline welcome tourists from all over the world, the historical heritage is very rich and linked to European history. At the same time, a large part of the local youth, coming from underprivileged backgrounds, are excluded from this dynamism: their families work in seasonal and/or unskilled jobs linked to tourist activities, young people are not very mobile in their own territory, they are not familiar with the heritage of their region and do not take advantage of the opportunities for intercultural encounters that are present on the coastline. Their openness to the world is limited and their academic ambitions are not very developed: the choice of studies is made according to the geographic location closest to the home and early school dropout is frequent to avoid a possible mobility linked to the choice of a training. the actors of the territory, schools, local authorities, associations, have decided to work together so that young people, from elementary school to the baccalaureate, can : - discover and appropriate a local heritage that they do not know - be able to promote this territory and this heritage abroad in a European citizenship approach - learn to work in interaction with European partners in order to live an intercultural experience - experience mobility abroad while being prepared to develop the autonomy and self-esteem necessary for a successful personal and professional life. It was planned that 980 young people from 8 European territories, all located either on a coastline or in a river area, would work together for 3 years thanks to digital communication tools on a theme common to all the partners. The project was about ""European territories along the water"" with, according to the choices of each one, a work on the problems of the protection of the environment and the littorals, the economic, tourist and leisure activities related to the sea or to the rivers, the historical and cultural heritage of these territories in connection with water. The interactions between the schools, colleges and high schools of all the partners, the collaborative work via e-twinning should lead to productions and common events in inter-degree and international and mobilities that will bring lasting links between young people and founding experiences for them. The expected results of this ambitious project have been strongly impacted by the health situation which has stopped the whole project from February 2020 to June 2021.While year 1 of the project allowed for digital exchanges between schools and production work by each shared with all the project partners, as described in the interim report of the project validated in 2020, the exchange activities between schools were mostly stopped until the end of the project: the simultaneous closure of European institutions during the first containment period in the spring of 2020 and until the start of the 2021 school year for some partners, and then the closures that were still ongoing in some countries while the institutions were reopening in France did not allow for the installation of perennial digital relationships. The schools, which educate students from disadvantaged backgrounds, have not succeeded in mobilizing their students remotely due to the lack of computer equipment in the families. The digital divide in rural areas took on its full meaning: Teachers were unable to conduct remote work with their students, they first ensured the continuum of basic teachings for their students using paper mailings. The project activities were abandoned due to the imperatives. Two French schools succeeded in mobilizing the pupils on productions which were made available to all the partners on the twinspace of the project which was not invested by the participants in the project, for lack of easy access to Internet during the successive confinements. The mobilities planned in the project were to take place mainly between spring 2020 and spring 2021. They did not take place because of the travel restrictions in force in all the partner countries. The expected results can therefore only be measured in the first year of the project through the interim report that has been validated."