Completed projects

Duration: 1 March 2017–31 August 2018
Funding: Erasmus+
Project website: www.predis.eu

Democracy requires reflecting citizens who have political competences and social judgment. One of the main emphases of the work area of didactics of political education at the Centre for Teacher Education is research on citizen awareness and inclusive citizenship education. A functioning democracy depends on its citizens, especially on the young citizens. However, this requires the creation of certain conditions. Vocational school students with a migration background in Austria have a threefold disadvantage: On the one hand, they face significantly bigger hurdles in gaining access to education. At the same time, once they have gained access, they are confronted with very high dropout rates and thus are at a significantly higher risk of leaving the dual system again. Later on, the labour market risks for people who dropped out early are significantly higher as well: The risk of becoming unemployed is almost twice as high for those who dropped out. Accordingly, this affects their social status, their social identity and their opportunities for participation as citizens.

The ET 2020 strategy aims to reduce the dropout rate in the EU to 10 percent by 2020. Therefore, the PREDIS project, which is being carried out at several European partner universities under the coordination of the Leibniz Universität Hannover, focuses on the high dropout rate among migrants and Romani people. In order to counteract the high dropout rate, the project aims at developing new approaches that strengthen the future-oriented education and further education of trainers and teachers.

The project team aims to invite external organisations involved in the topic to multiplier meetings to discuss current challenges and possible solutions.

PREDIS is based on four project milestones linked by evaluation, testing and customisation:

• A needs analysis to identify the reasons for the high dropout rate of migrants and Romani people
• A toolbox with methods for six thematic modules
• A blended learning course consisting of a classroom-based professional development phase and a nine-month online professional development phase for teachers and trainers
• A manual containing the final products, translated into six languages

Project staff at the University of Vienna

• Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange
• Research associates: Lara Möller BA MA, Dipl.-Wiss. Florian Fischer, PD Dr. Eva Kalny, Johanna Urban BA MA
• Project administration: Johanna Urban BA MA

Project partners

• Institute for Didactics of Democracy at the Leibniz Universität Hannover (Hannover, Germany)
• Universita Degli Studi Di Trento (Trento, Italy)
• Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center Slovenske Akademije Znanosti In Umetnosti (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
• Liceul Tehnologic Economic ,, Elina Matei Basarab '' (Râmnicu Sărat, Romania)
• Inspectoratul Scolar Judetean (Buzau, Romania)Work area of didactics of political education at the University of Vienna
• Impressions of the first multiplier meeting on 15 November 2017 at the University of Vienna