Free EPV approved CPD course

From 8 to 12 July 2024, we will run an  in-person CPD course on BFGTOEU in UCC. It will be free of charge and EPV approved. It will be divided into interactive lectures in the morning on EU topics and workshops on how to teach BFGTOEU throughout active learning and hands-on activities.

From  to 12 to 16 August 2024, we will run an in-person CPD course on BFGTOEU, EPV approved and free of charge, in Dublin (location TBC).

eTwinning project coordinated by expert

We have an exciting project on eTwinning focused entirely on discovering European artists and exchanging through their techniques on each other’s countries. Aoife Hegarty will be coordinating this project. All resources, activity sheets, slides and instructions will be provided. Aoife will also be there to support you! We are very excited to have her expertise on board.

Europe Day Zoom Quiz

We will organise on 9 May 2024 Europe Day Zoom Quizzes with classrooms from Ireland and across the EU.

There will be a quiz for each level: 1st & 2nd class, 3rd and 4th class, 5th and 6th class. Children love seeing their counterparts in other countries and even across Ireland! It’s a great opportunity to have fun while learning a little more about the EU.

Interactive event with MEPs

Members of the European Parliament will contribute to one live event through Zoom. Children will be able to submit their questions in advance. In 2022, the President of the European Parliament exchanged with the students. In 2023, it was Commissioner for European Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, who interacted with the students.

Individual and school awards

With BFGTOEU, you can build up your achievements. We have

  • the European Citizenship Award plaque
  • the European Star Teacher Award
  • We also have school awards to reward European Citizenship Education: the Expert Citizen School Award, the Eager Citizen School Award, the Emerging Citizen School Award.

When registering, please select the ones you would like to do. All criteria can be found here.

Collaboration with Design for Change

We are so excited to go into our second year of collaboration with Design for Change, a programme encouraging our young citizens to develop socially innovative projects. If you register for the Expert Citizen School Award, BFGTOEU will support projects which demonstrate socially innovation which have a local and European impact. We will pay the €100 fee which Design for Change costs.

The EU has become so much part of our daily life through Brexit, searching for solutions to climate change, the energy crisis, the migration crisis, and working together on Covid vaccines, for example. It is time that we get our young members of society talking about it and Ireland’s place in it!

REGISTER for BFGTOEU 2023/2024 by clicking HERE before 13 October

There is no deadline to register. However, keep in mind that only teachers who submit their KWL by 3 May 2024 will receive a plaque/award. Teachers who are registered are informed of the BFGtoEU events so the sooner you register the more you will be kept informed.

  • You can implement BFGtoEU at any point during the year – 6 lessons to complete between September and end of April
  • To receive your European Citizenship Award, you need to submit a KWL done by the class. Before you start the first lesson, you get your students to list on the white board what they know and what they want to know. You take a picture and keep it in a file. The week after you complete the last lesson, you ask your students to fill out What they Have Learnt. You take a picture anhttps://classroom.google.com/u/0/w/NjE5MTg1NDE0MTA4/t/alld send both pictures.
  • You can download the KWL here –
  • You will need to submit your KWL before 3 May by either joining the BFGtoEU Google Classroom or directly uploading to Dropbox. Please make sure to include your NAME, your SCHOOL’S NAME, your CLASS LEVEL. Those links will be accessible on each password protected page of the Teachzone.
  • Teachers who complete three years of BFGTOEU and at least one CPD during the three years will receive a European Star Teacher Award. Please email us if this is your case.

REGISTER HERE and you get a European Citizenship Award plaque (see below) if you submit a class KWL before 3 May 2024. If you are a BFGTOEU teacher for three years in a row, have completed a CPD course during this period and have given updates on each class engagement with BFGTOEU on social media tagging @HubEuropCitizen, then you will receive our European Star Teacher Award.

For EU teachers who do not teach in Ireland

If you register for BFGTOEU, please submit what your students Know, What they would like to learn, and what they have Learnt on active European citizenship and the EU. Feel free to adapt the lessons to your local and national context.

If you agree to have your tailored lessons feature on the website to represent your country, I will upload them with your name as a contributor to BFGtoEU. You will receive a specific certificate acknowledging your contribution.

The first two columns should be completed before you start the first lesson. The third column should be completed ONE WEEK AFTER the last lesson.

Please upload the picture of both lists before 3 May 2024 to receive your plaque before 25 June 2024.

SCHOOL AWARDS

The BFGTOEU award scheme rewards individual teacher with the European Citizenship Award and the European Star Teacher Award. It also acknowledges the work put in by schools to empower their students and make active citizenship a reality. BFGTOEU offers three European Citizenship Education award levels:

    • Expert Citizen School – collaboration with Design for Change
    • Eager Citizen School
    • Emerging Citizen School.

To learn about the criteria, click here   

Criteria for the Emerging Citizen School

  1. Register a minimum of one class for BFGTOEU
  2. Register for the Europe Day Quiz
  3. Develop a Europe Day project, per class or school
  4. Subscribe to EU TV Junior
  5. The teacher must complete a BFGTOEU CPD course and act as ambassador in their school.
  6. Attempts to document lesson engagement by posting on the school website, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook tagging @HubEuropCitizen

Criteria for Eager Citizen School

  1. Register a minimum of two classes for BFGTOEU
  2. Develop a Europe Day project per class or school
  3. Register for the Europe Day Quiz
  4. At least one class registers for our eTwinning project
  5. Subscribe to EU TV Junior
  6. At least one teacher must complete a BFGTOEU CPD course and act as ambassador in their school.
  7. Attempts to document lesson engagement through school website or posts on Twitter or Facebook tagging @HubEuropCitizen

Criteria for Expert Citizen School

  1. Register a minimum of two classes for BFGTOEU
  2. Register for the Europe Day Quiz
  3. Develop a Europe Day project per class or school
  4. Develop a minimum of one project with Design for Change per school
  5. At least one class registers for our eTwinning project
  6. Demonstrate engagement with the local MEP or a stakeholder at European level
  7. Subscribe to EU TV Junior
  8. At least one teacher must complete a BFGTOEU CPD course and act as ambassador in their school.
  9. Attempts to document lesson engagement through posts on the school website or Facebook, Instagram, Twitter tagging @HubEuropCitizen

From 8 to 12 July 2024, we will run an EPV approved BFGTOEU CPD courses  face to face in Cork. The same EPV approved course will run in Dublin from 12 to 16 August 2024. These CPD courses are EPV approved and will run in the usual format of 20 hours over 5 days, from 9.30 to 2pm. They will be provided FREE OF CHARGE, including some EU resources and free tea and coffee on each day.

We will run an online 3 hour CPD course which is not EPV approved. This aims to support teachers who cannot attend the CPD courses in Cork or Dublin in a more light-touch way. This CPD course will count towards training which is required for the BFGTOEU award scheme.

As usual, the CPD course focuses on developing critical thinking and deliberative skills among our youngest citizens through hands-on, fun and engaging activities and games.

Since places are limited and to avoid over-registration, there will be a deposit of €25 requested from the registered participants to hold their place. This deposit will be refunded at the end of the course within 10 days. The participants will be contacted regarding the payment of the deposit once registration is finalised.