It is a Wednesday morning at a high school in Northern Sealand in Denmark. About 90 smiling students are seated in the school’s cafeteria looking at the screen presenting todays program. Their faces are filled with anticipation as they are awaiting instructions. The students are going to be part of a roleplay simulating the work of the Minister Council in the EU. Each group of students represent an EU country, and the students are each appointed different roles such as head of state, Minister of Finance, and press adviser. As part of the roleplay, the students will take part in negotiations about the next EU budget, and security and defense strategy. In addition, some of the students represent different media and interest organizations to create a realistic picture of the many participants and the complexity of the EU negotiations.
The roleplay is part of the engaging education in Denmark where the students get to experience the things they learn in class firsthand. This creates a deeper understanding and a more nuanced perspective on rather complex processes, for instance in the EU.
According to Mikkel, a 15-year-old student, this experience has given him a greater understanding of the EU, as he tells us: “Normally I don’t really follow what happens in the EU, but now I feel like I have a better understanding of how EU works and how they solve problems”. Mikkel is not the only one who thinks that. His classmate Nicholas adds that: “Normal class can get boring quite quickly, this is a fun way to learn about it and immerse yourself in it”.
The EU roleplay is not the only engaging education we experience. Throughout our time at the school we have gone to all sorts of events: A lecture with a researcher at the Danish Defense Academy and associate professor in international politics, a popular meeting on climate change with music and workshops, and watched documentaries in the cinema about Human Rights followed by conversations with people who themselves had experienced the themes of the documentaries.
In addition to that, our school hosted an event when the regional election in Denmark was held. At the event there was live music with famous singers while statistics of the election were shown on a screen and pizzas were served from a food truck. It brings young people together around a relevant topic and the engaging education creates unity around the school, but in a way that is attractive to young people.
One of the writers of this article, 17-year-old Anna, believes this kind of education gives the students a deeper understanding and engages them to learn about the world around them. “I think it is important to learn the significance of EU’s role, and that it is not just a distant bureaucracy, but a powerful political body that has influence on topics that affect our everyday lives.” We believe engaging education, like the EU roleplay, contributes to the students’ critical thinking skills and their ability to understand political situations. Hopefully it will also spark their interest in EU politics and motivate them to get involved in EU matters. By the end of the event, the smiles of the 90 students had been replaced by exhausted by satisfied expressions. The students are going home with a deeper understanding of what EU really is, and with the knowledge that at some point our generation will be the one sitting in the EU, tasked with bridging gaps between countries and negotiating the future.
