EDUC8 – Educate to Build Resilience

EDUC8 is an interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder project designed to strengthen the resilience of children and young people against radicalisation and polarisation in secondary schools and extracurricular settings.

Main objectives of the project:

• An educational programme for secondary schools, integrated into online and tablet-based platforms. The entire programme is based on storytelling (through scenario-based narratives), is highly interactive, and takes advantage of the popularity of tablet devices and their ability to engage all three senses—sight, hearing, and touch. The programme first raises awareness and then helps young people develop critical skills to reject violence justified by religion and to adapt to contemporary everyday life in Europe.
• A socialisation programme based on contact theory, involving exchanges among students from different backgrounds. This programme is implemented through carefully planned and recurring social activities.

The project is particularly promising because it targets the most vulnerable age group: adolescents. It develops transferable skills that can be applied in schools, prisons, social work, and other settings. Its modular structure allows for easy replication across all EU Member States through linguistic adaptation. The project does not stigmatise Muslims or portray them as a risk to society. Its defining feature is storytelling, a key tool for the development of a well-rounded personality and an ancient tradition for transmitting values.