The Historical Archives of the European Union offers tailored educational programmes designed for students of all ages, from kindergarten to university. These programmes aim to introduce students to important topics related to the history of European integration and to current developments of EU institutions by focusing on the original documents preserved in the Archives. The programme creates social spaces for interactive reflection, discussion and learning about issues related to Europe, democracy, and European citizenship.

The HAEU educational programme is organised in collaboration with FMA, the Former Member Association of the European Parliament. Through this collaboration, former Members of European Parliament meet with Florentine students and share their experiences in European politics and their views on the European Union.

A full description of our activities in Italian can be found here.

Educational offer for students

The HAEU educational programme is aimed at children and youth from kindergarten to high school. Learning takes place both on and off-site, and participating students visit the Archives for a guided tour and laboratory.

The educational offer explores the construction of a free, peaceful and united Europe, focusing in particular on the concept of European citizenship and the appropriation of Europe's heritage.  

Teachers of kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools in the Florence area wishing to enrol their class can refer to the Chiavi della Città platform, while all other interested schools can send their request to [email protected].

• Kindergarten and elementary school programme: “My puppet friends Fagiolino and Fagiolina". European citizenship, a friendship without borders through the figures of Ernesto Rossi and Ada Rossi.
• Kindergarten programme: “Once upon a time... the EU” 
• Elementary school programme: “One, two three! Europe!”– Workshop on oral and visual memory.
  • Songs inspired by the European Union and Ventotene
  • Song inspired by the 70th Anniversary of the Schuman Declaration
• Secondary school programme:
  • Searching and identifying European citizenship in the documents of the HAEU. From building post-war peace to the construction of today's Europe. 
  • Towards a Free and United Europe: the drafting of the Ventotene Manifesto
  • The Italian Consititution and the European Union. European and Italian citizenship. Rights in a European legal space. 
  • "A Cantata for Europe”: Telling the history of European integration in musical language. This project is designed for secondary schools in which music is part of the curriculum. 

To see our work with primary schools in action, please have a look at our video.

If you wish to visit the Historical Archives of the European Union with your class or your group, our Educational team is at your disposal. We also organise tailored projects on different topics related to the European Union and our archive, also for schools from across Europe. Please send us your proposed project and possible dates and we will make you an offer depending on the resources and availability of our educators.

For further information, please send an email.  

Training Offers for School Teachers

In the context of its educational programme, the HAEU’s education team offers a series of online training sessions for school teachers. The project is organised in collaboration with the Direzione Istruzione del Comune di Firenze e l'Ufficio Scolastico Regionale Toscana.

The training sessions focus on many topics related to the European integration process, and also teach innovative pedagogical methods. The online sessions bring together all levels of school teachers and discuss the issues the European Union is currently facing. These include challenges to democracy and citizenship, freedom of movement, solidarity, migration, civic education, and sustainable development. 

Each session consists of a 90 minute video conference, divided in three parts:

• a substantive presentation by the HAEU on the topic
• specific pedagogical approaches and materials for teaching the topic
• a roundtable discussion with all participants, where teachers have the opportunity to interact with others, debate, deepen their didactic experiences, and develop new teaching skills. 

To register and to read the full programme of this training cycle for Italian schools, consult the Chiavi della Città platform.

We welcome further suggestions for teaching offers here. 

Opportunity for Trainers on Educational Projects at the HAEU

The HAEU is hiring external trainers to support the implementation of educational projects on the history of the European Union and its institutions for young people enrolled in primary and secondary schools (Scuole elementari, scuole secondarie di primo e secondo grado) in Florence and its surroundings.

Call for expressions of interest

Documentation and Resources

The Web radio project "Europe in your Living Room" is a joint initiative of the Historical Archives of the European Union, the EUI network of Engaged Academics, and the independent online radio managed by researchers from the European University Institute ‘Radio Cavolo’. Each episode contains a short interview - in Italian and other languages - in which the HAEU educational team, the HAEU archivists, and the schoolteachers propose dialogues and brief debates on important issues related to Europe and European integration. The interviews are accessible and can serve as educational material.

The digital exhibition "Europe in Movement: the perspective of the new generations" brings together the reflections, narratives, as well as the personal and collective perceptions of students of different ages who took part in the activities of the educational programme in the school year 2019-2020, which focused on the free movement of people and the various forms of mobility.

For an analysis of our work with lower and upper secondary schools, please refer to the evaluation reports prepared for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years.