Tuesday 13th March 2018
We began the day with a brief introduction to the project, informing the participant in detail about what the project involves, the schedule of the 3 days and the outcome of the project. We then followed with a brief ice breaker to get to know the participants and to familiarise with everyone.
We as the UK participants presented a presentation on Brexit, explaining the concept and key terminology related to the topic. It was an enlightening presentation as a lot people were unaware of the terms mentioned. This also showed how much people understood about politics especially about Brexit. Often people were intimidated by the terms used and thus would show less interest.
We then took a short tea and coffee break. After the break we split of into 4 groups and carried out a world café activity, were we discussed a few key questions. Some questions included, What might happen to the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the UK citizens living in the EU and vice versa? And Could Brexit lead to greater xenophobia towards migrants? Each group was given a big sheet of paper with a question on it. The question topic was then discussed and ideas and thoughts were noted down. We rotated each group after 10 mins so that every question was answered by each group. We then presented each poster and discussed the reasoning behind some answers.
Then we went for Lunch. After lunch we formally introduced the Estonia partners and they gave a brief presentation on the first part of the project that was carried out in Estonia. They summarised the activities and workshops we carried out.
We then followed with a questionnaire and analysis personation. As the UK participants, we conducted a questionnaire about Brexit with the public. The questionnaire was designed to gather data on the thoughts of the public with regards to Brexit and the current situation of the UK and EU. We had 206 very interesting responses. The range of people was very diverse across age and occupational status. The ages ranged from 14 to 70+ and the occupations ranges from builders and craftsmen to CEOs and doctors. The analysis of the results was a lengthy process and told us a lot about what the people of UK know about Brexit. It was clear from the results that there was a lack of education on many topics regarding EU and Brexit. Many the results were ‘I don’t know’, the remaining were highlighting the negatives of the EU. Overall most people voted out the EU based on very little knowledge of the EU benefits.
We had another small tea and coffee break. As the project consisted of partners from Estonia, Macedonia and Spain, we as the UK partners felt it would be very insightful to show participants around the local area, to get a better idea of life in the UK and how this could influence our views. We designed a city mapping tour, which shows some prominent areas in Wolverhampton. We walked the tour and provided some key facts and information related to the areas and the formation of Wolverhampton as a city. Some key places included the Molineux Football stadium, Mander and Wulfrun Shopping centres, St Peter’s Church and many other places. We completed the tour with a mini quiz, to see how much the participants actually remembered.
Overall it was a very interesting start to the project and perfect way to introduce the project to participants.
