The document summarizes a workshop on human rights that took place on April 18, 2012 at Zespół Szkół nr 2 in Rybnik, Poland. The workshop involved students and teachers discussing the definition of human rights, watching an informative video, and working in groups to identify areas where human rights are violated and possible solutions. Participants found the workshop informative and interesting, particularly appreciating the cooperation between students and teachers and use of multimedia. Feedback indicated the timing was good but some wanted more time for discussion.

1. COMENIUS COSSOL 2010-
Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2012
Human Rights Key Competence 6
Social and Civic Competences
workshop 18.04.2012
Civic competence is based on knowledge of the concepts of democracy, justice, equality,
citizenship, and civil rights, including how they are expressed in the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union and international declarations and how they are applied by
various institutions at the local, regional, national, European and international levels.
Full respect for human rights including equality as a basis for democracy, appreciation and
understanding of differences between value systems of different religious or ethnic groups lay
the foundations for a positive attitude. (source: KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
European Reference Framework)
On the 18th April 2012 a workshop on Human Rights was held in Zespół Szkół nr 2 in
Rybnik, Poland as a further implementation of the Comenius CoSSOL ideas presented by
Donka Georgieva from Bulgaria during sessions at an international level in Moers 2011. The
participants of the workshop in Rybnik were students from the second form of bilingual high
school and teachers of foreign and native languages. The workshop was run by Beata
Kocjan.
The session started with a discussion to work out the definition of what human rights are,
followed by a video about human rights. All the participants found the film very informative,
gripping and enjoyable as well.

2. COMENIUS COSSOL 2010-
Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2012
The next step was group work on the basis of materials presenting various aspects of human
rights. The task was to choose the area where human rights are violated and to present
possible solutions to the problem.

3. COMENIUS COSSOL 2010-
Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2012
The heated debate was followed by presentations given by the representatives of each group.
The last step of the workshop was evaluation .
Answers concerning the final evaluation also appeared in a questionnaire prepared by Hanna
Skowrońska – the school coordinator of the project. Both students and teachers provided
feedback on the workshop.
The results gathered from the questionnaire were summarized
by Kinga Matyjach - a teacher of English in ZS nr 2.
Evaluation Questionnaire Analysis
the workshop: 18.04.2012
Human rights
1) The students and the teachers participating in the lesson claim that they had only the
basic, general knowledge about the human rights before the workshop e.g. they knew
that the rights exist, that we all possess them but they are not obeyed or restricted in
some parts of the world; others associated them with dignity, freedom and respect or
defined them as the national or even the international law.
2) The students and the teachers say that during the workshop they realized that there is
a great number of human rights but many of them are violated, disrespected. They
acquired more specific knowledge especially about the history of human rights, thanks
to the short film at the beginning of the lesson. Others claim that they learned how to
solve the problems because they gained some skills and ideas how to deal with the
abuse of human rights. Some people stress that they got to know about key
competences e.g. civic competence, mathematical competence or cultural awareness.
3) What the participants enjoyed the most during the workshop was the idea of
cooperation between students and visiting teachers, the group work, the usage of
multimedia (especially the mentioned film), the presentations of the groups.

4. COMENIUS COSSOL 2010-
Zespół Szkół nr 2 Rybnik, Poland 2012
4) Almost all students and teachers claim that the workshop was really interesting and
useful, not only in terms of the subject of the workshop but also in terms of the
interaction between the students and the teachers. Others add that it was some kind of
entertainment.
5) The great majority of participants remark that the cooperation between the students
and the teachers was very good and emphasize very often that it was even surprising.
Some say that it was stressful for them.
6) A great number of the participants claim they wouldn’t change anything in the
workshop. The timing was perfect and the lesson included an element of innovation
because it was the first lesson open to the audience with voluntary visitor participants
(teachers of English and other subjects) which was based on teachers-students
cooperation. Teachers had a chance to observe and participate which also broadened
their knowledge and they gained new experience in teaching field. However, some
participants would like to have more time for conversation and lengthen the time of
the lesson to give everyone a chance to get more involved in the conversation. Others
say it should be more spontaneous because some students were stressed and it didn’t
seem natural. But they also say it is inevitable when it comes to public performances.
Teachers who took part in the workshop
Report / photos
Hanna Skowrońska, Zespół Szkół nr 2
Rybnik, Poland