The SOCRATES programme was an educational initiative of the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
; 31 countries took part. The initial Socrates programme ran from 1994 until 31 December 1999 when it was replaced by the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, which ran until 2006. This, in turn, was replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013.The countries participating in the programme were the then 25
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
countries, the then candidate countries Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...
; Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
, Liechtenstein, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
The programme is named after the Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
philosopher Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
.
Declared aims
*"To strengthen the European dimension of education at all levels" *"To improve knowledge ofEuropean languages
Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...
"
*"To promote co-operation and mobility throughout education"
*"To encourage innovation in education"
*"To promote equal opportunities in all sectors of education"
Building blocks
* The Comenius programme – relating to primary and secondary. * The Erasmus programme – relating to higher. * The Grundtvig programme – relating toadult education
Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values.Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...
.
* The Lingua programme – relating to education in European languages.
* The Minerva programme – relating to information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...
and communication technology
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
in education.
European Union-funded language projects
Within the Socrates programme, funded by the European Union Directorates-General: Education and Culture (DG EAC), Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) and the EuropeAid Cooperation Office (DG AIDCO), the promotion and learning of languages is a high priority. Below is a short list of some funded projects: # ARGuing for Multilingual Motivation in Web 2.0. – ARGuing is a project that addresses two needs by utilizing an Alternate Reality Game; firstly, how to bridge the technological gap between educators and their students and secondly, how to motivate students to understand the benefits of learning languages at a level that impacts on their existing personal lives. # Autonomous Language Learning The Autonomous Language Learning (ALL) project, is buildingBlended Learning
Blended learning, also known as technology-mediated instruction, web-enhanced instruction, or mixed-mode instruction, is an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with physical pla ...
language courses in four European languages (Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Lithuanian).
# Chain Stories project Young students, in their first year of language learning, can complete creative writing in their mother tongue. They then pass on their story to other schools (in other countries/languages), within a chain, for completion.
# Euromobil is an interactive multimedia language learning and information programme for nine European target languages. The EUROMOBIL project was launched in 1999 with the aim to support student mobility.
# Tool Project Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning (TOOL) project is building Blended Learning language courses in five European languages (Dutch, Estonian, Hungarian, Maltese, Slovene).
# Don't Give Up Motivating adult language learners to complete language courses.
# Lullabies of Europe Collecting the lullabies of Europe to use as a very early learning language resource.
See also
* Grammar ExplorerReferences
External links
Main page at europa.eu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Socrates Programme Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union Erasmus Programme