Recruitment

Poland

In Poland, in the first and second year there were three groups working. Each of them worked in pair with a group from a partner, that is why in Polish project there were the most people taking part. In the first year, all three groups were constructed out of people being under charge of the Family Aid Community Centre and district community centers. Children and youth came from the societies which were endangered by social pathologies to different degrees. In one of the group there were handicapped people and young people suffering from children cerebral palsy (among other things with a serious dysfunction of movement organs) taking part. Groups were of integrative character - handicapped people worked along with able people.
In the second year groups were individually formed, basing on the participants of different Association's project. Only a part of participants worked also in the first year. But the most important is that among people taking part in the workshops, both in the first and second year, there were handicapped people.
Fundamental difficulty in the group work was the range of participants age. In all groups the age difference between the youngest and oldest participants equaled 5 to 6 years. It is much, if one takes into consideration intellectual and personality development as well as ability to learn and use such tools as a computer and special software. The difficulty, which was effectively overcame, was a difference between disabled and able classes participants.

England

Workshop classes in London were conducted in two groups - in girls and boys groups. In the first year each of the group consisted in 6 to 9 participants. In the second year there was 10 people in every group. Among the project participants, all of them failed or been failed by the education system. Around 90% were from an ethnic minority and 40% were from migrant families. Many of the young people came from single parent families and lived in areas designates as low income by government statistics. One has to remember about the demographic structure of workshop groups while evaluating the products of workshops classes - in ready animation there is a lot of allusions and association, which result from various cultural experience of participants.
In the second year work was conducted in two London schools. The first school was girl school based in the East End of London. Around 80% of the girls were Muslim and lived in areas of low-socio-economic index. In the other, boy school, about half the boys came from poor homes and about half were from an ethnic minority. In both schools, around 40% of each class were not achieving well in school.

Romania

While accomplishing the Animated Debate project, SREP Association worked with two groups of children from dysfunctional communities. These children were taken care of Bucharest Curate. In the first year there were 20 children taking part, in the second 18 children aged 8 to 14. The participants were selected among children in a difficult family situation. All of them had serious adaptive problems. In each year the participants were divided into two smaller groups, taking into consideration their age and the level of classes. Thanks to it, instructors had more freedom and comfort, working in smaller groups, where all the children had a similar level of knowledge, as well as skills and the speed of learning. The final result is a common achievement of both subgroups, however each of them worked on different tasks, adjusted to the children's wishes and abilities.

Italy

The Animated Debate project aroused in the Termini Imerese schools great interest. The selection of participants was based on the research of target group.
Workshop participants were young people aged 12 to 15 from the families in a difficult financial and social situation. In the group there were 18 people (including only three girls). Before the beginning of the workshops, the participants were asked about the plans for the future. None of the interviewed people answered the question abouth further education. As their future job, most of the participants chose acting. Their favourite leisure activities are sports, watching TV, or computer games.
All workshop participants were eager to take part in the additional classes, which would be different from the one offered by school. At the very beginning, they themselves aksed about the goals of the course. They also wanted to know if instructors would guarantee friendly work atmosphere. The information why this and not other topic of workshops was chosen was also important, and how they can use in the future acquired knowledge and skills.
Collaboration with a local school was a good way to reach to the workshop participants. ISMERC expected 12 participants. And instead, in the first year 20 people applied to one of the schools, and in the second 18, it means much more than it was expected.