One of spring day’s key events sees public figures going “back to school” to discuss European themes with students. The list of potential guests includes MEPs, European commissioners, university professors and representatives from national and regional authorities. But ultimately it is the students who decide who they’d like to meet and send out the invitations themselves.

The articles in the event’s online spring day magazine are a good starting point for anyone looking for a topic to debate. Recent articles, by students aged 10 to 20, cover the impact on schools of a new plan in Portugal to get everyone using more technology, and the definitions of creativity and innovation – the theme of the 2009 European year.

Spring day is an annual event open to all schools in Europe and elsewhere. Once schools have registered, they have access to the web portal’s activities, competitions, resources, tools and services. They can also communicate with schools all over Europe to exchange ideas and find out more about other cultures.

A network of 31 European ministries of education, known as schoolnet, organises spring day, with funding from the EU.