Compendium of Resources
This online compendium presents a considerable number of resources developed mainly by the Council of Europe or partners and other organisations.
These resources may be used to assist you in your work on or in finding out more about the six main themes of the “Free to Speak, Safe to Learn – Democratic Schools for All” project and the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture.
The resources are freely available. You are kindly asked to acknowledge the author and/or source when using them.
Using the Compendium
The filter in the column to the right of the screen may help you narrow down your search. Use the tags to find quickly the resources you are looking for according to theme, type of document and/or target group.
Each listed resource includes a short abstract summarising the resource content, the languages in which it is available, and ISBN number (when available).
“Developing competences for Democratic Culture in the digital era” strategy paper (2017)
The strategy paper aims mainly at orienting advocacy efforts and activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the field of education but is also relevant for all stakeholders involved in formal and nonformal education. Developed with the participation of Armenia, Belarus,...
Advancing democratic practice: A self-assessment guide for higher education (Council of Europe higher education series No. 14) (2010)
What is democratic governance and how can it benefit universities and higher education institutions in preparing students to become participating, democratic adult citizens? How can universities and other higher education institutions evaluate how they contribute to their students' education for...
Anti-rumours handbook (2018)
The Anti-Rumour Strategy (ARS) is a long-term process of social change which seeks to prevent discrimination, foster inclusion and harness the potential of diversity by reshaping perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours of citizens and specific target groups. This handbook is a practice-oriented...
Bioethical Issues - Educational Fact Sheets (2013)
Train your pupils in a participatory approach, which is fundamental to education for citizenship, by organising an informed, multidisciplinary debate on bioethical issues. This teaching aid is designed in particular for fourth form to upper sixth form teachers of biology, philosophy and civic...
Child participation assessment tool (2016)
In recent years, children’s participation in decision making in all matters affecting them has gained ground. Today the importance of listening to children and young people is recognised as fundamental to their human dignity and healthy development. This Assessment Tool provides specific and...
Comparative study on blocking, filtering and take-down of illegal internet content (2017)
The Council of Europe commissioned a comparative study from the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law in respect of filtering, blocking and take-down of illegal content on the internet in the 47 member states of the Organisation. This study describes and assesses the legal framework but also the...
Competences for democratic culture - Living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies (2016) A conceptual model of competences
This document describes a conceptual model of the competences which need to be acquired by learners if they are to participate effectively in a culture of democracy and live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse democratic societies. It is intended that the model will be used to...
Curriculum Development and Review for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (2015)
Effective teaching and learning processes require well-trained teachers, positive learning environments and high-quality learning materials. This is underpinned by education policy, including curriculum development and review, which is the main focus of this book. The strengthening of education...
Democratic governance of schools (2007) guidelines for teachers and school leaders on adopting a democratic governance (and whole school approach)
This manual is a practical tool that is designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice in EDC. It is part of a series of tools that, together, make up the Council of Europe’s “EDC pack”. What is democratic governance and how can it benefit schools in preparing young people to become...
Developing attitudes to recognition: substantial differences in an age of globalisation (Council of Europe higher education series No. 13) (2010)
The concept of "substantial differences" - far from being a dry, technical topic for a book on higher education policy - goes to the heart of how we view qualifications and education and is the key concept of the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning...
Digital citizenship education - Volume 1: Overview and new perspective. Supporting children and young people to participate safely, effectively, critically and responsibly in a world filled with social media and digital technologies. (2017)
Supporting children and young people to participate safely, effectively, critically and responsibly in a world filled with social media and digital technologies is a priority for educators the world over. This volume, the first in a Digital Citizenship Education series, reviews the existing...
Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) - 10 Domains leaflet
This leaflet presents the ten digital citizenship domains conceptually gathered in three groups with the intention to define better the competences that digital citizens should develop: being online, wellbeing online and rights online. The first group, Being online, includes domains that relate...
Education for change - Change for education
This manifesto argues that there should be a stronger focus on education as preparation for i. life as active citizens in modern, complex and democratic societies of today and of tomorrow, and ii. personal development. The full text of the manifesto in different languages can be found on the web...
Education for democratic citizenship: policies and regulatory frameworks (2003)
This report summarises the keynote addresses of the international seminar on Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) and the results of the working groups. (read more) The International Seminar on Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) Policies and Regulatory Frameworks, which took place...
Education for the prevention of discrimination, 2011/2012 (DISC)
This publication focuses on education for the prevention of discrimination. Regarding education professionals, the objective is clearly to focus on the multiplier effect which these professionals have on the younger generations. By tackling the issue upstream, before discrimination happens, and...
Education mobility, otherness. The mediation functions of schools (2015)
This document has a dual purpose: cognitive, insofar as it proposes a simple – but wide-ranging – model for conceptualising language education policy choices based on the mobility of social agents; and institutional and political, because this model and the illustrations that are given of it in...
ETINED - Volume 1: 7th Session of the Prague Forum (2016)
This publication reflects the discussions held at the 7th Session of the Prague Forum and provides strong evidence of the drive in Europe to promote high quality, corruption-free education based on common ethical principles. Offering many national examples and good practice in this area, it also...
ETINED - Volume 2: Ethical principles (2016)
What are the ethical principles on which education policy in Europe today should be based? How can we achieve genuine ethics, transparency and integrity in schools and universities? What approach should be adopted to counter the various forms of corruption that affect the education sector at...
ETINED - Volume 5: South-East European Project on Policies for Academic Integrity (2018)
This study focuses on academic integrity in higher education in six countries of South-Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”[1]. The results provide recommendations, examples of good practice and guidelines for...
European Pack for visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum: Guidelines for Teachers and Educators (2010)
This pack is designed for teachers wishing to organise student visits to authentic places of remembrance, and for the guides, academics and others who work every day with young people at Auschwitz. How are they concerned by what happened at Auschwitz? Is the unprecedented process of exclusion...
From linguistic diversity to Plurilingual education: Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe (2007)
The aim of the Guide is to offer an analytical instrument which can serve as a reference document for the formulation or reorganisation of language teaching in member states. Its purpose is to provide a response to the need to formulate language policies to promote plurilingualism and...
Global Education Guidelines. A Handbook for Educators to Understand and implement Global Education (2012)
These Global Education Guidelines are the result of a need expressed by Global Education Week practitioners to have a common tool to help educators to understand and implement global education. The Global Education Guidelines are an initiative of the Global Education Programme of the North-South...
Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for Plurilingual and intercultural education (2016)
This Guide is intended to facilitate improved implementation of the values and principles of plurilingual and intercultural education in the teaching of all languages – foreign, regional or minority, classical, and language(s) of schooling. Plurilingual and intercultural education is a response...
Have your say! Manual on the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life (2015)
Youth participation is not an end in itself, but a means of achieving positive changes in young people’s lives and of building better democratic societies. According to the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life, participation is about having the right,...
Higher Education and Democratic Culture: Citizenship, Human Rights and Civic Responsibility (Council of Europe higher education series No. 8) (2008)
If our aim is to work for sustainable democratic societies, the responsibility of public authorities for a high-quality higher education system must go hand in hand with the responsibility of higher education institutions towards the advancement of society. This book on the responsibility of...
Higher education for democratic innovation (Council of Europe Higher Education Series No. 21) (2016)
This book explores how higher education can help find new ways to develop commitment to public space and societal engagement and make democracy more vibrant. As the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland [2009-2019], said on several occasions, our societies seek to address...
Higher education for modern societies: competences and values (Council of Europe higher education series No.15) (2010)
This book explores the roles and purposes of higher education in modern, complex societies and the importance of competences in this respect. Although public debate in Europe could give the impression that the sole purpose of higher education is to prepare for the labour market, this important...
History education in Europe. Ten years of co-operation between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe (2006)
This publication analyses the experience and results achieved over ten years of co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation in history teaching in schools. During a decade of collaboration, the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation established a solid partnership...
How all teachers can support citizenship and human rights education: a framework for the development of competences (2009)
This publication sets out the core competences needed by teachers to put democratic citizenship and human rights into practice in the classroom, throughout the school and in the wider community. It is intended for all teachers – not only specialists but teachers in all subject areas – and teacher...
How can schools support students to be active citizens?
Practices in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro and Romania to increase visibility on citizenship and human rights education in the education systems. How can schools support students to be active citizens? from Council of Europe OP Services on Vimeo.
Human Rights and Democracy Start with Us - Charter for All: Brochure for children, Guide for educators and a Poster (2014)
Democracy and Human Rights Start with Us – Charter for All explains the Council of Europe Charter on Citizenship and Human Rights Education in a fun and friendly way. This publication includes a brochure for children, guidelines for educators and a poster. The present version of the Charter...
Implementation Guide to the Child Participation Assessment Tool (2016)
The Assessment Tool offers a method, at European level, to facilitate and support the implementation of the child’s right to participate. The Assessment Tool is accompanied by an Implementation Guide with a roadmap and detailed guidance on information collection, focus groups and using the...
Language support for adult refugees: a Council of Europe toolkit (2017)
The toolkit is designed to assist organisations, and especially volunteers, providing language support for adult refugees. Throughout the toolkit “refugee” is understood in a broad sense and includes asylum seekers as well as refugees. The Council of Europe has developed the toolkit (available in...
Learning to live together. Council of Europe report on the state of citizenship and human rights education in Europe (2017)
The present report looks at the ways in which democracy and human rights are promoted through education in Europe today and puts forward priorities for action. It shows that across Council of Europe member states, education is increasingly recognised as a tool for tackling radicalisation leading...
Living in harmony together: the role of schools? (2014)
The film promotes educational approaches and teaching methods which aim at learning to live together in a democratic and multicultural society. Challenging topics were addressed in the documentary to show how school can change attitudes towards differences. Living in harmony together: the role of...
Multiperspectivity in Teaching and Learning History (2005)
History teaching should not try to deliver definitive answers, but to provide an understanding of the complicated historical processes. Present-day history teaching should reflect the full complexity of this discipline, including controversial and sensitive issues, but, at the same time, avoid...
New and innovative forms of youth participation in decision-making processes (2018)
This study of new and innovative forms of youth participation focuses on young people's participation in decision-making processes at national, regional and local levels. It also identifies and explores innovative forms of youth participation. This study was commissioned by the Council of Europe...
Open minds, free minds - No easy prey for counterfeit medicines and similarly dangerous medicines - Psycho-pedagogical concept guide for teachers (2015)
This publication aims to inform, provide a concept for development and use of interactive storytelling for training and education at school: using a cartoon format, teachers can discuss risks and encourage behaviour that avoids known routes for exposure to counterfeit and similarly dangerous...
Passport to your rights (2013) Support material for HRE
The "Passport to your rights" is a passport created for all children. It allows children to enter in the world of their rights in a playful manner, explaining their basic rights, as well as the relationship with the states, or the role of international organisations. It should be their first...
Plurilingual and intercultural competence (2009)
The writers of this study make an in-depth examination of all the interdependent factors which need to be taken into account in the devising and implementation of a language policy encouraging every learner to achieve an integrating communication competency spanning a large number of languages...
Plurilingual and intercultural education as a project (2009)
The purpose of this text is basically to clarify the concepts of societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism, in accordance with other texts of the Council of Europe, to describe the characteristics of plurilingual and intercultural education, to show that they are ordinary phenomena...
Plurilingual and intercultural education as a right (2009)
This text locates plurilingual and intercultural education within a rationale concerning the right to education. This involves a change of perspective insofar as schooling is here conceived as having in particular to allow all those engaged in it to exercise the rights to education they possess....
Quality history education in the 21st century. Principles and guidelines (2018)
Principles and guidelines for establishing democratic, diverse and inclusive history curricula and pedagogy. History education has an important role to play in confronting the current political, cultural and social challenges facing Europe; in particular, those posed by the increasingly diverse...
Re-Thinking Education Policy For The 21st Century (2014) (Jón Torfi Jónasson)
Jón Torfi Jónasson, a University of Iceland professor, speaking at the Council of Europe teachers' conference on 24 April 2014, gives his views on developments in education.
Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture Volume 1: Context, concepts and model (2018)
The purpose of the Reference Framework is to support member states in developing open, tolerant and diverse societies through their education. Volume 1 contains the model of competences for democratic culture that was unanimously approved by European ministers of education at their standing...
Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture Volume 2: Descriptors (2018)
The purpose of the Reference Framework is to support member states in developing open, tolerant and diverse societies through their education. Volume 2 contains descriptors of the competences for democratic culture that are introduced in volume one. These descriptors are intended to help...
Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture Volume 3: Guidance for implementation (2018)
The purpose of the Reference Framework is to support member states in developing open, tolerant and diverse societies through their education. Volume 3 offers guidance on how the model of competences and the corresponding descriptors, contained in volumes 1 and 2 respectively, may be used in six...
Report of the Intergovernmental Policy Forum: The right of learners to quality and equity in education – the role of language and intercultural skills (2010)
The pointers for further work and reflection identified during the forum all lead to plurilingual and intercultural education, sensitive to the needs and abilities of all learners, and particularly those from the most vulnerable groups. They are informed by the desire to secure the right to...
Specifying languages’ contribution to intercultural education. Lessons learned from the CEFR (2013)
The quality of language teaching that we may rightfully expect must have an educational dimension and should not, as such, be judged solely on the basis of the efficacy of teaching methods or their conformity with norms and standards. Teaching unfamiliar languages also has a part to play in...
Student engagement in Europe: society, higher education and student governance (Council of Europe Higher Education Series No. 20) (2015)
This 20th volume of the Council of Europe Higher Education Series demonstrates the importance of student engagement for the development and maintenance of the democratic culture that enables democratic institutions and laws to function in practice. This volume covers three aspects of student...
T-Kit 7 - European Citizenship in youth work (Revised edition) (2018)
At what level should young people engage in society? What impact can local youth organisations have, when faced with massive European or even global issues? This T-Kit was written to find ways to stimulate young people to engage more in society, thus exploring citizenship, and to support them as...
The language dimension in all subjects - A handbook for curriculum development and teacher training (2016)
This handbook is a policy and working document which promotes convergence and coherence between the linguistic dimensions of various school subjects. It proposes measures to make explicit – in curricula, pedagogic material and teacher training – the specific linguistic norms and competences which...
The linguistic integration of adult migrants: from one country to another, from one language to another (2014)
The aim of this collection of texts is to propose a number of specific measures member states can take to help adult migrants become acquainted with the language of the host country. The main focus is on organising language courses that meet migrants’ real communication needs. It is not enough...
The Lisbon Recognition Convention at 15: making faire recognition a reality (Council of Europe higher education series No. 19) (2014)
To mark the 15th anniversary of the convention, this book examines some of the challenges to the international recognition of qualifications. The Lisbon Recognition Convention, developed by the Council of Europe and UNESCO, is the main international legal text on the international recognition of...
The public responsibility for higher education and research. (Council of Europe higher education series No. 2) (2005)
This publication, which builds on the results of a Council of Europe conference, aims to explore what public responsibility means in the complex societies that have just crossed the threshold to the twenty-first century. It examines both overall policies on higher education and specific aspects...
The university as res publica - Higher education governance, student participation and the university as a site of citizenship (Council of Europe higher education series No. 1) (2004)
The present book brings together various aspects of the role of the university as a site of democratic citizenship, ranging from student participation in higher education governance to the higher education institution as an actor in democratic society. The articles outline how teaching and...
The Use of Sources in Teaching and Learning History (2009) (Vol.1) (Vol. 2)
The publication consists of two parts. The first covers the 2005 seminar discussions on the use of sources in teaching and learning history and contains the texts of presentations reflecting the experience of different European countries in this area as well as an overview of the workshop...
Thematic factsheets highlighting the European Court of Human Rights relevant case-law on issues relating to media freedom
The thematic factsheets highlight the European Court of Human Rights’ relevant case-law and the Council of Europe’s other instruments aiming to protect the freedom of expression and the safety of journalists. They shed light on acts or omissions of the national authorities likely to amount to a...
Volume 3 - Ethical behaviour of all actors in education
This volume is intended as a guide to understanding the principles to be applied by education players to promote ethical behaviour, transparency and integrity in education. Citing the 14 ethical principles selected by the ETINED platform, this volume shows how they can be applied in respect of...
Демократична школа. практичний посібник. Всеукраїнська програма освіти для демократичного громадянства
This European Wergeland Centre (EWC) publication, so far only available in Ukrainian, gives an introduction on how the whole school approach can help schools develop democratic competences. It also lays out five principles for a democratic school and seven steps for democratic school development....