Education for democracy in the Republic of Moldova

What is the project

The project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova” is implemented by the Council of Europe and is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the framework of “Moldova: Fostering Active Civic Engagement” Programme.

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova over a period of four years starting in January 2019. The total budget of the project amounts to 1,080,000 Euros.

The Project aims to contribute to an inclusive, peaceful and democratic society in the Republic of Moldova by helping strengthen the capacity of the Moldovan education system to develop the knowledge and competences that schoolchildren need to become engaged citizens.

The Project promotes the Council of Europe approach to citizenship education: a holistic view on knowledge, skills, values and attitudes, a focus on democratic school development and an integration of young people’s civic experiences in the wider community.

The project supports the on-going reform process lead by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, and helps:

Further develop the policy and methodological framework for the reconceptualised civic education subject “Education for Society” in line with the Council of Europe standards;
Promote the integration of competences for a democratic culture in other subjects;
Strengthen the capacity of national institutions, teachers and other education professionals to develop democratic competences in learners and apply the new educational approaches in practice;
Develop a methodology for democratic school governance and pilot it in schools;
Develop and publish information and methodological materials for education decision makers and practitioners;
Raise awareness and understanding of the role of citizenship education in the wider society.

What is the legal context

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova has developed a new curriculum for the “Education for Society” subject for grades V to XII which was introduced in grades V and X in September 2018.

The new curriculum is largely based on the Council of Europe standards – the CoE Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) and the CoE Framework of Competences for a Democratic Culture and has been developed with CoE expert support.

This ambitious curriculum reform and its alignment to CoE standards are part of the broader process of modernisation and transition to a competence-based approach to education in which Moldova has been engaged over the past few years.

The reform will impact not only the educational input or the content of school subjects, but also, and importantly, the educational practices: teaching and learning methods, assessment, school governance, etc. It requires a real change of educational paradigm in the Republic of Moldova, which could be very challenging to implement.

What do we aim to achieve?

Legal and policy framework

Training and capacity building

Decision-making processes

News

Back The Council of Europe continues to support Moldova reform its formal citizenship education

On 6 March, the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Council of Europe, the United Nations Population Fund in the Republic of Moldova, and the Zurich University of Teacher Education signed a Memorandum of collaboration to further strengthen cooperation between parties with the aim to support the implementation of the programme “Moldova: Fostering Active Civic Engagement” (FACE II) for 2023-2026.

The recently launched Council of Europe project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova II” (2023 – 2026) is part of the FACE II programme. The project will continue to strengthen the capacity of the Moldovan education system to develop competences for life in democratic and inclusive societies through formal education. In project’s first phase (2019-2022), the Council of Europe focused on supporting the a quality implementation of the new civic education curriculum, its new content and in particular its new teaching and learning methods, fully aligned to the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture.

During the event, the Minister of Education and Research Anatolie Topala called for the deepening and dissemination of the results achieved in the first phase of FACE, including with regards to democratic citizenship education in formal education. “It is important to focus on new elements such as the transversal integration of competences for democratic culture throughout the entire spectre of school subjects”, Minister Topala stressed.

William Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, said that the key factor which ensures the excellent cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Research and the Council of Europe is the strong sense of national ownership of the project activities. “The first phase of the project has been highly relevant to the needs of its target groups, as well to the educational context of the country. We will further strengthen cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research and FACE programme partners and will ensure synergies between formal and non-formal education,” William Massolin added.

The project, in its second phase (2023-2026), will further support the integration of Council of Europe’s flagship Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture in the primary and secondary cycles, including the upper secondary technical education and vocational education and training (VET), further strengthen national teacher education capacities and the professional competences of teachers to develop competences for life in democratic and inclusive societies, and support the implementation in schools of the methodology on democratic school governance.

Chisinau, Moldova 9 March 2023

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Who we work with?

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.

Who benefits from the project?

Teachers: key target group; they are crucial in implementing the new civic education curriculum which introduces new teaching, learning and assessment approaches and that many of them may find very challenging. Sustained capacity building and support is necessary over a period of time. This should take into account the structural problems affecting the teacher profession – shortage of teachers, high teacher turnover, age of teachers, low salaries.

Schoolchildren: key beneficiaries; in the context of Moldova’s low civic participation and political culture, but also the broader socio-economic problems, such as mass migration and the fact that many children are reared by their grandparents, schools play a central role in nurturing schoolchildren’s competences for active and responsible citizenship. Schools need to develop both cognitive and socio-emotional skills and provide them with a values framework.