On 5 September, a second thematic event was held, in Strasbourg and online, on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) and Vocational Education and Training (VET). While the first thematic event, held in May 2023, focused on the role of competences for democratic culture in the workplace, this time participants were invited to discuss topics such as learning and practicing CDC in VET, the preparedness and empowerment of teachers and in-company trainers to teach and develop learners’ competences for democratic culture, and the institutional and national strategies of implementation of the RFCDC in the VET sector.
The aim of the thematic event was to gather contributions from various stakeholders, such as VET students and apprentices (representing JOB-MBO Netherlands and IBM’s apprentices in the United Kingdom), VET teachers and school principals (from Austria, Germany, Greece, Serbia, Spain, United Kingdom), teacher trainers, in-company trainers and trade unions (from Armenia, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland), as well as national education authorities (the Finnish National Agency for Education, the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Education, Science and Research of Austria).
The examples of strategies and practices presented and collected during the meeting from participants’ insights will feed into the development of the Guidance document on the RFCDC and VET. This guidance document is intended to be used for further inspiration and reflection on the development of a democratic culture in VET and will include a large number of examples from a variety of different VET-contexts across the European continent.
The guidance document is being developed with the support of an ad hoc expert group, which held its fourth meeting on 6 September. The expert group is composed of delegates from the Council of Europe Member States (Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Norway, Romania and Spain) and observer organisations to the CDEDU (FEDE, Holy See, and Lifelong Learning Platform). The expert group examined the content of the draft guidance document and agreed on the next steps to finalise the document, which is expected to be published by mid-2024.
