Description:

Participation of all children is one of the priority areas of the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021). Child participation means that children, (ie. any person under the age of 18 years), individually or in groups, have the right, the means, the space, the opportunity and, where necessary, the support to freely express their views, to be heard and to contribute to decision making on matters affecting them. Their views also need to be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity. The Council of Europe provides guidance to member States on how to embed child participation in a systematic manner and in all contexts relevant for children, and it also involves children in its own child-related standard-setting and decision-making procedures directly.

The case study to be discussed at the workshop is the latest child participation project of the Council of Europe. In April 2017, 200 children from 8 member States – including children from vulnerable groups such as children in care, Roma children, children on the move - were consulted in the drafting process of comprehensive guidelines for member States to empower, protect and support children’s rights in the digital environment, initially prepared by the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Rights of the Child (CAHENF). Child participants and facilitators involved in these child consultations will share their experiences in order to provide an input on why it is important to involve children in activities where they can learn by doing, and how to motivate them to take part in decision-making processes which will have an impact on their life. From the adults’ point of view, good practices on how to facilitate, support and follow-up on child participation as a procedure will be also discussed.

Facilitator: Dr Edina TORDAI, facilitator of the Hungarian child consultations, Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, Hungary

Rapporteur: Irina DREXLER, PhD, facilitator of the Romanian child consultations, Transylvania Digital Humanities Research Centre, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania

Council of Europe Secretariat: Zsuzsanna RUTAI, Children's Rights Division

Resource person(s):

• Tereza MAHDALOVA, child participant of the Czech consultations, National Parliament of Children and Youth, Czech Republic
• Else ENGEL, facilitator of the German child consultations, right now Human Rights Consultancy & Training

Description:

“Living together implies having a level of common competences as regards intercultural and democratic dialogue, as well as a system of attitudes, behaviour and common values based on human rights. Can these be taught?” The project to develop a Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture was launched in 2013 to respond to this question, the subject of a debate in the Committee of Ministers. Numerous tools and aids for democratic citizenship and human rights education had, of course, been already developed within the Council of Europe and elsewhere and been used successfully in many education systems. However, a need was felt to provide a common definition of the competences that were needed to give focus and coherence to the varying approaches taken. What do young people need to be equipped with in order to become active, responsible democratic citizens in today’s complex multicultural societies? The Model of Competences for Democratic Culture is the Education Department’s response. It defines 20 competences in four areas – Values, Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge and critical understanding – that were endorsed by European ministers of education in April 2016. In order to support the model in concrete teaching contexts, a large number of descriptors - key phrases that set learning targets and outcomes for each competence - were tested extensively in schools in the member states. The case study presented in this session will show how the piloting of certain descriptors was conducted in two classes of the European School Strasbourg and how the students participated enthusiastically in the democratic exercises put to them.

Interpretation: English - French

Facilitator: Călin Rus, Director of the Intercultural Institute, Timisoara, Romania

Rapporteur: Salvador Sala, Unit Head of Curriculum Development, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Andorra 

Council of Europe Secretariat: Christopher Reynolds, Education Policy Division

Resource person(s):

• Monique Roiné, Head of the European School, Strasbourg, France
• Fernanda Gonzalez-Dreher, Teacher of History in English, European School, Strasbourg, France
• Guillaume Marx, Teacher of Physical Education, European School, Strasbourg, France

Description:

Could policies aimed at preventing radicalisation in Europe end up undermining the very social cohesion they aim to preserve? Since the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands (2004), the bombings in Madrid (2004) and in London (2005), and more recently since the attacks in Paris (2015), Copenhagen (2015), Ankara (2016) and Brussels (2016), governments of the Council of Europe have emphasised the need to prevent violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism. In recent years governments have often broadened the scope of counter-terrorism: traditionally defined as the remit of law enforcement agencies, it has been reframed as a broader issue that needs to be tackled by society as a whole: families (especially mothers and brothers), teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, community and religious leaders have been asked to participate. There is, however, a built-in contradiction in counter-radicalisation programmes: they require that educators on the one hand “spot radicals” and report them to the authorities, and on the other build trust and social cohesion in classrooms. As a result of these policies, the rights of students and their families may be hindered. Muslims, in particular, may be treated as a “suspect community”. Yet, as Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland has stated over the years, counter-terrorism should not come at the expense of civil liberties. Privileging security over liberty is a false solution that results in more insecurity. This case study session will explore different approaches to counter-radicalisation measures in education and will discuss how to ensure respect of human rights while addressing violent radicalisation in education institutions.

Facilitator: Georgios MOSCHOS, Deputy Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, Greece

Rapporteur: Kurt EDLER, EDC/HRE Coordinator, Germany

Council of Europe Secretariat: Katerina TOURA, Education Policy Division

Resource person(s):

• Students as suspects? The challenges of developing counter-radicalisation policies in education in the Council of Europe member states -
  Francesco RAGAZZI, Assistant Professor, Institute of Political Science - Leiden University, Associate Fellow, CERI - Sciences Po Paris, Associate Fellow, Centre d'Etude sur les Conflits, Liberté et Securité (CCLS)
• Constructive Interaction – Fostering Democratic Participation and Preventing Violent Radicalism -
  Kristina KAIHARI, Finnish National Agency for Education
• Preventing violent radicalisation through education in the United Kingdom -
  Andrew W Dawson, Councillor for Frodsham, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Former Mayor of Frodsham, and Mariam Inayat, British Youth Council, United Kingdom.

Description:

Controversial issues remain central to achieving effective Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE). EDC/HRE emphasises approaches to learning and teaching based on ‘real-life’, everyday experience and active involvement. Controversial issues are part of everyday life. Young people are aware of them and want to talk about, engage with and understand such issues. To shelter young people from them is to leave them ignorant about some of the major issues of the day and unprepared to deal with them now as well as major issues later in their lives. If young people are to be educated to be informed, active and responsible citizens in our democratic societies now and in the future then they need to learn about controversial issues and be taught how to handle them and work in partnership with others to address and solve them. For school leadership and management controversial issues raise questions of policy and management – such as how to support classroom teachers in their teaching of controversial issues and how to provide additional opportunities for dialogue within the school community. They also highlight the need for school leaders/senior managers to think about how they manage controversial issues in relation to two dimensions: being proactive and being reactive. Therefore it is vital that school leaders and teachers have the confidence to address and teach about controversial issues as part of everyday experiences in classrooms and schools. Such confidence comes from having accessed and experienced effective training. This case study session will focus on two tools namely “Teaching Controversial Issues” and “Managing Controversy”, outcomes of projects supported by the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Human Rights and Democracy in Action”. Experiences of using these tools in schools will be shared.

Facilitator: Szilvia Kalman, European Commission

Rapporteur: David Kerr, Citizenship Foundation, UK (EDC/HRE Coordinator)

Council of Europe Secretariat: Katia Dolgova-Dreyer and Arzu Burcu Tuner, Co-operation and Capacity Building Division

Resource person(s):

• Ted Huddleston, Citizenship Foundation, United Kingdom
• Bojka Djukanovic, University of Montenegro, Montenegro (EDC/HRE Coordinator)
• Hugo Wester, Director of Education, The Swedish National Agency for Education, Sweden (EDC/HRE Coordinator)

Description:

In 2016, the European Youth Forum has realized a survey among its members to map practices within youth organisations and analyse their contribution to the development of young people’s competences for active citizenship and social inclusion. The analysis and good practices were collected in a publication entitled “Inspiring: Youth Organisations’ Contribution to Citizenship Education”. In the workshop we will look at the different practices stemming from the youth sector and the various ways in which youth organisations provide citizenship and human rights education to young people.

Facilitator: Stefan Manevski

Rapporteur:

Council of Europe Secretariat: Stefan Manevski

Resource person(s): Kirsten Aigro, board member of the European Youth Forum

Description:

Programme Somos was launched by the municipality of Lisbon with the aim to develop a human rights culture in the city through training and awareness raising actions involving citizens and non-governmental organisations in Lisbon under the slogan “We are the rights that we have”. Initiated a couple of years ago, the programme has about 2000 beneficiaries yearly and is supported by a network of multipliers trained together with youth organisations.  Dinamo youth association is a partner in the Somos programme and has also organised in 2015 a comprehensive national programme on human rights education « We stand for human rights », which involved translation of Compass manual in Portuegese, the organisation of a national training course for trainers and the initiation of the national network of human rights educators all in partnership with various stakeholders from local authorities to formal education institutions.

Facilitator: Ruxandra Pandea

Rapporteur:

Council of Europe Secretariat: Ruxandra Pandea

Resource person(s): Susana Constante Pereira, Dinamo youth association and Daniel Tilly, Municipality of Lisbon

Description:

Racism and xenophobia are a widespread problem in Europe today, with anti-immigrants attitudes on the rise. Across the Council of Europe, several vulnerable and minority groups continue to face discrimination, violence and exclusion in areas such as employment, education or health. In most countries, the bias motivation in racist, xenophobic or homophobic crimes is often not adequately raised or investigated. Underreporting of those crimes is also high, often due to improper record systems or lack of complaints from victims.

To counter such forms of intolerance, the capacities of various professionals (legal and other) to apply the European non-discrimination law at national level should be enhanced. All educational efforts aimed at tackling intolerance and discrimination should address the values of learners and should seek attitudinal change. Any training activities in this area should therefore be carefully adapted to the local context and to the different groups of learners.

It is thus necessary to identify and share the best practices in providing education on intolerance and discrimination, as well as the obstacles encountered in the implementation of such capacity-building activities. Tailor-made distance or blended training courses can be an effective tool to deal with the identified challenges. This case study session will explore the experiences in addressing intolerance and discrimination in human-rights education in general and, more specifically, in on-line training programmes.

Facilitator: Denis Roth-Fichet, European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

Rapporteur: One participant

Council of Europe Secretariat: Alessandra Ricci Ascoli, HELP Secretariat

Resource person(s):

• Challenges in addressing intolerance and discrimination in online human rights-training and how to overcome them -
  Josquin Legrand, lawyer at the Barreaux de Paris, national tutor of the course on Fight against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia and Transphobia in France

Description:

The IEA pioneered assessments of civic and citizenship education reaching back into the early 1970s. The IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED) in lower and upper secondary schools in 1999, this first dedicated large-scale comparative study in this field, and more recently the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) 2009 study were, amongst many other insights, instrumental for Central and Eastern European countries in their endeavor to develop new curricula and bringing democracy back to education after the fall of the communist regimes.

By design, IEA ICCS continues to reflect new challenges for education systems and changing contexts with respect to democratic citizenship. The ICCS 2016 cycle – results will be released on 7 November 2017 – investigates, amongst many other aspects, issues of social interaction at school, social media as well as environmental sustainability in terms of students’ knowledge, attitudes and engagement in the school, community and wider societal communities. Current influences especially include issues of global relevance, in part related the SDG target 4.7.

Based on sample surveys, which are low-stake as well as anonymous for students, teachers and schools, it is designed to serve as a mirror for local, regional and global policy, processes and outcomes of civic and citizenship education that aims to inform and help educators support upcoming generations in becoming citizens. Designed by educators for educators, it recognizes and respects the various ways in which educational systems are organized, the roles of the involved stakeholders as well as the learning opportunities offered.

Based on brief inputs from the international study lead and a selected set of country representatives, this case study aims to extend this participatory model to the Council of Europe attendees by:

First, articulating the most pressing issues for HRE and EDC as well as data needs for its monitoring that the study might discuss and highlight in its reports, based on the system of constructs and indicators actually measured in 2016;

Second, identifying emerging issues, contexts and directions in light of Council of Europe charters and frameworks that the reference framework should reflect for the next cycle (ICCS 2022), set to start development in early 2018.

The interactive discussion aims to cover key aspects at all levels educational systems: the intended, the implemented, and the attained curriculum/policy for CCE both from the perspective of international organizations, such as the Council of Europe, as well as from a local perspective from research, policy and education.

Format of the event:

After brief introductory remarks and the initial input introducing the case study, the 1st round of the discussion groups will focus on the most pressing issues for Human Rights Education and Education for Democratic Culture that education can and should be engaged with. Areas of concerns and interest will be shared and noted as the first input of this event.

Following the input of the online resource persons, the researchers working on ICCS 2016, the

2nd round of discussion groups will focus on how to monitor any progress achieved by educators within Human Rights Education and Education for Democratic Culture in the future, in order to articulate some inputs in terms of ideas for indicators and trend measures.

Brief wrap-up will conclude this case study and point to the ICCS 2016 release expectation in November 7, 2017.

Facilitator: Dr. Paulína Koršňáková, Senior Research and Liaison Advisor to IEA, Slovakia (Introducing the people, the case study, the format of the event and its targets)

Rapporteur: Mr. Ralph Carstens, Study Director IEA International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) 2016 & Co-Head of International Studies Unit, IEA Hamburg, Germany

Council of Europe Secretariat: (tbd)

Resource person(s):

• Mr. Ralph Carstens, Study Director IEA International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) 2016
  (Introducing ICCS: Linking past and future of the study, stressing the key issues covered; a bit of technical details, so the IEA model/approach to a study, its instruments & respondents are introduced to participants)
• Dr. Ellen Claes, Centre for Citizenship and Democracy at KU in Leuven, Belgium
• Dr. Ellen Almgren, Swedish National Agency for Education, Stockholm, Sweden
• Dr. Eva Klemencic, Pedagogical Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia