Back Ad hoc Ministerial Conference (Ministers of Education) - "Securing democracy through education"

Nicosia , 

As delivered

 

Educating for stable democracies

Before anything let me thank the Cypriot authorities and Minister Kadis for arranging this event, less than one year after the 25th session of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education in Brussels.

Our Committee of Ministers deserves enormous credit for the growing importance it attaches to education as a force for democracy, human rights and stability in Europe. The Andorran chairmanship gave this agenda momentum; this was built upon by Belgium and, today, Cyprus; and it will be given continued emphasis by the Czech Republic.

Within the Council of Europe we are making a concerted effort to place the education agenda more squarely at the centre of our work. And I very much welcome Commissioner Navracsics, whose presence here today demonstrates the clear commitment of the European Union, too.

We live in a Europe in which populism, extremism and forceful nationalism are becoming all too familiar. Serious issues such as terrorism, economic austerity, distrust of political elites and the refugee crisis continue to loom large. In some states we see human rights and minority protections under threat and, in many, hate speech is on the rise, propelled by fake news and so-called “alternative facts”.

In Europe, such tendencies must worry us. Our history obliges us to heed these developments, which we know are a threat to our stability and security. When we see growing confrontation on our continent, within states and also between them, as well as between citizens and authorities, we must once again return to the philosophy underpinning the European Convention on Human Rights: that if we are to guarantee peace and stability, citizens, communities and countries must be able to interact and co-operate on the basis of shared values, shared standards and common ground.

We can continue to think of stability exclusively in terms of defence budgets, or counter-terror efforts. Or we can understand that security – democratic security – also rests on fostering tolerant and inclusive societies, in which members are able to live alongside one another successfully. Engaged democracies, in which citizens are exposed to, and can partake in, responsible and balanced debate.

For this, education is fundamental.

Through education we help our young people spot and challenge bias and prejudice.

Through education we better manage diversity. We transmit the shared values which help bind our societies, helping individuals and communities, seeing their similarities as well as their differences. Modern Europe is built on this co-existence of common values and rich diversity.

Through education, we empower those who are otherwise marginalised. Religious and ethnic minorities and migrants. And also the young men and women who may be part of the majority population but whom, for whatever reason – usually poverty – are at risk of marginalisation too.  

Education is thus a central pillar of our strategy to help build sustainable and resilient democracies, along with our work to safeguard human rights and strengthen the rule of law.

Young democratic citizens

Our approach to education has three central aims, reflected in the conference Plenary sessions.

The first is about enabling young people to function as responsible democratic citizens: who understand that there are certain values and attitudes which all members of a democracy must share, such as valuing pluralism and respecting the rights of others. And who, at the same time, feel at ease with the growing diversity we see across our societies.

This is the key objective of the Council of Europe’s Competences for Democratic Culture: to prepare young people for life as active citizens in democratic and inclusive societies.

The initiative is ground breaking: it is the first time that an international organisation has proposed a common set of democratic skills and values, based on widespread consultation and empirical research, which can be tailored to suit different national contexts, and applied across Europe’s schools. Through the competences we do not seek to teach young men and women what to think, but rather how to think – critically and for themselves.

Since last April’s meeting in Brussels, the Competences Framework has been further developed and piloted. Teachers from 15 countries, and from different levels of education, have been involved and we are very grateful to have had such active support, from so many Ministries. I have also received reports that teachers in a number of countries have already started using the model in their work, showing that it does indeed respond to a genuine need.

The results of the piloting, conducted over many months, will shortly be presented to you. It has been a rigorous process, the credibility of which has clearly benefitted from testing across a wide variety of education systems and with a wide variety of participants. We are at an important point in developing the final package of materials.

To complete the constituent parts of the Reference Framework, between now and the Prague Forum at the end of October, we will provide supporting documents that explain how the Framework can help become part of everyday school practice; how it is supported with a bank of validated descriptors;  and, through a series of guides and examples, how it can be applied in different educational settings and methodologies, from teacher education to a “whole school approach” to combating radicalisation. You will hear more about this shortly.

Tackling sensitive issues

Second, we want to help schools feel confident in teaching sensitive issues. Not theologising or passing on the official view. But providing balanced information and creating spaces for respectful and reasoned discussion. Especially at a time when young people are able to access such vast amounts of information on the internet, much of it misleading. 

Again, the Competences Framework will be central to this, helping teachers teach about history, about religion, about the Holocaust and so on.

It builds on knowledge we have accumulated over time: for some years the Council of Europe has worked with educators to help them tackle the most sensitive topics. 

Here in Cyprus, our Organisation has helped bring together history teachers from the country’s different communities to discover what they have in common. Bookmarks, our manual on combatting hate speech through human rights education has been translated into 14 languages, with more coming. It has helped young people, and not only them, learn to identify and report hate speech. Signposts, our joint publication with the European Wergeland Centre on the dimension of religious and non-religious convictions within inter-cultural education, has now been translated into 13 languages. On Monday we also launched our new handbook on dismantling hateful narratives – for example, the migrants “taking our jobs” narrative – and constructing positive narratives in their place.

Now we are asking what else can be done to support educators, as they are confronted with a wealth of challenging topics. Whether the refugee crisis, Syria, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism, Brexit, Ukraine. From what we are hearing, there are many instances in which difficult discussions are being closed down, because teachers feel ill-equipped to manage them.

When this happens, not only do misconceptions and conspiracy theories held by pupils go unchallenged, worse still, we risk these children leaving school with no clear understanding of how freedom of expression should operate, in practice. So how can we ensure that these issues are discussed in learning environments which are open and characterised by dialogue? This is something you’ll be addressing in your second Plenary.

Inclusion: refugees

The third aspect of our education work is about maximising participation in education. This is important for all those who may be unfairly excluded, and today and tomorrow particular attention is being drawn to refugees.

The Council of Europe takes very seriously the need to help our member states use education to integrate refugees and other migrants into their societies. For the last two years attention has, understandably, been on the immediate needs associated with receiving and processing the large numbers of people arriving in Europe. But we urgently need to look beyond this. Many of these people will stay. It is for the long-term health of our democracies that we support them to become fully active members of our societies – and that the home population sees the contribution they can make. 

That means giving refugees an opportunity to use their qualifications, whether documented or not. Helping them learn the language of the host country. Actively supporting them to put their talents to productive use.

They have knowledge, skills and experiences which, if harnessed properly, can greatly benefit our nations. Yet 70% of the states which have signed up to the Lisbon Recognition Convention have not yet implemented Article VII, which obliges governments to put in place procedures to recognise refugees’ qualifications, including when they cannot provide written proof, as many obviously can’t.

Huge numbers of children and young people have also arrived, and each one of them has the right to a quality education, as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. This includes those who have been granted refugee status and those who are seeking asylum, and in both transit and destination countries. Yet we know that, in too many places, this right is not being sufficiently upheld. 

I certainly do not underestimate these challenges, not least from a logistical and resource point of view.

But, equally, whether they are solved or not will depend almost entirely on political will. Hence why we have put them on the agenda this week.

So this meeting is both timely and important, and you will be discussing matters which relate directly to the strength and future of our democracies.

I want to thank you for your support in helping the Council of Europe elevate education in our overall strategy for a more stable and more resilient Europe. If our democratic values feel increasingly under threat today, it is more important than ever that we invest in the democratic skills and attitudes of the young people whose job it will be to protect those same democracies tomorrow. That great responsibility will fall on the shoulders of the next generation. Preparing them for it, however, is this generation’s task.

Thank you.