Council of Europe

Summer Academy “Human Rights in Action”

On 20-28 June 2012 the South East Europe (SEE) Summer Academy ‘Human Rights in Action’ will be held in Cetinje, Montenegro. The purpose of the Academy is to strengthen the capacity of school heads, teachers and representatives from NGOs or parents’ associations to implement and promote principles and practices of citizenship and human rights education in their schools and local communities.

The Summer Academy translates Council of Europe’s policy into practice by offering training in line with the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education and based on Council of Europe manuals to education professionals and community representatives from South East Europe.

Based on a similar training model of the Summer Academy “Democracy at School”, which takes place annually in Poland, the SEE Academy uses a whole school approach to citizenship and human rights education. Thus, it addresses multiple levels, ranging from the individual teachers, the classroom, and the school to the community. A central part of the training is the development of an action plan by each team to implement upon return, with concrete activities and projects.

The Summer Academy is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Education and Science, Montenegro; the Bureau for Educational Services, Montenegro; the Council of Europe and the European Wergeland Centre.

Summer Academy “Democracy at School”

The Warsaw Summer Academy on “Democracy at school” will take place on 7-15 July 2012. The Summer Academy offers training in the field of education for human rights and democratic citizenship to teams of school heads, teachers and representatives of local NGOs and parents’ associations.

The Academy 2012 combines a one week face to face training in Poland and a 10 month online follow-up, as well as preparatory tasks. Closely linked to the participants’ own experiences and expectations, the training uses a whole school approach focusing on school governance, teaching methods, classroom climate and partnership with the local community.

It is available for participants from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine (the Eastern Partnership countries), Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

The Summer Academy: Democracy at School is a cooperation between the Polish Ministry of National Education (MEN), Centre for Education Development, Poland (ORE), The European Wergeland Centre (EWC) and Council of Europe (CoE), and is based on the shared values and principles of these institutions.

The Summer Academy puts CoE recommendations and resources into practice, with training sessions based on CoE manuals. Closely linked to the participants’ own experiences and expectations, and using a whole school approach, the training focuses on school governance, teaching methods and classroom climate, as well as cooperation with the local community.

A part of the training is also to develop an Action Plan to promote and incorporate the principles of democracy and human rights when the participants return to their local community. Furthermore, the Summer Academy aims to initiate and strengthen cooperation between the participating countries by the exchanges of experiences and good practices in the field.

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