Over 60 school mentors, principals, and education experts from 31 mentor schools across Serbia met in Sisevac for their fourth annual meeting to advance democratic culture in classrooms and mark the final evaluation of the “Quality Education for All” action’s impact at the school level.
The three-day event, organised as part of the joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe entitled “Quality Education for All”, highlighted peer learning, best practices, and the sustainability of democratic culture initiatives in classrooms nationwide. The meeting was attended by Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, Evgenia Giakoumopoulou, who emphasised the vital role mentors play in fostering democratic values and transforming educational practices throughout Serbia, highlighting the significance of collaborative efforts.
Participants shared experiences on mentoring new schools, discussed examples of successful dissemination, and exchanged practical approaches to embedding the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) within daily teaching and school activities. Focus groups concentrated on evaluating the action’s impact at the school level, examining its effects on students, teachers, and the wider school community, as well as gathering information for recommendations to enhance future initiatives.
Mentors collaboratively designed new action plans to ensure ongoing support and the expansion of inclusive, democratic education standards in Serbia. In the end, mentor schools also selected 180 new schools for dissemination, to be trained in line with the RFCDC principles in the 2026/27 school year.
The action “Quality education for all” is part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.
