From left to right: Snežana SAMARDŽIĆ-MARKOVIĆ, Director General DG Democracy, Council of Europe; Thorbjørn JAGLAND, Secretary General, Council of Europe; Jan Tore SANNER, Minister of Education and Integration, Ministry of Education and Research, Norway; Ana PERONA-FJELDSTAD, Executive Director, European Wergeland; Haldis HOLST, Chair of the Board of the European Wergeland Centre, Deputy General Secretary of Education International, Norway/Belgium
Eleven schools which took part in the Democratic Schools for All online survey (Spring 2018) and shared their democratic practices had been chosen to participate in the campaign launch conference. They presented their work and discussed issues related to the themes of the campaign with practitioners, experts and policy makers.
The schools selected were:
- Kushrimi i Lirisë, Albania
- Osnovna Skola Gradac, Croatia
- Collège Charles Péguy, France
- Netzwerk-Schule, Germany
- High School of Makrygialos Pieria, Greece
- 23rdPrimary School of Kalamaria, Greece
- Bremore Educated Together Secondary School, Ireland
- Grammar School Slobodan Skeroviv, Montenegro
- Lorin Salagean Technical College, Romania
- Stanimir Veljokovic Zele, Serbia
- Chernivtsi Secondary School, Ukraine
Throughout the conference, an exhibition featured prominently showcasing good practices from 18 schools across Europe. In the panel sessions, these schools presented their practices, followed by discussions and comments.
The background notes for all parallel panel sessions held Thursday November 15 and Friday 16 as well as the presentations of the speakers may be found here.
The next big conference of the campaign will take place in Athens, on 6-7 June 2019, under the title “Democracy in Action”. It will focus on resources developed by the Council of Europe Education programmes and synergies to promote Democracy and Human Rights such as teaching and learning materials, websites, supportive tools and policy papers to bridge policy and practice in formal education. All those resources as well as inclusive approaches in practice will be presented and promoted in the framework of the campaign "Free to Speak, Safe to Learn. The Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture and its use in practice will also be put forward.
The conference is financed by the Swiss Government (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI) and will be organised in cooperation between the Council of Europe, Zurich University of Teacher Education and the Ministry of Education of Greece.
To find out more about our campaign visit the About section on our website.
Photos: Werner Anderson
