Education for democracy in the Republic of Moldova

What is the project

The project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova” is implemented by the Council of Europe and is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the framework of “Moldova: Fostering Active Civic Engagement” Programme.

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova over a period of four years starting in January 2019. The total budget of the project amounts to 1,080,000 Euros.

The Project aims to contribute to an inclusive, peaceful and democratic society in the Republic of Moldova by helping strengthen the capacity of the Moldovan education system to develop the knowledge and competences that schoolchildren need to become engaged citizens.

The Project promotes the Council of Europe approach to citizenship education: a holistic view on knowledge, skills, values and attitudes, a focus on democratic school development and an integration of young people’s civic experiences in the wider community.

The project supports the on-going reform process lead by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, and helps:

Further develop the policy and methodological framework for the reconceptualised civic education subject “Education for Society” in line with the Council of Europe standards;
Promote the integration of competences for a democratic culture in other subjects;
Strengthen the capacity of national institutions, teachers and other education professionals to develop democratic competences in learners and apply the new educational approaches in practice;
Develop a methodology for democratic school governance and pilot it in schools;
Develop and publish information and methodological materials for education decision makers and practitioners;
Raise awareness and understanding of the role of citizenship education in the wider society.

What is the legal context

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova has developed a new curriculum for the “Education for Society” subject for grades V to XII which was introduced in grades V and X in September 2018.

The new curriculum is largely based on the Council of Europe standards – the CoE Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) and the CoE Framework of Competences for a Democratic Culture and has been developed with CoE expert support.

This ambitious curriculum reform and its alignment to CoE standards are part of the broader process of modernisation and transition to a competence-based approach to education in which Moldova has been engaged over the past few years.

The reform will impact not only the educational input or the content of school subjects, but also, and importantly, the educational practices: teaching and learning methods, assessment, school governance, etc. It requires a real change of educational paradigm in the Republic of Moldova, which could be very challenging to implement.

What do we aim to achieve?

Legal and policy framework

Training and capacity building

Decision-making processes

News

Back Handbooks on competence-based developed by the Council of Europe will help Moldovan teachers to plan and organize "Education for Society" lessons

Civic education teachers throughout Moldova received handbooks for teaching the new civic education subject “Education for society” based on the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. The handbooks were developed and printed by the Council of Europe Project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova”, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research ensured their distribution in every educational institution in the country during September 2020.

The teacher’s handbooks are practical instruments designed to support Moldovan teachers to apply the new competence-based civic education curriculum developed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova with Council of Europe (CoE) support in 2018. The new subject has been gradually introduced in schools starting in September 2018 and is currently taught in most secondary school grades.

The handbooks (for grades V, VI, X and XI) contain a methodological overview explaining the 20 competences included in the curriculum as per the CoE’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture, as well as detailed lesson plans. Before being printed, the handbooks were piloted during the school year 2019/2020. The authors – a team of international and national experts – considered the lessons learned from the one-year pilot implementation, as well as students’ and teachers’ feedback.

“The elaboration of the teacher’s handbooks is perfectly synchronized with the gradual implementation of the new civic education subject “Education for society” based on the promotion of a holistic approach of values, attitudes, skills and knowledge and critical understanding and democratic governance of schools in line the CoE Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture”, stated Igor Sarov, Minister of Education, Culture and Research, in the handbooks’ foreword.

William Massolin, Head of the CoE Office in Chisinau, said that the project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova”, implemented with financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, focuses on the implementation of the re-conceptualised civic education subject and promotes the CoE approach to citizenship education. “The Teacher’s Handbooks are designed to support the teachers in planning and carrying out the “Education for society” classes. It is a practice tool which we really hope you will find very useful in your everyday work”, said William Massolin.

The CoE is now developing and piloting in all Moldovan schools the teacher’s handbooks for the grades VII and XII. The publications will be revised based on lessons learned from one-year pilot implementation and teachers’ feedback and will be printed next year.

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 5, RO

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 5 RU

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 6 RO

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 6 RU

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 10 RO

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 10 RU

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 11 RO

Ghidul profesorului Educatie pentru societate clasa 11 RU

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Who we work with?

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.

Who benefits from the project?

Teachers: key target group; they are crucial in implementing the new civic education curriculum which introduces new teaching, learning and assessment approaches and that many of them may find very challenging. Sustained capacity building and support is necessary over a period of time. This should take into account the structural problems affecting the teacher profession – shortage of teachers, high teacher turnover, age of teachers, low salaries.

Schoolchildren: key beneficiaries; in the context of Moldova’s low civic participation and political culture, but also the broader socio-economic problems, such as mass migration and the fact that many children are reared by their grandparents, schools play a central role in nurturing schoolchildren’s competences for active and responsible citizenship. Schools need to develop both cognitive and socio-emotional skills and provide them with a values framework.