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 Practitioners and students assessed the impact of the “Education for society” subject after five years of gradual implementation

The main achievements, challenges and lessons learned in the process of the gradual implementation of the “Education for Society” subject were discussed during the national conference “Promoting democratic values through education in the Republic of Moldova”, organised on 12 May by the Council of Europe in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova within the “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova” project.

The conference was attended by about 200 people: representatives of district education departments, non-governmental organisations, diplomatic missions and international organisations, school directors, teachers, students, etc. The participants discussed the impact of the new educational approaches promoted within the curriculum reform in the Republic of Moldova on the process of developing competences for a democratic culture.

Anatolie Topală, Minister of Education and Research, said at the opening of the conference that strengthening the capacities of the educational system in the Republic of Moldova in developing the students’ competences is a complex and multidimensional process and this is a priority for the Ministry of Education and Research. “The importance and role of education in promotion of equality, inclusion and democratic citizenship has a greater importance now. Thus, the project’s priorities are aligned to Ministry's commitments as per the EU accession action plan regarding strengthening the rule of law and democracy,” highlighted Anatolie Topală.

Giulia Re, ad interim Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau said that the key objective of the Competences for a Democratic Culture is to prepare young people for life as active citizens in democratic and inclusive societies. “We welcomed and supported the education reforms in the Republic of Moldova initiated in 2018, which attribute a greater role to education in promoting democratic and European values. In the next phase, the Council of Europe will further support the integration of Council of Europe’s flagship Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture in the primary and secondary cycles, including the upper secondary technical education and vocational education and training,” underlined Giulia Re.

In 2019-2022, the Council of Europe Project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova” provided the much-needed support to the Ministry of Education and Research with the process of gradual implementation of the “Education for society” subject. The Council of Europe offered assistance in drafting the policy framework and implementation guidelines on civic education and in strengthening national teacher training capacities, in particular to apply the new teaching and learning methods.

Next four years the Council of Europe will further support the integration of Council of Europe’s flagship Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture in the primary and secondary cycles, including the upper secondary technical education and vocational education and training, further strengthen national teacher education capacities and the professional competences of teachers, and support the implementation in schools of the methodology on the democratic school governance.

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The Council of Europe project “Education for democracy in the Republic of Moldova" is implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2021-2024. The Swiss Confederation is one of the donor countries to the Action Plan and the key donor in the field of education for democracy. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova and in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the United Nations Population Fund in the Republic of Moldova and the Zurich University of Teacher Education within the programme "Moldova: Promoting Active Civic Involvement" for the years 2023-2026.

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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.