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 Training of youth workers on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture

22 youth workers have been trained on how to apply the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) in non-formal education during a 3-day online seminar organised by the Council of Europe Project “Education for Democracy in the Republic of Moldova”, in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund in Moldova.

The event was organised in the context of wider efforts to ensure coherence between the formal and non-formal civic education in the Republic of Moldova, and to support the application in practice of the Methodological guidelines on the organization of the educational process in the discipline Education for society for the years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 adopted by the Ministry of Education and Research to facilitate the cooperation between schools and youth centres. Youth workers and teachers work towards the same goals and aim to develop the same competences, values and attitudes in terms of democratic culture, but often they do not have a clear understanding of the purpose of cooperation and the responsibilities of each in this process.

The national experts presented and discussed with the participants the concepts and assumptions underlying the RFCDC and the model of competences, as well as the implementation of the RFCDC in the Moldovan educational context.

The participants examined the role and responsibilities of youth workers and civic education teachers in developing schoolchildren’s competences which will prepare them for life as active and engaged citizens who can live peacefully together with others.

“We had the opportunity to reflect on and critically evaluate our activity as youth workers in a friendly online environment. Now I understand the model of competences and the role the youth center plays in developing schoolchildren’s competences for democratic culture”, Alina Butnaru of Ungheni Youth Center said.

The event was a first experience of connecting youth workers with the RFCDC approaches and principles. Follow up activities to build on this first exposure to the RFCDC of the youth workers will be developed, as well as activities to familiarize more closely the teachers and other formal education specialists with non-formal education approaches and tools.

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

Chisinau, Moldova 27 October 2021

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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.