Quality education for all

Back Manual for teachers – Teaching Competences for Democratic Culture online

This manual has been developed at a time unlike any time ourselves or our children have known, at a time when streets and school buildings are empty, life is filled with uncertainty and fears, and our gaze is focused on TV screens and social networks. Nevertheless, it is a time when, more than ever, a large number of people are questioning their attitudes and their values and are taking the oportunity to gain new knowledge and skills.

Following the closure of schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ban on gatherings and social distancing policy, it was necessary to find a rapid solution to the new challenge - how to maintain the teaching process, how to enable children to continue learning, and how to preserve pupils' mental health. This is what this manual is about - human attitudes and values that the pupils need to succeed in keeping this world a place where they all belong equally, in which they are respected and protected, and in which they connect to strong communities ready to meet the challenges.

The purpose of this manual is to help teachers (and parents) in 29 pilot schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina support the development of pupils' Competences for Democratic Culture through concrete ideas and examples of activities. The Council of Europe's Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) is a set of materials that can be used by education systems to equip young people with all of the competences needed to take action to defend and promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law, to participate effectively in a culture of democracy, and to live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse societies.

The manual for teachers, developed within the EU / CoE Horizontal Facility action “Quality education for all”, was created in a short period of time using local expertise and in the local languages, and will be used / adapted in other Balkan countries.

The “Quality Education for All” project is implemented under the joint European Union / Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey II, aiming to foster a quality education for all by promoting inclusion and solutions to address discrimination in the education system.

Manual for teachers – Teaching Competences for Democratic Culture online

Diminuer la taille du texte
Augmenter la taille du texte
Imprimer la page

“Quality education for all” is an action on education implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the framework of the second phase of the “European Union - Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey (HF)”. The Horizontal Facility supports justice reform, the fight against corruption and money laundering and combating discrimination and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, and covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia as well as Kosovo.

The purpose of the Project is to foster a quality education for all by promoting inclusion and solutions to address discrimination in the education system and in this way contribute to an inclusive, peaceful and democratic society with engaged citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In particular, it aims to promote the benefits of multi-ethnic and democratic school for quality education through strengthening capacities of pilot schools to promote democratic school culture.

It builds upon the results achieved during the implementation of the previous Action (HF-38 “Quality Education in Multi-ethnic Societies”) and supports effective implementation of the policy roadmap developed jointly by relevant ministries at state level, entity ministries of education and 10 cantonal ministries of education in April 2019. It is built along three main lines of action:

(1) Enhancing common understanding among relevant authorities and educators of how to develop democratic school culture.

(2) Targeted capacity building of main providers (Ministries of Education, Pedagogical Institutes and CSOs) including by supporting more structured and continuous coordination, and

(3) Awareness-raising of school directors, teachers, students, parents, civil servants and public at large on the benefits of a multi-ethnic and democratic school for quality education.

The main partners of the project are the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all relevant entity and cantonal ministries of education.

The project is implemented throughout a period of 36 months (23 May 2019 – 23 May 2022).

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.