European School Charter

School democracy is not only a powerful tool for bringing up active citizens. It can also be a positive factor in creating a climate of trust and responsibility for preventing and combating violence at school.

In order to pull together experiences and achievements of pilot initiatives across Europe in a document which could inspire many more schools to involve their students, along with educators, in decision-making on matters concerning them, the Council of Europe launched a project to develop a European Charter for a Democratic School without Violence.

More than 120 schools throughout Europe expressed an interest in the project. A panel of Council of Europe and educational experts selected the 26 best contributions sent in by schools from 19 European countries. The selected schools were invited to send delegates to a project conference held from 14-18 July 2004. More than 50 student delegates gathered at the European Youth Centre at Strasbourg to draft and adopt the Charter (see link below).

The participants translated the Charter into their native languages.

An electronic referendum was held from 11-22 October 2004 in cooperation with the Swiss Canton of Geneva.

Links to documents:

Electronic referendum on the European Charter for Democratic Schools

Introduction to the Charter

School Charter Report

Conference Programme (July 2004)

Project outline (November 2003)

Participants list

Press release

School Charter also exists in:

- Bulgarian