“Get inspired” is the title of a new video produced by the Council of Europe Education Department on the results and impact of the projects funded by the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme DISCO during its 5th cycle (2018-2019).
Digital citizenship education in relation to the implementation of the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) and building democratic and inclusive school culture by promoting the whole community approach were the two thematic priorities of the Programme’s cycle. In the two-year period, 9 projects were funded and 25 organisations from 18 countries were involved.
The projects addressed issues such as: students’ competences to recognise fake news, teaching controversial issues, prevention and protection of students from violence and bullying, co-operative learning between students with disabilities and students without disabilities and social integration of refugees in the academic environment.
Project partners shared their experiences and lessons learned in the video.
“I think this project helped us to find a model that goes beyond the surface” emphasised Sorana Pogăcean, New Horizons Foundation, Romania in the video. “If you really want to make it an inclusive and democratic school then you need to make sure that everyone is part of the conversation” Ms Pogăcean added.
“A key impact of the project is teachers’ increased confidence and professional competency to guide and encourage students to become more involved” stressed Snezana Jankulovska, Association Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), North Macedonia in the video. “It was great to see students have a participatory role and work with their teachers as partners” Ms Jankulovska added.
According to Colin Isham, external evaluator of the Joint Programme DISCO “one of the strengths of the Programme or maybe its biggest strength is that both design and content of the projects speak to the competency framework”.
The projects contributed to the implementation of the RFCDC and to the building of an inclusive and democratic school culture in the participating countries.
Outputs of the projects included: a handbook for teachers on how to recognise fake news, a good practice guide on how to teach controversial issues and handle controversy in schools, digital tools for co-operative learning between students with disabilities and students without disabilities and a toolkit providing guidance on how to recruit and integrate experts or teaching staff with refugee backgrounds in higher education institutions.
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