The 6th Steering Committee of the EU/CoE Joint Project Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education met online to discuss current activities and the workplan for the next six months.
Sarah Keating, Head of the Council of Europe Education Department’s Co-operation and Capacity Building Division, opened the meeting by thanking all participants and stakeholders for their commitment and involvement in the project. She also summarised the positive feedback received from an external EU evaluation on the project outputs, deemed of excellent quality, and on the teacher training, among other activities.
The Deputy Minister of National Education, Dr. Petek Aşkara, highlighted that the project is fundamental in establishing and strengthening a culture of democracy in Turkish society, and that future generations are key for universal values and principles to be adopted and become the legacy of our time.
Dr. Aşkara also stressed that a democratic environment is essential to protect students from the negative effects of peer pressure and from bullying, and how involving all school stakeholders, in line with the Whole School Approach adopted by the project, is fundamental and relevant in this perspective.
Steering Committee members underlined that school commissions should strive to involve families, not just staff and students, to ensure the effective implementation of the Whole School Approach.
Among the activities currently being implemented:
- A workshop with practitioners was held on December 2 and 3 for the development of policy recommendations. Representatives of the Provincial Directorates of the Ministry of National Education and teachers from the project’s pilot schools, worked in parallel groups under the moderation of experts. The group work provided an opportunity to identify the challenges faced and areas where further support is needed when implementing the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC). The workshop is part of a series of meetings aiming at the integration of the CDC into current policy documents on basic education in Turkey.
- The implementation of the Whole School Model and of the project’s educational materials is underway in 110 pilot schools in 10 provinces. More than 2,000 teachers were trained in September and October through cascade training sessions, and with the help of school commissions they are working with students to develop their competences for democratic culture.
The 10 project's pilot provinces:
A photo from the workshop with practitioners:
