The Project “Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education” celebrated its achievements at its Closing Ceremony and International Conference organised in Ankara on 21 September 2022.
The conference started with the opening speeches of Ambassador Mr Faruk Kaymakcı, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs; Ambassador Mr Nikolaus Meyer Landrut, Head of the EU Delegation to Türkiye; Mr Tuncay Morkoç, Director General of Basic Education of the MoNE; Mr Barbaros Murat Köse, Acting Director of Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU); and Ms Sarah Keating, Head of the Co-operation and Capacity Building Division of the CoE Education Department.
During his opening speech, Ambassador Landrut stressed the importance of applying democratic competences in schools for the advancement of human rights in our societies. He also underlined the European Commission’s continuous support for education.
Ambassador Kaymakcı also emphasised how education has evolved in Türkiye in the past years, highlighting that compassion, affection, respect and participation in education are now understood as key principles to raise a generation with free will and free opinions based on fundamental rights, and ultimately will lead to the development of a culture of democracy.
Mr Morkoç stated that the Project’s practices, especially child participation, the involvement of parents and the strengthening of teachers’ and school administrators’ capacities were well-received in the field, and that the MoNE will ensure that the Project’s results are further disseminated after its end.
The Provincial Directors of Education in the Project’s pilot provinces, teachers and school administrators from the pilot schools, representatives from public institutions and NGOs, and national and international experts attended the conference.
The first session of the Conference was dedicated to the presentation of project results, among which the Whole School Model (WSM), a set of education materials for children, training modules for teachers, and a cartoon series to promote democratic competences beyond pilot schools. The project piloted the WSM and the educational materials in 110 pilot schools in 10 provinces, and thanks to the commitment of the MoNE, 6.167 teachers were trained and will continue to promote democracy in schools.
Furthermore, two separate panels were organised to provide participants the opportunity to exchange practices and learn from other countries’ examples. Attended by experts and representatives from CoE education projects, the panels were opened by a short presentation on the Teacher Trainings held in in Türkiye and on the Whole School Model, one of the main Project’s outputs.
A special thanks goes to the panellists:
Kristina Kahiari (Counsellor of Education, Finnish National Agency for Education),
Natia Natsvlishvili (Georgian Government delegate to the CoE Steering Committee for Education) and Ayse Kula (Head of R&D and Projects Department, MoNE DG for Basic Education) for the discussion on the Whole School Approach,
Corina Lungu (Senior advisor of the Moldovan Ministry of Education and Research); Rebecca Welge (Zurich University of Teacher Education), Engin Karadağ (Council of Europe expert) and Nihal Gozuyasli (Project Co-ordinator, MoNE DG for Basic Education) for the discussion on teacher trainings,
… and to the moderators, Olena Styslavska and Angelos Vallianatos.
A final thanks to all participants who took part in the Conference from all over the Country.
The full recording of the conference can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeWlXZtGlvg
For more information on the project “Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education”, you can visit the dedicated webpage.
The Project “Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education” in Türkiye, funded by the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE), is implemented by the CoE in co-operation with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE).
