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. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DARE
Democracy and Human Rights Education
.. .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. .. . in Europe
Reports and Documents · No. 2
DARE seminar
»ICT-Education in EDC/HRE«
Seminar in Budapest, Hungary
22 – 24 April 2004
Hosting organisation: Fiatalok a Vidékért Egyesület
Youth for Rural Areas, Hungary
Report on activities of DARE 2004 – 2005
DARE-Newsletters No. 3 · 4 · 5 and No. 6
Developing a shared Understanding
Karen O’Shea · A Glossary of Terms for Education for Democratic Citizenship
DARE Member Organisations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
as at November 2005
Albania
Albanian Centre for Human Rights
Austria
Service Centre for
Human Rights Education
Belgium
VORMEN – Flemish Organisation for
Human Rights Education
Bosnia-Herzegovina
D@dalos-Association for
Peace Education Work
Bulgaria
Partners Bulgaria Foundation
Croatia
Citizens’ Association – GONG
Mali Korak – Centre for Culture
of Peace and Non Violence
Research and Training Centre for
Human Rights and Democratic
Citizenship / University of Zagreb
Czech Republic
Human Rights Education Centre /
Charles University
Denmark
International Education Center
Estonia
HAKK – Association of Schools for
Extracurricular Activities
Jaan Tonisson Institute
Germany
AdB – Association of German
Educational Centres
Sonnenberg-Kreis e.V.
Italy
Association School Instrument
of Peace – EIP Italia
Lithuania
Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights
Centre of Civic Initiatives
Malta
Ministry of Education
The Netherlands
HREA – Human Rights
Education Associates
Norway
Directorate of Education
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Poland
Polish Homes of Meeting
Federation
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Romania
CRED – Romanian Centre
for Education and Human Development
Russian Federation
Moscow School of Human Rights
Slovakia
Milan Šimečka Foundation
Slovenia
EIP Slovenia –School for peace
Spain
FEUP – Federación Española
de Universidades Populares
Switzerland
MERS – Association for Human Rights
United Kingdom
Education in Human Rights Network
Centre for Europe
Hungary
Foundation for Human Rights
and Peace Education
Centre for Global Education
Youth for Rural Areas
Welsh Centre for International Affairs
The Citizenship Foundation
DARE-Network
Reports and Documents · Nr. 2
November 2005
Content
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6
49
54
63
69
75
Hannelore Chiout
Frank Elbers
DARE Seminar Report
»ICT-Education in EDC / HRE«
Budapest, 22 - 24 April 2004
e-DARE:
Newsletter on Human Rights Education and
Education for Democracy
Issue 3 · February 2004
Issue 4 · April 2004
Issue 5 · June 2004
Issue 6 · September 2004
Karen O’Shea
A Glossary of Terms
for Education for Democratic Citizenship
DARE-Network · Reports and Documents · No. 2
Project-No. 110070-CP-1-2003-DE-GRUNDTVIG-G4
Coordinator:
Dr. Hannelore Chiout
Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten
Mühlendamm 3 · D-10178 Berlin
Fon +49 - (0)30 - 400 40 117
Fax +49 - (0)30 - 400 40 122
chiout @ adbildungsstaetten.de
Find more information: www.dare-network.org
This Project has been funded with support
from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of
the author, and the Commission cannot
be held responsively for any use may be
made of the information contained herein.
Dear DARE members!
Dear partners and allies in the field of Education
for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights!
This brochure is the second one of a series of documentations
to comprehend the developing process of a new network in the
enlarged European Union. Here you can find reports of activities
of the DARE-network, background material to relevant issues
and some newsletters.
Report on activities of DARE
2004 – 2005
Introduction
Activities
This report briefly summarises the activities of the
DARE Network between the second General Assembly on 23 April 2004 and the third General Assembly
on 2 June 2005.
Seminars and conferences
22 - 24 April 2004 / Budapest
Responsible organisation: Five, Hungary
ICT-Education in HRE and EDC
about 30 participants
Funding
We invited to attend this seminar with the following
objectives:
• to improve and update the database of HRE and
EDC
• to improve existing methodological material and
material referring to the content of HRE and EDC
• to publish educational material in ICT connected
with HRE and EDC
• to raise awareness of the growing importance of
ICT in networking HRE and EDC
In September 2003, the European Commission awarded DARE a Grundtvig-4 (adult education) 507,216
EURO grant under the European Union Socrates
Programme.
This grant allows the network to proceed with the
activities during the period October 2003-September
2006. The grant covers mostly the expenses for accommodation and traveling. Staff costs are in-kind
contributions by the DARE members.
”Participating organisations” (this is the term
used by the European Union, it does not say anything about the status of DARE members within the
network) in the Grundtvig-4 grant are the following
DARE members: AdB, VORMEN, Centre for Europe, Centre for Global Education, CRED, FPDS,
HAKK, HREA, Lithuanian Centre for Human
Rights, Norwegian Drectorate of Education, Partners
Bulgaria, VORMEN, and Youth for Rural Areas.
In 2004 the AdB supported travel and accommodation costs for the members of Non-SOKRATES
countries. Travel expenses and accommodation for
all other DARE members have been covered by the
funds of Grundtvig.
The activities of DARE are based on the Grundtvig 4 project work plan. The Grundtvig project work
plan cannot be amended by the General Assembly, as
it is already submitted and cannot easily be changed
afterwards. All members of DARE are invited to participate corresponding to their needs, resources and
experiences.
3 - 4 December 2004 / Amsterdam
Responsible organisation: HREA, Netherlands
Human Rights Education as a Global Challenge
2004 the UN Decade of Human Rights Education
has been finished in December. DARE invited to the
conference DARE members and external participants and experts.
The conference in Soesterberg/ NL aimed:
• to take stock of efforts to promote HRE,
• to scan progress and set-backs in HRE,
• to focus European Human Rights Education Policy and national efforts, especially in transition
countries of CoE,
• to work out proposals for an improvement of conditions and concepts in European HRE
Find short reports in e-dare.
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June 2005 / Sofia
Responsible: Partners Bulgaria Foundation
HRE / EDC and diversity:
concepts for and with ethnic minorities
•
•
•
Objectives:
Promoting awareness for specific problems of minorities,
developing and implementing concepts for special target groups,
collecting and working on examples of mediation
Evaluation
In November 2003 the Board agreed to contract Ms.
Judith Neisse as external evaluator for the Grundtvig-4 project.
Ms. Neisse attended the seminar in Antwerp in
December 2003 and the conference on Human
Rights Education from 3-4 December 2004 in Soesterberg/NL.
Judith Neisse used the following methods to gather information for the first evaluation: Review of
official documents, interviews with key actors and
partners, observation of the process during the meeting in Soesterberg.
She sent her evaluation report to the coordinator
at the end of April 2005.
e-DARE Newsletter
The first DARE electronic newsletter, e-DARE,
was published in October 2003.
Until today DARE published 7 e-DAREs.
Subscribers of e-DARE are all DARE members.
DARE member VORMEN is responsible for the task
of preparing e-DARE.
Copies of e-DARE can be found at the website:
http://www.dare-network.org/newsletter .
DARE Listserv
In December 2003 a listserv was launched to enhance communication between members.
HREA is responsible to bring the listserv up to
date: [email protected] .
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Working Group 1
Concepts, Methods and Materials
As part of the Grundtvig IV grant the network has
two permanent Working Groups. The focus of Working Group 1 is concepts, methods and materials.
Working Group 2 concentrates on questions of capacity-building, continuity and sustainability of the
DARE Network.
Members of Working Group 1 are:
Akvile Andruliene or Gediminas Andriukaites
Margot Brown and / or Chrissie Dell
Centre for Global Education, UK
John Christiansen
Directorate of Education, Norway
Anne-Marie Eckhout
HREA – in place of Ellie Keen, The Netherlands
Corina Leca CRED, Romania
Agnieszka Paczynska FPDS, Poland
representative of Partners Bulgaria
Andrea Stork Sonnenberg
Maja Uzelac Mali Korak, Croatia
Katrin Wolf AdB, Germany
Working Group 1 met twice,
in York (2-4 September 2004) and
Berlin (17-19 March 2005).
Working Group 1 was responsible for the first DARE
publication Why DARE? Networking for Democracy
and Human Rights Education in Europe.
The first edition is nearly out of print.
Elected Coordinator of WG 1 was Agnieszka
Paczynska. She coordinated the edition of the first
publication too.
WG1 is now working on the second publication
about good practice examples of the DARE community in EDC and HRE and about links between both
field. Gedimidas Andriukaites coordinates the second publication.
Elected Coordinator of WG 1: Anne-Maire Eckhout.
Working Group 2
Policy and Funding
Working Group 2 focuses on the sustainability of the
DARE-network, in particular on ways of capacity
building, on the sustainability of the network, on enlargement policies, on policies to promote EDC and
HRE and lobbying for the Network.
Members of Working Group 2 are:
Hannelore Chiout AdB
Frank Elbers HREA
Daniela Korolova / Yoanna Baleva
Partners Bulgaria
Katalin Kordas
Youth for Rural Areas in place of Béla Mokos
Wim Taelman VORMEN
Richard Wassel Centre for Europe.
Elected Coordinator for the period 2004/05:
Daniela Korolova.
Working Group 2 met
in Sofia (5 - 8 August 2004) and
Berlin (17 - 19 March 2005).
During 2004 - 2005 Board members and members of
the working groups represented DARE at various
events of the Council of Europe and the European
Union, communicated with politicians and authorities on European and national level.
DARE has been invited to join European conferences and to cooperate in the field of EDC and HRE
with other networks.
The DARE-network is also involved in other
Grundtvig applications referring to EDC and HRE
and has published a declaration on the European
Year of Citizenship through Education.
Hannelore Chiout
Chair
The group is developing a long-term plan for the
sustainability of the DARE Network and is preparing
project proposals after the lifetime of the Grundtvig
project.
DARE Website
After the launch oft the network in June 2003, a temporary website was created at:
http://www.dare-network.org
In April 2005 DARE member HREA developed
the permanent website for the network. Please have a
look!
Board
The current Board consists of
Hannelore Chiout AdB, Germany Chairperson
Margot Brown Centre for Global Education, UK
Secretary
Frank Elbers HREA, the Netherlands
Richard Wassels Centre for Europe, UK Treasurer
and Maja Uzelac Mali Korak, Croatia.
The Board was elected during the last General Assembly of DARE, June 2005 in Sofia and serves a
two-year term.
Board meetings were held
in June 2003 (Antwerp, Belgium),
in August 2003 (Königswinter, Germany),
in December 2003(Antwerp, Belgium) and
in March 2004 (Berlin, Germany),
in April 2004,
in December 2004 (Soesterberg, Netherlands).
The Board also held monthly conference calls.
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ICT-Education in EDC / HRE
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DARE seminar on ICT and EDC/HRE
Budapest, 22- 24 April 2004
1. Introduction
2. Programme
3. Where do ICTs fit in educational strategies for EDC/HRE (benefits/weaknesses)? (Leo
VONCK, Anywize, Belgium)
4. Presentation of DARE website (Frank ELBERS, HREA)
5. Conceiving and designing a webpage/site (Frank ELBERS, HREA / Haris MUHIĆ,
D@dalos)
6. “Netiquette”: Etiquette and ICTs (Andrea STORK, Sonnenberg-Kreis e.V. / Leo VONCK,
Anywize)
7. How does e-learning work? (Haris MUHIĆ, D@dalos / Frank ELBERS, HREA)
8. “Say No to Hatred” website (Ewa LISZCZ, Wirydarz / Agnieszka PACZYNSKA, FPDS)
9. Evaluation
1. Introduction
DARE concluded its first year of activities with a an intensive, three-day seminar on
information and communication technologies (ICTs) applications in EDC and HRE. External
experts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland delivered presentations on educational
strategies and ICTs, e-democracy, and hate on the Internet. Staff members from D@dalos,
HREA, Sonnenberg Kreis e.V., and VORMEN facilitated hands-on workshops on effective use of
search engines, e-learning, web design, possibilities of using ICTs in education, and
"netiquette", among other topics. The seminar, hosted by DARE member FVE-Youth for Rural
Areas, offered an opportunity to exchange lessons learned in ICT applications and to strategise
for effective use of ICTs by individual DARE members. The seminar conluded with two session
on how the DARE network as a whole can use ICTs most effectively. The evaluation
demonstrates that the seminar was highly valued by the participants.
2. Programme
DARE Reports and Documents · No. 2
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Programme of DARE seminar on ICT and EDC/HRE
Budapest, 22-24 April 2004
Thursday, 22 April
8:00
9:00
9:05
9:15
Friday, 23 April
Breakfast
Opening
8:00
9:30
Breakfast
Group activity
Presentation “Where do ICTs fit in educational
10:30
General Assembly, including informal
Ice breaker
strategies for EDC/HRE (benefits/weaknesses)?”
(presentation by Leo VONCK, Anywize), followed by
discussion
12:30
14:00
Lunch
Workshop & demos
12:30
14:00
Coffee break
Working groups (break out in small groups of 6-8
persons): how can DARE and DARE members use
ICTs
Lunch
Plenary discussion: how can DARE and DARE
members use ICTs
Topic: “Netiquette”: Etiquette and ICTs
(Andrea STORK, Sonnenberg-Kreis e.V. / Leo
VONCK, Anywize)
Topic: Conceiving and designing a webpage/site (Frank
ELBERS, HREA / Haris MUHIĆ, D@dalos)
Topic: Useful shareware (various DARE
members)
15:30
16:00
During this session all those members who have
brought ICT applications can introduce them. 2 The
Marketplace will be open during the whole seminar.
1
Topic: E-governance (Vera FRANZ, Information ProgramOpen Society Institute)
10:30
11:00
Topic: Effective use of search engines
(Wim TAELMAN, VORMEN)
18:00 Dinner
Breakfast
Workshop & demos
Topic: “Say No to Hatred” website
(Ewa LISZCZ, Wirydarz/Agnieszka PACZYNSKA, FPDS)
discussion
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Marketplace
8:00
9:00
gathering afterwards
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Presentation of DARE website, followed by
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Workshop & demos 1
Saturday, 24 April
Coffee break
Workshop & demos
15:30
16:00
Coffee break
Plenary evaluation of the seminar and Closing
16:30
Departure for restaurant in Budapest centre
Topic: How does e-learning work?
(Haris MUHIĆ, D@dalos / Frank ELBERS, HREA)
Topic: E-democracy (Ruud VELDHUIS, Politeia)
18:00
Dinner
The topics of the workshops and/or demonstrations were determined based on a list of topics proposed by DARE members during a plenary session of the seminar in Antwerp in December 2003. The
preparatory group for this seminar made a selection based on the assumption that the topics were suitable for a highly interactive workshop and taking into account the available expertise and experience
within DARE. A reader will be compiled with a selection of articles on the following topics: competency with ICTs as a basic skill; gender and ICTs, guaranteeing human rights on the Internet; examples of
best practices on ICTs; health and ICTs (computer-related injuries but also health of PCs, viruses, etc.); how to address media to bring human rights issues to their attention.
2
Please note that participants in the Marketplace need to bring their own display structures and/or laptops. A VCR player with monitor will be available.
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3. Where do ICTs fit in educational strategies for
EDC/HRE (benefits/weaknesses)?
ICT in educational
strategies for
EDC/HRE
Leo Vonck
Anywize.net - Omniwize.net
Belgium
Overview
• Introduction
• ICT in Education
• ICT in EDC/HRE
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Introduction - Who
we are
Flemish teachers organization for e-learning
• Initiative supported by the Flemish Ministry of Education
• R&D environment for ICT driven teachers (coaches)
• Proper E-learning platform and educational content
focused on 4-18 year old learners
• Open platform to share educational content
ICT in Education
Why ICT in education
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Society and economy runs on ICT nowadays
Employers request for ICT capabilities
Learning efficiency raises with ICT
Instant Access to masses of information
Different ways to manage knowledge
Virtual reality simulation improves involvement
Flexible in time and space (Anytime – Anywhere)
Time available to differentiate
Working in teams around/through computer
Immediate interaction without frontiers
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Goals
Support people in learning how to…
•
•
•
•
•
find
evaluate, be critical on, put in perspective
summarize and process
create and share
Collaborate on
Impact on learners
• Absorbing information
Exploring information
• Teaching
Coaching
• ICT: Aim
ICT: Tool
• Biased
Critical
• Isolated
Collaborative
•
Impact on learning
environment
Bus model
Isles
• Quiet
Rumor
• Teacher in Front
Teacher wandering
• In class
Anywhere/Anytime
• Isolated
Global
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Basic conditions for effective
ICT-based education
Constraints
• Lack of Infrastructure (and support)
– Affordable Multimedia Computers
– Affordable broadband Internet access
• ICT analphabetism (digital divide)
– Teachers
– Adults
• Trained Coaches
– Teachers are trained to transfer knowledge
• Adapted Content
– Lack of smart e-learning knowledge bases and training material
– Outdated information
Implementation criteria
• Audience
• Subjects
• Learning goals
• Available tools and budget
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Audience
• Kids in school / at home
• Youngster
• Adults
• Trainers/Coaches/facilitators
Subjects
• General knowledge
• Technical
• Scientific
• Civil Topics
• …
Learning goals
• Explore – Extract - Express knowledge
• Drill and practice
• Comprehension - Simulate
• Improve creativity
• Work in groups
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Tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
E-mail – List servers
Q&A robots / Quiz
Educational websites
Contract sheets
Simulation
Web quests
Interactive web platforms
Educational games
Forums
Chatsessions/videoconferencing
Mixed Media
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ICT in EDC / HRE
Assumptions
• Access to information is a human right, no one should be
excluded (danger of digital divide)
• Democracy requires access to opinions and objective
information
• Ability of speech, expression and a critical mindset
• Active participation in democratic society
Learning goals
…in group, learn how to:
-
Talk and think together
Listen with respect to alternative views
Evaluate alternatives
Negotiate and decide
Take responsibility for decisions
Present justification of groups decisions
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Three way step for
practice
• Whole class
– Prepare topic elements and delegate work to groups
– Agree on rules on practice
• In groups around computer
–
–
–
–
Search and evaluate alternatives
Discuss and negotiate
Take decision and justify
Prepare presentation
• Whole classroom
– Presentations
– General discussion
– General conclussion
Empowering citizens
• ICT helps Learners how to
– Become a well informed citizen
– Inquire and communicate
– Participate
– Take responsible action
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4. Presentation of DARE website
Developing the DARE website
HREA/PureVisual
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The design process
z
z
z
z
z
Initial input from DARE members (Antwerp,
December 2003)
External assessment study by company
PureVisual (Jan-Feb 2004)
Initial design by PureVisual (March 2004)
Feedback DARE members (April-July 2004)
Launch re-designed website (December
2004)
Purpose of the website
z
z
z
External communication
Internal communication
E-learning
Target groups (external)
z
z
z
z
Other EDC/HRE practitioners
Funders
Policy makers
General public
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Target groups (internal)
z
z
z
z
DARE member organisations
Individual DARE members
Grundtvig-4 “participating organisations”
Board
Website elements (external)
z
z
z
z
Pages with description of DARE
e-DARE newsletter (“public” after year 1)
DARE-announce” listserv (announcement of
DARE publications, events open to nonDARE members)
Full text of DARE publications
Website elements (internal)
z
z
z
z
z
z
18
Intranet
Content Management System (CMS) for member
pages
DARE-members listserv
E-DARE newsletter
Chat room
Full text of various internal publications (minutes
Board meetings, evaluations, GA documentation)
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Technical requirements
z
z
z
z
z
Site totally CMS-based
Quick and easy downloadable
All navigation text part of CMS (allows
multingualisation and flexibility)
Needs to meet WC3 and European
accessibility standards
In general easy to maintain
Design principles
z
z
z
z
z
Flexibility
Accessibility
Ownership
Reliability
Sustainability
Design challenges
z
z
z
Integrating existing DARE logo in design
European “look”
Not much content available
19
Design phase
z
z
z
Develop site map
Wire frames
Template pages
Next steps
z
z
z
z
20
Revise initial design
Develop member pages
Public launch of website (December 2004)
Develop e-learning components (Phase II)
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Conceiving and designing a webpage/site
Before you begin
Planning
Developing a site specification
THE FIRST STEP in designing any Web site is to define your goals.
Planning a Web site is a two-part process: first you gather your development partners, analyze
your needs and goals, and work through the development process outlined here to refine your
plans. The second part is creating a site specification document that details what you intend to
do and why, what technology and content you'll need, how long the process will take, what
you will spend to do it, and how you will assess the results of your efforts. The site
specification document is crucial to creating a successful site, as it is both the blueprint for
your process and the touchstone you'll use to keep the project focused on your agreed goals
and deliverables.
To create a substantial site you'll need content experts, writers, information architects, graphic
designers, technical experts, and a producer or committee chair responsible for seeing the
project to completion.
What are your goals?
A short statement identifying two or three goals should be the foundation of your Web site
design. The statement should include specific strategies around which the Web site will be
designed, how long the site design, construction, and evaluation periods will be, and specific
quantitative and qualitative measures of how the success of the site will be evaluated. Building
a Web site is an ongoing process, not a one-time project with static content. Long-term
editorial management and technical maintenance must be covered in your budget and
production plans for the site. Without this perspective your electronic publication will suffer the
same fate as many corporate communications initiatives — an enthusiastic start without
lasting accomplishments.
The next step is to identify the potential readers of your Web site so that you can structure the
site design to meet their needs and expectations.
Design critiques
Each member of a site development team will bring different goals, preferences, and skills to
the project. Once the team has reached agreement on the mission and goals of the project,
consensus on the overall design approach for the Web site needs to be established. The goal at
this stage is to identify potential successful models in other Web sites and to begin to see the
design problem from the site user's point of view.
At minimum, a good site specification should define the content scope, budget, schedule, and
technical aspects of the Web site.
The site development process
Every significant Web project poses unique challenges, but the overall process of developing a
complex Web site generally follows six major stages:
• Site definition and planning
• Information architecture
• Site design
• Site construction
• Site marketing
• Tracking, evaluation, & maintenance
Developing a large Web site is a process that may have far-reaching budgetary, personnel, and
public relations consequences for an organization, both during the development of the site and
long after its successful deployment. Too many Web sites begin life as ad hoc efforts, created
by small interest groups working in isolation from their peers elsewhere in the organization and
without fully considering the site's goals within the context of the organization's overall
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mission. The result of poorly planned, hasty development efforts often is an "orphan site,"
starved of resources and attention.
If you are on your own as an individual or small business, you may need to contract with
various technology and design vendors to assemble everything you'll need to create a
substantial content site or small ecommerce site.
Production
• Will your site production team be composed of in-house people, outside contractors, or
a mix of the two?
• Who will manage the process?
• Who are your primary content experts?
• Who will be the liaison to any outside contractors?
• l Who will function long-term as the
• Webmaster or senior site editor?
Technology
What browsers and operating systems should your site support? Windows, Macintosh, UNIX,
Linux Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer;
minimum version supported
lNetwork bandwidth of average site visitors Internal audience or largely external audience?
m Ethernet or high-speed connections typical of corporate offices , ISDN, or DSL mediumspeed
connections typical of suburban home , m Modem connections for rural, international, or
poorer audiences
Dynamic HTML (HyperText MarkupLanguage) and advanced features?
JavaScript or vbscript required, Java applets required, Style sheets required Etc.
How will readers reach the support
PROCESS: Site definition and planning personnel?
Email messages from readers
Chat rooms, forums, help desks, or phone support. Database support?
User log-ins required to enter any site areas?
Questionnaires required?
Search and retrieval from databases needed?
Audiovisual content, or audio productions?
How is Web server support
PROCESS: Site definition and planning
Salaries and benefits for short-term development staff and long-term editorial and support
staff
Hardware and software for in-house development team members
Staff training in Web use, database, Web marketing, and Web design
Outsourcing fees
Ongoing personnel support for site
Ongoing server and technical support
Database maintenance and support
New content development and updating
Information architecture
At this stage you need to detail the content and organization of the Web site. Second, creating
a prototype allows the graphic designers to develop relations between how the site looks and
how the navigation interface supports the information design. The key to good prototyping is
flexibility early on: the site prototypes should not be so complex or elaborate that the team
becomes too invested in one designat the expense of exploring better alternatives.
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Web Design
How to create your own website

Now that you've decided on a domain name and web hosting, it's time to actually design
your site! This is the most creative and rewarding part of the process.
There are essentially three options, depending on the amount of customization and
flexibility you want and on how much you are willing to learn.
Choose a web design package for novices. You should look for a package that includes lots
of professional looking templates that you would feel comfortable using - just because you
want to keep things easy doesn't mean they can't look good!
Choose a more advanced web design package, like Microsoft's Front Page. With this
solution you will need to learn a little more about HTML, but you will also have the flexibility
to express yourself any way you want.
Hire a professional web design firm to create your site. This option is more attractive to
businesses than to individuals, but if you're looking to accept orders on your sites
Site design
In architecture as in all other operative
At this stage the project acquires its look and
arts, the end must direct the operation.
feel, as the page grid, page design, and
The end is to build well. Well building hath
overall graphic design standards are created
three conditions.
Commodity, firmness, and delight.
and approved. Now the illustrations,
— Sir Henry Wotton, The Elements of
photography, and other graphic or audiovisual
Architecture
content for the site need to be commissioned
and created. Research, writing, organizing,
assembling, and editing the site's text content is also performed at this stage. Programming,
database design and data entry, and search engine design should be well under way by now.
The goal is to produce all the content components and functional programming and have them
ready for the final production stage: the construction of the actual Web site pages. Typical
products or contract deliverables at the end of this stage could include:
Content components, detailed organization and assembly
• Text, edited and proofread
• Graphic design specifications for all page types m Finished interface graphics for page
templates m Header and footer
• graphics, logos, buttons, backgrounds
• Detailed page comps or finished examples ofkey pages m Site graphic standards
manual for large, complex sites
• Interface design and master page grid templates completed m Finished HTML template
pages
• Illustrations
• Photography
• Functional and logic components
• JavaScript scripts, Java applets designed
• Database tables and programming, interaction prototypes completed
• Search engine designed and tested
Templates
Whether you develop your site on your own or hire a professional Web developer, you should
develop page templates for your new Web site. It's much easier to add new pages if you can
start from a page that already has the basic navigation and site graphics in place. If you share
page development with other people, you will also want to be able to give your team members
templates to use, along with instructions on how to handle page text and content graphics
according to your standards. Popular Web site development software packages such as
Macromedia's Dreamweaver offer powerful templates and standard reusable libraries of site
graphics and HTML that make it easy to create new pages and maintain your site.
Accessibility
23
For many organizations, providing equal access to Web pages is institutional policy, if not a
federal
http://www.webstyleguide.com/process/design.html (2 von 3) 20.04.2004 16:24:26
PROCESS: Site design mandate. It is critical, therefore, that you validate your designs and
page templates and the content of your site throughout the development process to ensure
that your pages are accessible to all users. To check the accessibility of your pages you can
use a tool like Bobby (www.cast.org/bobby). Bobby is a free service provided by the Center for
Applied Special Technology. After you supply the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of your
page, Bobby checks the page against the Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines and flags
potential barriers for users with disabilities. Bobby also recommends changes that will improve
the accessibility of your pages. Check your designs at every development milestone to avoid
time consuming and potentially costly revamping efforts.
INTERFACE DESIGN

Web page design versus conventional document design
Make your Web pages freestanding
Basic interface design
User-centered design
Accessibility
Navigation
References
USERS OF WEB DOCUMENTS don't just look at information, they interact with it in novel ways
that have no precedents in paper document design. The graphic user interface (GUI) of a
computer system comprises the interaction metaphors, images, and concepts used to convey
function and meaning on the computer screen. It also includes the detailed visual
characteristics of every component of the graphic interface and the functional sequence of
interactions over time that produce the characteristic look and feel of Web pages and
hypertext linked relations. Graphic design and visual "signature" graphics are not used simply
to enliven Web pages — graphics are integral to the user's experience with your site. In
interactive documents graphic design cannot be separated from issues of interface design.
Site marketing
Your Web site should be an integral part of all marketing campaigns and corporate
communications programs, and the URL for your site should appear on every piece of
correspondence and marketing collateral your organization generates
If your Web site is aimed primarily at local audiences you must look beyond getting listed in
standard Web indexes, such as Yahoo and Infoseek, URL and publicize your URL where local
residents or businesses will encounter it. Local libraries (and schools, where the content is
relevant) are often the key to publicizing a new Web site within a localized geographic area.
You may also find opportunities to cross-promote your site with affiliated businesses,
professional organizations, broadcast or print media, visitor or local information agencies, real
estate and relocation services, Internet access providers, and local city or town directory sites.
Your organization could also feature local non-profit charitable o school events on your Web
site. The cost in server space is usually trivial, and highly publicized local events featuring a
Web page hosted within your site will boost local awareness of your Web presence. Site
sponsorship might also interest local broadcast media as an interesting story angle.
Your home page URL should appear in all:
Print advertisements, Radio and television advertisements
Lobby kiosks in high-traffic areas of your enterprise or in local libraries, schools, or other
suitable venues, Direct mail campaigns,
Business cards, Stationery Bills and statements
Product manuals and product packaging
Response cards and warrantee cards
Publications and promotional materials
Press releases, Posters and billboards
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25
The Top Fifteen Mistakes of First Time Web Design
By: Haris Muhic
1. Using Frames
Often web designers break up the browser window with separate sub-windows. These divisions
are called frames. Although frames are supposed to help web visitors navigate easier,
frequently they just confuse them. When clicking on an item to move forward, visitors are
uncertain what information will appear where, or in what sub-window. A sub-window used as a
reference can suddenly disappear and be filled with new information about the last thing
requested. And to make matters worse, after hitting the back arrow to return to the subwindow, the visitor may be popped out of the entire web site altogether, possibly jumping back
several places to the earlier page, just before entering the framed web site. This can be
particularly frustrating for the web visitor. Another difficulty is many framed web sites depend
on specific screen sizes. When a visitor with a different sized screen tries to view the framed
page, all of the site's information may be garbled or misplaced. Designers who insist on using
frames should create a no-frame version of their site, as well, for the people who prefer it.
2. Going Overboard with High Tech
Some designers delight in using little "tricks," such as input boxes, opening new browser
windows or background music. The first time a visitor experiences these, the visitor may be
impressed. However, after a few more visits, the viewer will just be annoyed. It is best to stay
away from these types of things.
3. Under Construction Signs
All good web pages are always under construction, but some web designers still insist on
placing a under construction icon on their site. This graphic comes from the designers feelings
of insecurity. They know their page is incomplete or not functioning, so they put up a little sign
that is supposed to excuse them from any problems their site may have. Problem sites are
recognizable with or without under construction signs. Good web designers should not put up a
site until they feel comfortable enough to display it without the under construction warning.
4. Misusing Graphics
No matter how fast an Internet connection is, the graphics on web sites take a long time to
load. Large graphics can take several minutes to load, because the average computer user is
only receiving 28,800 bits of information per second. To avoid having people leave a site, due
to boredom, designers must omit large graphics or large amounts of graphics. When selecting
images, they should include only graphics that add value to their site content, and they should
"shrink" large graphics using computer software specifically made to re-size images. Because
some users still cannot see pages graphically, a web site should not be overly dependent on
graphics. For graphics that direct the visitor to an alternate location, designers should include a
graphic's text equivalent through navigational bars, and the ALT attribute when using the IMG
element. The ALT attribute allows web visitors who are using text based web browsers to view
a short text description where graphics are normally displayed.
5. Ransom Notes Fonts
It is a problem with desktop designer newbies and now it is a problem with web designer
newbies. Designers are caught up in all the available fonts, colors, sizes and styles, and they
are using them all. Because text needs to convey information, and not complicate it, good
designers must limit themselves to one or two fonts. Also, when text is too small or too large,
it is difficult to read. Type for body text should be set to "normal" while headlines should be a
little bigger (+1 to +3). Large body copy is distracting, and a sure sign of the web designer's
insecurity. "Big" information does not hide a page's lack of content.
When emphasizing text, do not underline it. Highlight text by using bold, italics or different
colors. Underlining makes words more difficult to read and it also confuses the web visitor,
because text that links visitors to alternate locations, is underlined as well.
25
6. Complex Backgrounds
Many web sites offer libraries of background graphics that designers can use free on their web
sites. It is tempting to pick the most beautiful or ornate background styles, but these should
be avoided at all costs. A complex background may make a beautiful art piece, but it does a
lousy job as a backing for text. It confuses the eye. In this same vein, designers must
remember to use contrasting colors for the background and the text. If a light text color is
used on a light background, it will be hard to read, as dark text on a dark background will be
hard to read as well. For web visitors unable to view graphics, text should be readable for
them as well. Even if the designers have a background image, they must assign a background
color for their site that does not blend in with the text. For users who can see graphics, it will
not make a difference because they will see the background graphic, and for users who cannot
see the background graphic it will make all the difference in the world. Remember, type must
always be readable.
7. Too Many Animations
Designers must never include more than one or two page elements that move constantly.
Moving images have an overpowering effect on vision and distract the viewer from observing
any other elements. These misused moving elements include animated graphics, blinking text,
and scrolling marquees.
8. Orphan Pages
All web pages should include a clear indication of what site they belong to, because some users
may access the minor pages indirectly without coming through the main home page. For the
same reason, every page on a web site should have a link returning to its home page.
9. No Organization
Pages should be user-friendly. An index or menu helps the web visitor find the desired
information. To support simple navigation between the pages on a web site, designers should
use a similar layout between one page and the next.
10. No Unique Content
One of the biggest threats to the Internet is the amazing number of people beginning to use it.
It is starting to become a large entanglement of meaningless information. Many pages say
nothing more than "This is my home page," with a collection of links that connect to the same
collections of sites as the last page the web visitor just looked at. The real key is content.
Before any site is created, its designer should have something to say. The web site should not
restate what other web sites have said, and should not attempt to create the ultimate
navigational tool for web visitors. A page of only links adds to the clutter and chaos of the web.
There are plenty of great search engines out there, like Yahoo and Alta Vista, that already
provide an adequate assortment of links.
11. Too Many Ideas
Some people have too many things to say. They are excited about the opportunity to make a
web page, but they do not know why they want to make one or what they want to accomplish
by doing so. Many small business pages also include hobbies and facts about their employees.
Although personal information can be interesting, it does not belong on a business web site. It
is unprofessional. Personal web sites can also run into the difficulty of mixed motifs. Some web
designers start out by saying their name, and then talk about the company they work for, and
then their pets, and then how much they like scuba diving, and then all the great things that
can be done with shell fish. This information is unfocused and scattered, and does not display
well on a web site. The web designer's solution is either to focus on one topic or to create a
menu page that includes links which bring the visitor to separate pages for each topic.
12. No Authoritativeness
What makes the web so frustrating is that there are no tests or rules designers have to take or
follow before they can post information about anything, and claim they are experts. A web
page should be more than another unsubstantiated source of information. Designers should
26
27
include their names and credentials on their web site, and provide the source materials and
raw data to justify any conclusions they may make.
13. Outdated Links or Information
If a page claims to be current, designers should put the time and effort into it by keeping it
current. No one wants to read outdated information or see broken links
14. Negative Declarations
With the discouragement that some web designers receive after realizing how hard it is to
create a good web site, they become negative and insecure towards their page and
themselves. This frustration causes numerous designers to put negative comments about their
page through out it. It is not uncommon to see a page start with, "This is my stupid page."
Even though these statements may help the web designers feel less embarrassed about their
web pages, negative statements make the site worse. Most web visitors are turned off by this
approach. If the page's own designer thinks the page is stupid, why would any one else want
to see it?
15. Link Problems
When creating documents, links should be meaningful and readable. The text of links should
flow well within the context of the rest of the text, and the text should be able to stand alone
as a printable document. Oftentimes designers either make full lines of text link-able or use
click-here statements to navigate the web visitor. Instead, keywords should be highlighted and
link-able within the text. Content is by far the most important element on any web page. If the
page says nothing, the web visitor will leave. By avoiding these 15 mistakes, web designers
can use design as a tool to enhance their sites' content, rather then distract from it.
Ten Good Deeds in Web Design
When analyzing Web design, it is easy to identify a large number of mistakes.It is much harder
to say what good things to do since I have never seen a website that was truly stellar with
respect to usability. The best major site was probably amazon.com as of late 1998, but during
1999 Amazon declined in usability due to the strategy of blurring the site's focus. Of course,
articles that list 30 mistakes can be seen as constructive criticism and a prescription for 30
things to do in a Web project: design to avoid each of the mistakes!
Here's a list of ten additional design elements that will increase the usability of virtually all
sites:
1. Place your name and logo on every page and make the logo a link to the home page
(except on the home page itself, where the logo should not be a link: never have a link that
points right back to the current page).
2. Provide search if the site has more than 100 pages.
3. Write straightforward and simple headlines and page titles that clearly explain what the
page is about and that will make sense when read out-of-context in a search engine results
listing.
4. Structure the page to facilitate scanning and help users ignore large chunks of the page
in a single glance: for example, use grouping and subheadings to break a long list into
several smaller units.
5. Instead of cramming everything about a product or topic into a single, infinite page, use
hypertext to structure the content space into a starting page that provides an overview
and several secondary pages that each focus on a specific topic. The goal is to allow users
to avoid wasting time on those subtopics that don't concern them.
6. Use product photos, but avoid cluttered and bloated product family pages with lots of
photos. Instead have a small photo on each of the individual product pages and link the
photo to one or more bigger ones that show as much detail as users need. This varies
depending on type of product. Some products may even need zoomable or rotatable photos,
27
but reserve all such advanced features for the secondary pages. The primary product page
must be fast and should be limited to a thumbnail shot.
7. Use relevance-enhanced image reduction when preparing small photos and images:
instead of simply resizing the original image to a tiny and unreadable thumbnail, zoom in on
the most relevant detail and use a combination of cropping and resizing.
8. Use link titles to provide users with a preview of where each link will take them, before
they have clicked on it.
9. Ensure that all important pages are accessible for users with disabilities, especially
blind users.
10.
Do the same as everybody else: if most big websites do something in a certain way,
then follow along since users will expect things to work the same on your site. Remember
Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience: users spend most of their time on other sites,
so that's where they form their expectations for how the Web works.
Finally, always test your design with real users as a reality check. People do things in odd and
unexpected ways, so even the most carefully planned project will learn from usability testing.
5. “Netiquette”: Etiquette and ICTs
Netiquette
• Rule 1: Remember the human
• Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life
• Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace
• Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth
• Rule 5: Make yourself look good online
• Rule 6: Share expert knowledge
• Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control
• Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy
• Rule 9: Don't abuse your power
• Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes
References:
http://www.bj-art.de/sonstiges/smileys/akronyme.htm
http://www.icra.org/
http://www.kidsville.de/internaut/09ischutz01.htm
http://www.lovepoint-alpfen.de/kuerzel.htm
http://www.lovepoint-alpfen.de/smileys.htm
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/netiquiz.html
http://www.polizei.propk.de/kids/index.html
http://www.internet-verantwortung.de/
http://chat.yahoo.com/
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
http://www.gridclub.com/games/ict/cybercafe/base.htm
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6. How does e-learning work?
International UNESCO Education Server
for civic, peace and human rights education
DARE seminar on ICT and EDC/HRE
Budapest, Hungary, 21 – 25 April 2004
Topic:
How
How does
does e-learning
e-learning work?
work?
Haris
Haris MUHIĆ,
MUHIĆ, D@dalos
D@dalos
www.dadalos.org
© 2002 D@dalos, Sarajevo
www.dadalos.org
D@dalos´ Experiences in Education for
Democratic Citizenship in South Eastern Europe
1 About D@dalos
2
D@dalos electronic learning resource
3
Teaching Politics in South East
Europe” and it is a combined
seminar and e-learning program
Haris Muhić
D@dalos Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
www.dadalos.org
29
1
1. Who is D@dalos and what are our aims and
objectives?
D@dalos
-governmental
non
D@dalos is
is aa nonnon-governmental
organisation
registered
organisation registered in
in Sarajevo,
Sarajevo,
BosniaHerzegovina
Bosnia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Our main aim is to contribute to the
development of a democratic political culture in
South East Europe by offering support for
Education for Democratic Citizenship in formal
and nonnon-formal education.
www.dadalos.org
1
The UNESCO Education Server for Civic,
Peace and Human Rights Education
web-site
web-site
•online teaching material about democracy and
human rights in the teachers‘ mother tongues
•clear structure and navigation aid
•„small“ web-sites for fast data transmission
plus:
plus:
•offline use crucial (CD-ROM)
•IT training for teachers
•e-learning
30
www.dadalos.org
31
2
Electronic resource
design:
design: 33 pillars
pillars
D@dalos
D@dalos
web-site:
web-site:
CD-ROM:
CD-ROM:
training:
training:
1200
1200 pages
pages
of
of information
information
and
and teaching
teaching
material;
material;
88 languages
languages
by
by now
now
26,000
26,000 CDs
CDs
in
in 66 print
print runs;
runs;
distribution
distribution
free
free of
of charge
charge
basic
basic IT
IT
courses
courses for
for
teachers;
teachers;
2200
2200 trained
trained
Teachers,
Teachers,
e-Learnig
e-Learnig
www.dadalos.org
2
www.dadalos.org
31
2
An overview of the information and learning
materials on D@dalos
Human
Human Rights
Rights
•What are human rights?
•How did they develop?
•How can they help me?
•Who is responsible for their
monitoring?
•Why do we need children's rights?
•What does apartheid mean?
•What does Amnesty International
do?
www.dadalos.org
2
Examples
Examples
etc.
Background information on the following important human examples
past and present:
Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta
Menchú, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, Yitzhak Rabin, Mother
Theresa.
Quotes, speeches and text from and about these shining examples.
32
www.dadalos.org
33
2
Democracy
Democracy
•What does democracy actually
mean?
•How did it develop?
•What shape and forms does
democracy take?
•When is a state democratic?
What is the job of the
opposition?
•What makes up a constitutional
state?
•What problems are faced by a
democratic state?
•Who was John Locke?
www.dadalos.org
2
Political
Political Parties
Parties
•What is a party?
•What type of parties exist?
•What functions do parties
perform?
•What are the characteristics of
a party system?
•Why are US parties weak and
British parties strong?
•What are the problems faced
by party-political democracies?
www.dadalos.org
33
2
European
European Union
Union
•What is the European Union?
•History of European
integration;
•institutions in the EU multilevel system;
•challenges: enlargement and
reform.
www.dadalos.org
3
Teaching
Teaching Politics
Politics
•What are tasks and objectives of political education?
•How to plan and prepare lessons?
•How to choose a teaching perspective?
•How can this web-site be used?
34
www.dadalos.org
35
3
The Training Programs Offered by D@dalos
2 or 4-day ICT training courses
to more than 2200 teachers in BosniaHerzegovina,
Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and
Albania
•to introduce ICT to teachers and show
the added value for their work;
•to motivate them to work with new
media;
•to show them the first steps (how to
write a text, how to surf on a web-site,
how to send e-mails);
•to get to know the D@dalos web-site
and its content.
www.dadalos.org
3
“Teaching Politics in South East Europe”
combined seminar and e-learning program over 6 month that is
offered to university and school teachers and NGO workers
•working on the tasks during the seminars and the distance
learning phases,
•presenting the work results to the plenary in the seminars,
•preparing the written and oral exam at the end of the
course
first seminar
•to get acquainted with the three political dimensions (polity, policy and
politics) and the aims, methods and content of political education;
•to learn how to plan and implement a teaching unit using exemplary
topics of the subject area "European Union";
•to get prepared for the 10 week online phase and receive guidelines for
tasks to be fulfilled;
•to acquire key competencies for presenting (particularly: visual aids);
•to get to know the group and the trainers.
www.dadalos.org
35
3
“online-phase”
first
first10
10week
week“online-phase”
“online-phase”
two
two tasks
tasks
•one to be fulfilled by each participant
individually and
•one to be elaborated by small working
groups of up to five (each of them from
another country). The individual homework
consisted in drafting a teaching unit
www.dadalos.org
3
second seminar
•the participants presented the teaching units
they had prepared at home in groups and individually
•workshop how to do professional Internet research
third seminar
•examination
36
www.dadalos.org
37
3
How did e-learning work in this specific
course?
Our conclusion is that e-learning is
only successful if combined
with traditional learning methods
and face-to-face meetings.
If you want to know more about this course, please visit our web-site
www.dadalos.org/EDC.
A full report with many details is available for download there.
www.dadalos.org
ASSOCIATION FOR PEACE EDUCATION SARAJEVO
questions or comments ?
for more information:
www.dadalos.org
www.dadalos.org
37
Example of an e-learning tool: Tutorial on the Rights of Refugees
38
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40
41
8. “Say No to Hatred” website
Welcome to CyberHate.org
DEMO
Content of this site is mostly in polish but in this demo we tried to translate some parts of the page and explain how it works.
There are written in every section of this page a few words of information but only as an explanation - this is not what can be
found right now online on the real webpage.
If you would like to create something similar for your country and you would need any kind of support - feel free to contact us.
Heart of our site is "volunteers zone" which is available only online. In this section of the demo you can find some information
about work of volunteers.
As you see - the page is meant to be technically very simple.
Our project is supported by such organisations as Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland and The Open Republic
- Association Against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia and also by other websites e.g.: the biggest Polish blog portal.
The main idea of the project
The project is meant to remove from the internet websites that propagate fascism, nazism, white power etc. by the means of
putting pressure on the administrators of web-portals that host such sites.
We emphasize that the freedom of opinion and expression has its limits - that is the dignity of another person that cannot be
violated.
According to Polish law the propagation of hatred is penalized, consequently it is possible to fight against active xenophobia,
racism etc. on legal way.
In this section we present proper articles of the acts of local and international law, e.g.: the Constitution of the Republic of
Poland; Universal Declaration of Human Rights; European Convention on Human Rights.
Partner websites
In this section we offer a possibility to copy the html code of our banner.
If somebody wants to support our project by putting our banner on his/her own website - we welcome such help and gratify it by
placing a link to this partner site on our list.
41
Blocked hateful websites
Here we give examples of the effect of our work. Screenshots of the sites are prepared in advance and after the removal of a
site we present it in this section.
1. Radzio88.blog.pl
http://radzio88.blog.pl
2. SkinHeads Kraków
[http://members.lycos.co.uk/krakow88/]
3. North-Eastern Land
[http://www.nelorg.republika.pl/]
Interactive Group
In this section we present the idea of public campaign that allows us to put pressure on portals' administrators in order to
remove hateful sites.
We created a mailing list for people how want to cooperate with us.
When it is necessary a lettter of protest is prepared and send to this mailing list. The subscribers should copy it and send it to
the administrator we point out.
A big number of letters of protest against a hateful site can result in removing it by the administrators of a portal. It is suggested
that subscribers ask their friends to send such a letter as well.
Tolerant websites
This section contains a list of websites that promote tolerance, teach about different cultures etc.
The list is being extended with the sites submited by users.
International Actions
Here is a list of charitable websites that allow users to help people in need - usually by clicking on sponsor's banners.
Examples: Hunger http://www.clickfome.com.br/english/index.html
Feed a Hungry Child http://www.feedahungrychild.com/
Clear Landmines http://www.clearlandmines.com/
etc.
Letters from our readers.
In this section we place letters that we received from our readers and our polemics if necessary.
About work of the volunteers
It would be quite complicated to prepare a demo version of this section because of technical reasons. PHP scripts that are basis
for the volunteers zone are difficult to be shown in this demo.
To make it possible for you to imagine how this section works the following description is written.
Every volunteer has their own username and a password that allow them to log in to the zone. After logging in inner sections of
the site are avaliable:
- websites watch - here is a list of hateful sites that wil be subjects of campaign
polish examples:
http://blog.tenbit.pl/stozek_skinheads
http://www.nspoland.prv.pl/
http://www.fantasy.iap.pl/ns/
http://lone_wolf.webpark.pl/
- blocked sites - when a site is removed from the internet because of our action, we put it here
- urgent actions - here the volunteers can find letters of protest that should be send to the administrator who hosts a specific
hateful site; if this has no effect the same letter is to be posted by a larger group of people helping us in the Interactive Group
- reports - every volunteer has to write a report on his work made in certain period of time
- law - acts of law that are the basis for our actions
- discussion group - created on groups.yahoo.com
Free www and e-mail
We have free space on a virtual server that we offer to our volunteers so they can make their own websites.
Even if a person is not our volunteer but has a valuable idea and wants to create a tolerant site, we can help him by giving some
of this space.
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43
9. Evaluation
1. OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE SEMINAR (N=21)
Meeting rooms
Accommodations
problematic
0%
problematic
0%
excellent
19%
sufficient
10%
sufficient
9%
excellent
26%
good
65%
good
71%
Food
Transportation
problematic
10%
problematic
10%
excellent
10%
good
38%
sufficient
42%
excellent
5%
good
42%
sufficient
43%
2. EXPERIENCES WITHIN THE SEMINAR (N=21)
Rate how useful the overall seminar was for:
learning about key ICT tools for EDC and HRE
with ICT tools
not very
useful
0%
somew hat
useful
48%
becoming familiar
not very
useful
10%
very useful
33%
very useful
52%
somew hat
useful
57%
43
learning specific EDC/HRE related activities that can be applied
in the classroom, training or other work environment
not very useful
14%
very useful
33%
somew hat
useful
53%
How useful were the individual sessions?
Session 1: Opening and ice-breaker
Session 2: Presentation “Where do ICTs fit in educational strategies
for EDC/HRE (benefits/weaknesses)?”
not very
useful
0%
somew hat
useful
45%
not very
useful
5%
very useful
42%
very useful
55%
somew hat
useful
53%
Session 3.1: “Effective use of search engines” (N=5)
Session 3.2: “Conceiving and designing a
webpage/site” (N=14)
not very
useful
0%
not very useful
0%
very useful
43%
somew hat
useful
57%
very useful
64%
Session 4: Market place
not very
useful
10%
somew hat
useful
36%
Session 5: Group activity before General Assembly
not very
useful
5%
very useful
25%
somew hat
useful
40%
very useful
55%
somew hat
useful
65%
44
Session 6: Presentation DARE website
somew hat
useful
29%
not very
useful
0%
Session 7.1: “Netiquette” (n=10)
not very
useful
10%
somew hat
useful
30%
very useful
60%
very useful
71%
Session 7.2: “Useful shareware” (N=12)
not very
useful
17%
45
Session 8.1: “How does e-learning work?” (N=11)
not very
useful
0%
very useful
17%
very useful
45%
somew hat
useful
55%
somew hat
useful
66%
Session 8.2: “E-democracy” (N=10)
not very
useful
11%
not very
somew hat
useful
useful
0%
20%
very useful
80%
Session 10: Small group discussion
”How can DARE and DARE members use ICTs”
somew hat
useful
26%
Session 9: Presentation ”Say No to Hatred” website
very useful
28%
somew hat
useful
61%
Session 11: Plenary discussion
”How can DARE and DARE members use ICTs”
not very
useful
0%
not very
useful
0%
very useful
74%
very useful
29%
somew hat
useful
71%
45
3. OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS
Question 9: Suggestions for ways that this seminar – and future seminars – might be
improved?
-
More free time (and place not so far from the town).
-
It would be good if everyone has the possibility to put in the box or something like this questions,
problems which they have. And together, or only the experts, should find the answers
-
Keep the interactive style.
-
Give more members the opportunity to demonstrate their resources.
-
Keep the combination of learning and getting familiar wit each other
-
The market place could take place in the last part of each day, so that it will be more time.
-
More small group work + exchange of training experiences
-
I like the idea of having more homework before coming to the seminar like readers or …else.
-
We should also keep closer to time table …and have more time for some informal talks.
-
To have more information about the seminar before hand, or certain paper to be red before coming
to seminar in order to clear out uncertainties and find out more particular and more restrictive
questions of a particular subject
-
More icebreakers in/for critical moments.
-
More analysis (not only descriptions)
-
More higher level input
-
More small group discussions over problematic aspects of technology and learning, before
presentation of Dare members
-
Using in practice the participative methods i.e. Working in groups, practice of interactive learning
-
To arrange the group work (if possible) for a groups by their skills:
-
a questionnaire at the planning stage to identify member needs more closely.
-
session at the beginning to express member needs would help promote dialogue and focus on the
subject – outside sessions.
-
Ensure that there is opportunity for different styles of learning and allow for activities.
-
Can we be some place where we are able to meet socially – this is when we do a lot of learning.
-
Organising of social gatherings in the evening. Also sending more targeted info re content of
conference not only to the organisational contact, but also to the person who has registered, as they
don’t always receive appropriate information on time.
-
To include ICT related workshop in future seminars
-
Seminars should be very topic oriented, workshop leaders must be real professionals.
-
Strategy of the seminar should be clearly developed before seminar.
-
More input before the seminar in terms of preparatory activities should be sought from the
participants.
-
Materials can be sent/circulated in advance.
-
Workshops could be a little more coordinated.
-
The dinners should be in town, because many people want to use the opportunity to see a beautiful
city like Budapest. But in that way it was much less socialising. So, although it is a bit more
expensive, I think it is better to have an appointment in town for everyone.
-
And: better info!!! I arrived here without anything but the name of the CEU Center, although I’d
asked for info. This cost me a lot of stress and extra expenses, so that it was a bit unfortunate.
-
It would have better if more members had contributed to the market place, useful shareware – if we
want to have a network, we have to network better – maybe it could be useful to work (again) about
what a network is, (the structure of power a.s.o.)
46
47
Question 10: Follow up to the seminar: How do you expect to apply what you have learned in
the training in your organisation, training, or other learning contexts?
-
giving training to teachers first
-
Developing curriculum for EDC with e-learning module
-
Pilot-project on HRE and EDC for 2 schools including e-democracy
-
Information for our member organisations/institutions.
-
Creating /stimulating new projects and partnerships.
-
My organisation works with pupils, students and peer education, so I’ll use most of the group
activities, such as the role of power, and some of the suggested web sites, i.e. the voting assistance
by Ruud Veldhuis, Politeia.
-
more effort to our website and will think of developing it
-
share with other members of my organization (more particularly the way of use ICT (like e-learning,
and other activity)
-
It’s more a broad knowledge, not particular thoughts. They may be generated in the future
-
Analysis of our web site
-
participating in various e-learning courses
-
I discovered new interesting areas of work, using ICT’s.
-
Hard to be foreseen
-
All workshop was very useful and I’m very interested to learn more about ICT
-
Using deeper knowledge of ICT tools in the future educational activities (prepared projects of distance
learning).
-
In everyday work simply
-
Interested in completing my website
-
Disseminate to other members of our organisation & teachers.
-
Yse some of the ideas learnt in improving the “home” web site.
-
Disseminate to other members of the network I represent.
-
Setting up own web site, including info for e-learning that I can direct interested parties to.
-
Make more contact with other delegates from my home country.
-
Greater awareness of ICT
-
I’ll try to develop and implement some ideas from e-democracy workshop. Of course, adapted for
particular country.
-
It will be possible to present ICT resources in HRE/EDC to teachers at teacher-training seminar.
-
I will research the various tools I learned about and discuss them with my colleagues, especially
those who work with our website. I don’t have any concrete plans as yet but will consider the various
ideas.
-
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS SEMINAR, IT HAS BEEN INTERESTING AND STIMULATING AND
THE PEOPLE ARE WONDERFUL AND WE HAVE HAD A GOOD LAUGH TOGETHER – WHICH WILL
CONTINUE TONIGHT!
-
The new knowledge is good for research for new projects (effectiveness). Some information I
will/can use (maybe) for a train the trainer course.
47
e-DARE:
Newsletter on Human Rights
Education
and Education for Democracy
Published by the DARE network
for its members and contacts
www.dare-network.org / newsletter
This newsletter is edited by DARE
Editor Wim Taelman.
Address:
DARE, c/o VORMEN vzw
Lange Gasthuisstraat 29 · B-2000 Antwerp · Belgium
Contributions for this newsletter can be sent to:
[email protected]
DARE correspondence address:
Hannelore Chiout, DARE network chairperson
c / o AdB
Mühlendamm 3 · D-10178 Berlin · Germany
Tel.: +49 - 30 - 400 40 117 · Fax: +49 - 30 - 400 40 122
E-mail: [email protected]
Subscribe
DARE members can subscribe to this newsletter
by sending additional e-mail addresses to
[email protected]
Unsubscribe
If you want to unsubscribe, send a message
containing your e-mail address to
[email protected].
47
Dear DARE members
As e-DARE is meant to be a electronic newsletter,
the next issue is planned to be sent out.
What kind of articles could you submit for publication in e-DARE?
Well, a whole range of subjects.
At this stage we think of items such as:
– presentations of educational experiences of DARE members
– announcements of activities (organized by DARE members or others)
– outcomes of the DARE working groups and seminars
– presentations of new educational materials and other EDC/HRE publications
– interesting information on HRE or EDC
– interesting conclusions from seminars, research studies,...
– developments on HRE and EDC policies at national or European level
– …
I await your contributions to the next e-DARE as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance.
Texts should
– be written in a general informative style (e.g. use of the third person),
– have an informative title,
– be original unless references tothe origin of the text are mentioned,
– be as short as possible (e.g. 300 words; with reference to a webpage
with more information where relevant: please add the url,
we'll transform it into a link with the relevant words of your text),
– have all relevant practical information at the end,
– end with the name, organization and e-mail address of its writer,
– ...
The editor keeps the right to adapt or abbreviate the text without changing
fundamentally its content.
Many thanks in advance for your contributions.
Best regards
Wim
48
e-DARE
www.dare-network.org/newsletter
Issue 3 · 20 February 2004
Table of content
0. Editorial
1. News from the board
2. Fiatalok a Vidékért Egyesület – FIVE
3. Interview with Corina Leca (CRED, Romania)
Newsletter on Human Rights Education
0. Editorial
For this third issue of e-DARE we are very happy to
have received so many interesting contributions,
from all over Europe. It shows there is a real interest
in communicating and exchanging on human rights
education and democratic citizenship education.
4. Norway: Operation Day
5. ”Let us plant trees together - for our children’s
sake and for our own…!“
6. Announcement of workshop
7. The next seminar: Budapest (Hungary),
21 - 25 April 2004
8. Useful websites and links
1. News from the board
Hannelore Chiout had a meeting in February with
representatives of German federal organisations of
civic and political education about the DARE-network, its aims and objectives and activities, also
with representatives of the German Ministry for
Family Affairs, Women, Youth and Senior People.
A meeting with Martin Schulz, member of the
European Parliament, at the end of January opened
new perspectives for a future cooperation in questions of HRE and EDC with European parliamentarians.
Hannelore Chiout, chair, [email protected]
2. Fiatalok a Vidékért Egyesület – FIVE
(Youth for Rural Areas Association), Hungary
(Note from the editor: Youth for Rural Areas is the
host organisation for the next seminar for DARE
members, on the subject of ICT, taking place in Budapest, Hungary, from 22 to 24 April 04. 21st April is
the arrival day, and 25th departure).
The name of our organisation indicates that the target groups consist of different sectors of the rural population. We are located in Göd, a small town by the
river Danube and near Budapest. Most members of
the association are volunteers.
The mission of Youth for Rural Areas Association
(FIVE) is twofold: on the one hand the informal and
non-formal education of young people in rural areas
and of voluntary youth workers - and, on the other,
education in connection with youth initiatives.
On FIVE’s main mission, the informal and non-formal education of both rural young people aged between 16 and 28 years old and youth workers, the association has in recent years managed several tendering and project management courses for both target
groups. Our staff implemented further training sessions also with a view to providing useful information,
49
e-DARE · Issue 3 · 20 February 2004
ideas and model youth initiatives for young people.
Our aim is to motivate training participants to organise and carry out new rural initiatives or projects.
The voluntary staff of the association has also produced a ca. 100-page booklet about tendering and project management for those who have no knowledge
and experience in these topics, i.e. mostly young
people and civil activists.
FIVE takes part in the European Voluntary Service
programme, through which over the last few years
we have continually sent volunteers to various parts
of Europe as well as hosting volunteers. After completing their EVS project, our former EVS volunteers
usually become activists within our organisation.
We publish a weekly e-mail newsletter (Hetedhét
Európa – something like All Across Europe) for young people of the rural areas of Hungary. It contains
weekly information re EVS vacancies in Europe and other short features on FIVE projects of FIVE.
In 2004 we started to establish a new European
partnership within the Leonardo da Vinci programme. ‘Education of Youthworkers in Europe Seeing
Hosting Organisation’s Innovative Talent – EYESHOT’ is a mobility project for Hungarian youth workers participating in vocational training in different
European countries.
They exchange information, knowhow and innovative methods; and learn about:
• new competences in the fields of particular demand assessment methods focused on local
youth; local methods of involving and motivating
young people for active citizenship;
• opportunities for young people to participate in
the life of the local community;
motivating young people through European cultural
diversity and cooperation systems amongst the local
authorities, institutions and NGOs of their area for
youth work.
Within the DARE network, FIVE is providing and
organising one seminar and one meeting of working
group 2; is participating in and contributing to working group 2 and follow-up activities; and contributes to newsletters, publications and the website.
Béla Mokos, Youth for Rural Areas, [email protected]
50
3. Interview with Corina Leca (CRED, Romania)
Corina, what title or name would you like to give to
the educational practice or experience you want to
present here?
I would like to call it: »Individual reflection in a
small learning community«. It can be considered as
a method for the professional development of teachers, based on a specific algorithm of reflection.
We applied this method to a group of thirteen teachers (they were the pilot group).
What are the aims and objectives of this approach?
This method aims to develop the critical thinking
and writing skills of participating teachers, and to
improve their teaching and assessment competences.
It also aims at motivating participants to share their
class experiences for their own and their learning
community’s benefit. Another objective is to offer a
concrete experience on how so-called meta-cognition (reflection upon an experience or a process in
which one participated) can substantively increase
the quality of that product and of the self-trust of the
practitioner as well. In short: it leads to a sustainable
development. Another (indirect) objective is to improve the learning results in civics on the part of the
students.
Can you describe the method?
I started by presenting to the group two schemes of
reflection, individual- and group-based, as used by
some US teachers; and gave them some very substantial materials (including a sample of individual
reflection based on a very simple fact).
I used some articles from Educational Leadership
(http://www.ascd.org/cms/index.cfm?TheView
ID=353), 1999 and 2002 and I translated for them
the algorithm used by S. Hole and G. Hall McEntee
(http://www.ascd.org/publications/ed_lead/199905/hole.html).
The thirteen teachers surveyed their professional
experience – and after one month each member of
the group presented his/her professional reflection
according to the following sequence:
• factual description of the event (a mere narration
of what happened, no analysis or interpretation);,
• why that event took place (the whole context of
the event has to be analysed, subsequent questions will come out);,
• what might it mean? (looking for meanings lying
behind each aspect of the event);
• what is its relevance for one’s future practice?
(this is the explicit learning – what that event
taught that person, what he / she has to do in the
future).
The group analysed the accuracy of reflection (did it
comply with each requirement? ) and acknowledged
how difficult it was to separate the facts, the causes,
the meaning and the consequences and, at the same
time, how necessary such accuracy was for an effective performance.
Each member filled in their diary, which was a
part of the pilot project; their main observations regarding the event (the learning flowing from the
event); and the reflection exercise (an assessment of
his/her analytical skills).
Why do you consider this »good practice«?
The method ›just‹ puts in order some very common
thinking practices. The logic of sequence naturally
links the past, the present and the future and this
really motivates the participant to work through it.
Another advantage is that the algorithm can be applied to a variety of circumstances, and this happened to our group.
What difficulties could one expect
in applying the method?
If this approach is new for the participants, the sequences can be confused. The facilitator has to concentrate on keeping everybody on the right track.
Crucial for its success is also to work with concrete
class or teaching experiences, and indeed to write
down the experience rather than just orally telling
and analysing.
Can you tell us something about the results of this
practice?
It is a bit early to get a broad view on them, but some
of the teachers successfully applied it already to their
middle and secondary school students.
Corina Leca, CRED, [email protected]
4. Norway: Operation Day
Nationwide pupil solidarity project
The student participation programme known as
»Operation Day in Norway« (OD for short) began as
a spontaneous initiative in 1964.
At a gathering in the student council, the initiator
proposed that young people should not only concern
themselves with their own conditions at home when
there were countries and regions in the world lacking
the facilities for proper schooling.
The proceeds from the first initiative were devoted to replacing school buildings after the war in Algeria.
It is Norway’s largest solidarity programme for
youth; and, with two exceptions, there has been one
initiative every year.
Operation Day has its own organisation at national,
regional and school level. It has its own web-page
(http://www.od.no/?pid=1&sid=1) where the different projects are also listed.
It involves every year more than 800 lower and
upper secondary schools - and about 180,000 pupils
between the ages of 15 and 18, 120.000 of whom take
part in fund-raising for projects voted by the student
bodies at school and regional level. Only schools
proposing to take part in the initiative action may vote on the following year’s projects.
The aim is to involve students and raise awareness
on global issues in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America – and for them to give a day of their
education to show solidarity with students in these
countries. The wages they receive and the funds raised from the sale of cakes, coffee etc. are given to
the project selected. Each year around 3 million euro
is raised. In 2003 the proceeds went towards supporting schooling in Sri Lanka.
The aim is not to create a negative picture of conditions in these countries in need. Rather the focus is
on culture, what we can learn from each other, having common goals and recognising that problems in
the developing world cannot be solved by charity
alone but by people here in the north becoming aware and changing our attitudes.
Operation Day consists of two pillars: International
Week culminating in Operation Day itself. This takes
place on UN Day or 23rd October each year. International Week aims at providing information on international questions and more specifically on the project for which the funds are being raised. The OD administration and NGOs provide information materials to schools taking part in the project, thus contributing to cultural understanding and international
awareness. This project can serve as an example of
good practice for raising awareness, creating a sense
of solidarity and for practical knowledge of democracy. It does not have to be implemented on a large
scale nationwide basis, but can equally well be done
at local or even classroom level – for example in civics education.
John Christian Christiansen, Directorate of Education
[email protected]
51
5. ”Let us plant trees together - for our children’s sake and for our own…!“
The following is taken from a very recent issue of an
Albanian newspaper, as I wanted to start this article
with a topical, dramatic incident. I present below
very briefly what happened:
Feb 2nd: A 17-year old prisoner was sent to hospital,
(having complained of feeling ill). After one hour
there, he had taken the gun of the policeman guarding him, had opened fire on him and another policeman, and had run away.
Feb 3rd: The killer was arrested, the police finding
him at home in his village.
I’m shall not comment on the balance of events; but
three people died. I just wanted to bring some detail
into the story. The teenager had been arrested one
month earlier, accused of killing someone. His parents had complained at the police station, maintaining that the young man was insane and had never
shown any signs of aggression. They had asked to visit him in hospital.
Feb 4th: „If we could have visited him under medical
supervision, all this would not have happened“,
declared the teenager’s father.
In her press interview, given the day after her son
died, the mother reported that he had been arrested
during the morning (of Feb 3rd).
Two details:
– ”They (the police) accused us of fudging - and asked us for money in order that my son might be set
free“;
– ”The police came last night and took my husband
from his bed, accusing him of collaboration… I
told them they had taken my son…we knew nothing about it.“
One can’t comment within a one-page article, why
this tragedy? and what about HR in my country? –
so instead I shall just quote the headlines from the
front page of the newspaper1 in question:
Date: Feb 4th:
– Prisoner kills two policemen and escapes;
– Director of Coca-Cola: how I was threatened for
paying 200 thousand euros;
– Ex-prime minister: $2 md in drugs had been circulated for 2003 (throughout Albania);
– Quarrel over girl, deputy’s son and one other wounded;
-Always there, when there are people in difficulties…
I can’t help but highlight another dramatic news item
(Feb 4th):
– Father kills 21- year old daughter: back home after
missing for 3 days.
52
The mentality: The girl had dishonoured the family and so had „deserved“ the punishment.
What’s more: it’s not the first case lately of an „honour killing“ in this part of Albania.
I’m not quite sure whether this will help you understand something about everyday life in my country...
Anyway, I can tell you that ACHR (Albanian
Centre for Human Rights) has concluded the first
phase of its work and has entered the second.
End of the first phase was marked by the publication, by New Tactics in Human Rights of a tactical
notebook entitled Educating the next generation: incorporating HRE in the public school system by
Kozara Kati, Robert Gjedia, ed. by Liam Mahony
2003. Publisher: The Centre for Victims of Torture
What is this book2?
To explain this I shall just quote Kate Kelsch,
p4 of the book:
”… Each notebook contains detailed information on
how the author(s) and his/her organisation achieved
what they did. … In this notebook we learn about
utilising political opportunities to establish a partnership with government and turn an ambitious vision into reality. ACHR successfully collaborated with
the Albanian Ministry of Education to bring HRE into all public schools in the country. They took advantage of the post-communist transition period to negotiate with new government officials to launch a
long-term process in which they would prepare Albanian citizens for full participation in democracy.
They focused on the next generation - the children.
Coming from a political context in which policies
were decided and enacted at national level, they were able to create a vision encompassing the entire
education system and achieve a nationwide impact.”
Taking advantage of writing from a country like mine, I shall offer just one further quotation (Tactical
Notebook 2; Editor’s preface-page 6):
”Many HR organisations resist the idea of working
with government, as they fear being manipulated and
co-opted. ACHR’s experience shows that, at least
with some governments, this resistance may come at
a cost of making a significant impact on society”
Finally, I said that ACHR had entered its second phase. What is the new ambitious vision for ACHR? It
could be summarised in one line:
”Let us plant trees together - for our children’s sake
and for our own…!“
1 »Shekulli« – Albanian daily newspaper.
References: »Shekulli« – date: Jan 2, 3, 4th, 2004
2 The Tactical Notebook series, available online at:
www.newtactics.org.
Kozara Kati, Albanian Center for Human Rights,
[email protected]
6. Announcement of workshop:
Working in heterogeneous classrooms using
Complex Instructions (CI) in Human Rights
Education
Budapest, 25 - 28 June 2004
•
•
•
•
•
Objectives:
Familiarise the participants with CI. They will be
able to use it in the classroom, working with HR
issues and their other teaching subjects;
Cooperation in human rights education ;
Introduce Complex Instructions into the teachinglearning strategy:
International exchange of human rights education
experiences;
Develop new workshop design through Complex
Instructions.
Target group: teachers, educators, trainers.
Location: Budapest.
Deadline for registration: 31 March 2004.
Maximum: 20 persons.
Methodology: complex instruction
The Foundation for Human Rights and Peace Education is launching a four-day workshop in Hungary
for those who are interested in human rights education and a cooperative teaching-learning strategy:
Complex Instructions (CI) developed by the Stanford University, School of Education experts Elisabeth Cohen and Rachel Lotan. CI is a excellent interactive tool for working in depth with human rights
issues in small groups. It includes such elements as:
status intervention, building upon the diverse skills
of the students, the role of the teacher as facilitator,
designing CI units.
Participants number is limited: 20 persons
Working language: English
Participation fee: 110 Euro
Hotel rooms are available based on request: 40-50
euro/night single room; 60-65 euro double room
Contact and trainers;
Eva B Nagy, Director of the Foundation of Human
Rights and Peace Education:
[email protected] Tel: 0036 30 389 50 46
Aniko Kaposvari, Trainer: [email protected] Tel:
0043 699 12 67 33 21
7. The next DARE seminar: Budapest (Hungary)
21-25 April 04
Invited: the DARE members
Practicalities of the seminar:
Arrival day: Wednesday 21 April 2004.
Start of the seminar in the late afternoon.
Departure day: Sunday 25 April 2004.
Seminar theme: ICT (information- and communication technologies) in EDC and HRE
The meetings will take place in the Central European
University Conference Centre (and thus not in the
European Youth Centre Budapest).
A formal invitation (one person per member organisation) and a draft program will be sent out later.
Travel costs, hotel costs and meals for the DARE
members are, with certain restrictions, covered by
the Grundtvig project. For members from countries
who don’t belong to the EU Socrates programme, the
DARE board hopes to find a solution allowing them
to participate at the same conditions. More details
about this seminar will be sent as soon as they are
available.
8. Useful websites and links
http://www.
European area of lifelong learning:
europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11054.htm
Teaching remembrance - Education for the prevention of crimes against Humanity
coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/
Teaching_Remembrance/
European teacher training seminars (Council of Europe); programme for 1st half of 2004:
coe.int/T/E/Cultural%5FCo%2Doperation/Education/Teacher%5Ftraining/Courses_and_seminars/ca_r
Liste%20chrono.asp#TopOfPage
and
coe.int/T/E/Cultural%5FCo%2Doperation/Education/Teacher%5Ftraining/Courses_and_seminars/ca_
qDGIV%20EDU%20INSET%20PROG%202004%2
01.asp#TopOfPage
Commission on Human Rights – provisional agenda
of the sixtieth session, 19 January and 15 March-23
April 2004, Promotion and protection of human
rights. c) Information and education;
unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.
4.2004.1.En?OpenDocument
Report of the sub-commission on the promotion and
protection of Human Rights, 55th session, Geneva,
28 July-15 August 2003, Rapporteur: Mr. Stanislav
Ogurtsov:
unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.
4.2004.2,E.CN.4.Sub.2.2003.43.En?Opendocument
UNESCO Human Rights Education webpage
http://portal.unesco.org/education/ev.php?URL_ID
=1961&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201
Wim Taelman, VORMEN
[email protected]
53
e-DARE
Issue 4 · 20 April 2004
Table of content
1. Message from the chair
2. Meeting of Working Groups 1 and 2 in Berlin,
5th-6th March 2004
3. 2005: European Year of Citizenship
through Education
4. EDC in Poland – a view of the landscape
5. Using elements of Playback Theatre in Human
Rights Education
6. Joint project – Lithuanian Centre
for Human Rights
7. A new book on HRE: The Rights to Human
Rights Education – Basic approaches in Human
Rights Education
8. HREA Distance learning course „Introduction to
the European System of Human Rights Protection and Promotion“
9. Links to official human rights reports from and
on particular states.
10. European Conference: »Networking Europe –
Democratic Citizenship Education«
Dear friends and colleagues,
In a few weeks there will be our next meeting in
Budapest. I hope to welcome many of you and I’m
confident that we shall all benefit immensely from
an exchange on ICT-learning in Human Rights Education and Education for Democratic Citizenship.
I should like to draw your attention in this newsletter to recent developments in EU education programmes. Although still to be ratified by the European Parliament, “The new generation of Community
education and training programmes after 2006” was
adopted on 9 March 2004 by the European Union.
This Communication outlines the content of two
major new Community programmes in the field of
education and training, which the Commission will
formally propose in the summer. These are:
– An Integrated Programme in Lifelong Learning,
for mobility and cooperation between EU,
EEA/EFTA and candidate countries, which will
subsume the existing Socrates and Leonardo da
Vinci programmes.
– A Tempus Plus programme, for the countries
neighbouring the EU and for the existing Tempus
countries, focusing on cooperation and development in higher (university-level) education, vocational training, school and adult education.
The most exciting information refers to the intention
to give Grundtvig an independent standing.
The above mentioned Integrated Programme includes four parts:
COMENIUS for school education;
ERASMUS for all forms of higher education at university level;
LEONARDO DA VINCI for vocational training; and
GRUNDTVIG for adult education.
In addition there will be a transversal programme
between general education and vocational training to
strengthen synergy effects – and a new programme,
JEAN MONNET, which will concentrate on the process of European integration.
This programme will also contribute to the support of important European organisations and associations in the field of general education and vocational training.
54
e-DARE · Issue 4 · 20 April 2004
This is important news for the cross-national contacts and partnerships of DARE members, but also for
the future of DARE as a special network.
I wish you all sunny spring – and hope to see you in
Budapest!
Hannelore Chiout, chair, AdB
[email protected]
2. Meeting of Working Groups 1 and 2
in Berlin · 5th – 6th March 2004
Nearly all members of Working Groups 1 and 2 of
DARE network Grundtvig 4 project were able to attend this meeting in Berlin. It was held at the Wannsee FORUM – an educational centre and one of the
member organisations of AdB – in a lovely setting
near a lake and in the green surrounding of Berlin.
On the first day, Working Group 1 developed a
concept and a table of contents for DARE’s first publication (please find the proposal also in this issue
of e-DARE). On the second day we discussed the
challenges we are facing in our respective countries.
We all had in common the phenomena of apathy and
lack of trust towards society – resulting in a low level of participation in elections and of general involvement in society throughout our various countries.
Other contributions centred around teachers (training of teachers, materials, lack of motivation because of too little or too much focus on EDC).
A discussion resulted as to reasons which could
help explain this apathy / lack of trust. This was exemplified by various issues of concern within the
countries represented in Working Group 1 – and, although some common threads could be detected, these were by no means universal throughout the eight
countries represented.
After this brainstorming session on challenges we
see EDC / HRE as facing within our various countries, and on ways to increase the visibility of DARE,
we discussed the possibilities for a common project
based on our findings.
Areas thought worth exploring included:
(a) Training the trainer seminars
(b) Criteria or guidelines for good practice
(c) Discussing examples of good practice
At the same time, Working Group 2 developed a
strategy and a schedule for
• lobbying – to bring the issues of EDC and HRE
on to the regional, national and Europe-wide
agenda
• financing DARE’s activities and raising DARE
members’ expertise in fund-raising.
Common areas between Working Groups 1 and 2
were defined:
• Producing materials to be used for lobbying
• Informing each other
• Common projects
• Website
• Defining connections for and borders between our
work in HRE and EDC
• Common identity
Also the preparatory group for the Budapest seminar
in April met several times and drafted the programme for the ICT seminar. The Board prepared for the
General Assembly, which will also be held in Budapest. We are looking forward to working together in
Budapest and getting to know each other better and
better and becoming more and more a lively cooperative network for promoting EDC and HRE.
(Please find the full report of the meeting on the
DARE website in the months to come.)
Katrin Wolf
[email protected]
3. 2005: European Year of Citizenship
through Education
This European Year will be launched in Bulgaria, on
13 - 14 December 2004.
Its objectives are:
To draw attention to how crucial education is for the
development of citizenship and of participation in a
democratic society.
This participation has several dimensions:
1) Political dimension – participation in decisionmaking and exercise of political power
2) Legal dimension – being aware of and exercising
citizens’ rights and responsibilities
3) Cultural dimension – respect for all peoples and
fundamental democratic values and contributing
to peaceful, intercultural relations
4) Social and economic dimension, combating exclusion and (conversely) ensuring social inclusion
To promote the implementation of Recommendation
(2002)12 of the Committee of Ministers to member
states on education for democratic citizenship
• What can the Council of Europe offer?
• Legislative assistance in the field of EDC to those
member states that so wish
• Assistance to member states and relevant NGOs
in the organisation of teacher/multiplier training
seminars
• Development of instruments that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, communication tools, codes of good practice, (EDC pack)
55
• Database on EDC-related legislation, policy and
other policy documents
• For whom is the year intended?
The Year will first and foremost aim at reaching education policy decision-makers, multipliers and professionals having a specific interest in the subject.
As compared to the initial phase of the project,
target groups will be broadened to take in higher education, decision-makers at local level, civil society.
Some countries have indicated that they will also
target the general public in awareness- raising activities.
For activities at national level there is considerable flexibility. One could form a national organising
committee to:
• promote the aims of the Year (‘ambassadors’ for
the year);
• motivate and assist different players, governmental as well as non-governmental;
• identify needs and expectations with regard to the
Year, monitor its impact, develop follow-up activities;
• coordinate the Year’s activities so as to achieve a
coherent programme;
• stimulate inclusion within curricula of Citizenship Education and Human Rights Education.
The programme will possibly include the organisation of seminars and training activities for teachers
and multipliers, exhibitions and the preparation of
legislative reforms to support formal and non-formal
education. Each country will decide its own programme.
Within the Council of Europe an ad hoc committee
of experts will be created – consisting of delegates
from various CoE departments and bodies, and of representatives of other intergovernmental organisations. On top of that, partnerships will be created with
different sectors of the Council of Europe, notably
the entire DG IV (Directorate General Education,
Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport), with governments and with international and intergovernmental
institutions, and with NGOs.
What can DARE members do?
For DARE members who want to be included in their
national plans for the Year, it is advisable that they
get in contact with the EDC coordinator of their
country – see: coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/
education/E.D.C/Coordinators_corner/090_liste.asp
Possible activities are:
• organisation of teacher training seminars and of
training seminars for other multipliers;
• organisation of exhibitions and/or contests;
• development of tools or instruments for support
56
of education for democratic citizenship and human rights in the various countries;
• a publication on the implementation of democratic citizenship and human rights values in schools,
teaching materials on/for democratic citizenship
and human rights; …
DARE members are encouraged to take initiatives!
What will DARE do?
In 2005 DARE will organise, in cooperation with
other networks, a conference on democratic citizenship and human rights. This is planned to take place
in Germany. More data will follow later on…
For more information on this European Year, see
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/E.D.C/What_is_education_for_democratic_ci
tizenship/Genesis%20and%20developments.asp
(For the text of this article several documents of the
Council of Europe have been used).
Wim Taelman, VORMEN vzw
[email protected]
4. EDC in Poland – a view of the landscape
Recent trends in Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) in Poland should be viewed in the context of the major social and economic transformation
that started fifteen years ago and in particular the reform of the whole educational system.
The system was decentralised and responsibility
for running schools was transferred to the local authorities. This in turn has stimulated stronger co-operation between schools, local authorities and parents.
Although the civic education as a separate subject
has been present in curricula for over 30 years now,
the content of this subject was completely changed
in the early 1990s. Typically, very boring lessons
with teachers struggling to explain the details of the
functioning of the socialist state or some basic notions of Marxist social theory were replaced by lessons highlighting the functioning of modern democracies and participation in the life of the community, tolerance, human rights issues, etc. Kornel Gajewski, a gymnasium student from Wojkowice expressed his attitude to civic education classes in these words: “I like this subject because we are often given the opportunity for group work and we don’t have to memorise all the stuff. It is enough to see what
is going on around you” .1
In 1997, the Ministry of Education adopted a new
core curriculum plan for general education in primary and secondary schools. This plan has made civic education a required subject at all grade levels.
This change was made possible through lobbying by
various NGOs and from the significant know-how
transfer and financial support from the US and EU.
As a result of collaboration amongst the Ministry of
Education, the National In-service Teacher Training
Centre and the Centre for Citizenship Education, a
large resource of trainers and educators has been
created and teaching material, lessons scenarios and
student handouts have been prepared.
This allowed a major improvement in the quality
of EDC. The recent IEA citizenship and education
study across 28 countries proved that Poland scored
very high on nearly all the measures of civic knowledge, engagement and attitudes.2 This appears consistent with efficient EDC policies, though the direct
link is difficult to prove formally.
In practice, the picture of Polish EDC might not
look that bright. The national core curriculum obliges each school in Poland to fulfil the civic education curriculum guidelines, i.e. one lesson per week.
Already from the 1st grade of primary education some EDC elements are to be included. From the 4th
grade on, EDC is to be implemented cross-curriculum through the co-ordinated efforts of teachers of
various subjects. Starting from 7th grade, EDC becomes an independent subject. While the cross-curricular approach in the case of 10-12 year old pupils is
theoretically very appealing, it is difficult to verify
whether teachers are really implementing it. There
exists anecdotal evidence pointing to problems with
co-ordinated interdisciplinary work by the teachers,
so that the EDC curriculum is not fully executed.
Many teachers tend to concentrate on topics they are
directly responsible for.
Still, the methodology of teaching civic education
has much improved. Teachers are trained to run interactive classes making use of new technologies and
involving their young audience. There is a large variety of good textbooks.
All these make civic education classes attractive
to pupils, as various surveys show. The opportunity
to express their own point of view, discuss problems
openly, make group presentations and play and have
fun at the same time is what pupils like. On the negative side, many teachers tend to prefer the traditional
lecture model of classes which needs less preparation and simplifies evaluation of students’ knowledge.
This problem appears to be somehow neglected by
the Ministry of Education, which seems satisfied
with having finally managed (with some help from
NGOs) to include civic education within the national
core curriculum. It would require a higher degree of
determination to promote more efficient EDC approaches amongst teachers.
On the other hand, a significant contribution to better EDC situation comes from the NGO sector. One
good example is the Centre’s for Citizenship Education programme, promoting an additional civic education lesson in schools. This initiative began in the
mid-1990s and proved to be a big success. Currently,
many Polish schools over and above the standard civic education lesson have an additional lesson where
the local community dimension is covered in more
detail. The necessary condition for introducing such
lessons is that local government agrees to finance an
additional hour. The popularity of this programme
confirms that some local authorities have understood
that supporting civic education brings benefits to
their communities.
Otherwise, there are a few other big NGOs working in the field of EDC. Foundation Education for
Democracy, Foundation for Local Democracy Development or Stefan Batory Foundation are carrying
out various projects aimed at strengthening civil society and local media development and promoting
civic competences. On top of that there are hundreds
of smaller organisations doing a really good job in
this field all over Poland. My own organisation – St.
Maximilian House of Reconciliation and Meetings –
in Gdansk is one such.
An interesting initiative was begun a few years ago
by the Polish Humanitarian Organisation, a large
NGO dealing primarily with humanitarian aid. The
project is called humanitarian education and is aiming to increase awareness on humanitarian issues
among Polish pupils. There is a network of trainers
who may be invited to schools to give lessons on humanitarian education. Also, lessons, scenarios and
other materials for teachers are freely available from
the PHO website.
At a first glance it appears as if EDC became a bit
neglected in Poland during the last two years as European education was considered a priority. It is true
that a lot of effort and money has been invested in
preparing society for EU membership. One could argue that efforts were concentrated not so much on
explaining or teaching anything but rather on convincing the people to say ‘yes’ in the accession referendum, which is not really an EDC method. On the
other hand, however, thanks to European education
programmes over 3000 European school clubs have
been created for the last few years. They were established originally to provide and distribute information on the EU in schools and in local communities;
but over time their activities shifted in the direction
of promoting local activity and various civic initiatives. Most of them are just informal groups of teachers, pupils and local leaders co-operating with local authorities, schools and media but involving also
57
other citizens and responding to local community
needs. Is there any better way of teaching EDC than
by involving people in the everyday life of their
community?
Importantly, European school clubs are so far the only available EDC instrument for adults. The lack of
programmes targeted at adults constitutes a significant problem and thus the very encouraging results
of the IEA study (referring to 14-year-olds) cannot
entirely justify complacency. It is certainly great that
teenagers are aware of their rights and obligations as
citizens; but there are problems in the functioning of
Polish society because some adults brought up in the
communist times are currently threatened by social
exclusion through inactivity in the labour market or
unemployment. It is a pity they have no chance to
learn about the functioning of democracy or the market economy. Successful programmes targeted at
youth could be used as a basis for building efficient
permanent learning EDC mechanisms.
Agnieszka Paczynska, St. Maximilian House of Reconciliation and Meetings in Gdansk, Poland
[email protected]
1 Cf. ‘Pupils write – my KOSS classes’
www.ceo.org.pl/koss/lekcje_koss/index.htm. Own translation. International experience indicates high correlation
between an open classroom climate and civic knowledge.
Cf. Judith Torney-Purta, ‘Patterns in the Civic Knowledge,
Engagement, and Attitudes of the European Adolescent:
The IEA Civic Education Study’, European Journal of Education, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2002, pp. 129-141.
2 Judith Torney-Purta et al., Citizenship and Education in
Twenty-eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen, International Association for the
Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Amsterdam, 2001.
5. Using elements of Playback Theatre
in Human Rights Education
A moment of a workshop
We are in a teacher training session on Human
Rights. The participants are sitting in small groups
and sharing stories from their own life. The theme is:
Human rights in our own life.
The group selects one conflict between a teacher
(Hungarian) and a parent (Hungarian-Roma).
Then the Group sets to work with this story:
We see “living sculptures” of emotions, the ones involved in this story. Anger, Fear, Desperation, Aggression.
Another small group presents the power difference
between the characters.
Variations of “Power games”, power and powerlessness
The third group plays the story as it happened.
Then the same sequence is played again and again,
because many of the teachers want to try the role of
the Roma parent and how he conducts himself in this
scenario.
The trainer asks how could we change the story.
They try out different reactions: Aggressive, Submissive, Paradox. Intensive work; the whole group is
involved.
Amongst the feedback there was focus for instance
on how touching and important it was to work with
different perspectives, not only talking about rights
but seeing how is it possible to turn them in practise.
Someone asks what can be done on a policy level,
how structures can be changed?
After the pause the group works further with structures. The schools system is on the stage. People are
symbols of different parts of the institution, with someone getting the role of Human Rights Education.
And the group works with the theme how human
rights can be integrated into this school system …
We leave this workshop now, because I just wanted
to show how elements of Playback method combined
with other theatre techniques help to transfer the
message of Human Rights Education.
The message
In Human Rights Education we transfer values such
as the importance of human dignity, inclusiveness,
anti-discrimination and many others. Through using
the elements of Playback Theatre method, participants can connect what they learn with their everyday life experience. In a workshop context there is
no theatre group, but participants who are working
out stories and situations – by doing which they
learn:
58
• Empathy: to mirror different emotions, to listen to
feelings as conveyed in stories
• Social sensitivity: to step into a role or situation
•
•
•
•
different from one’s own
Inclusiveness: as playing together evokes cooperation amongst participants.
Dealing with the diversity present in the Group:
different ways to react “spontaneously” to a situation, to experience the diversity of expressing the
same thing.
Dealing with conflicts: trying out different interactions, trying out different strategies for shaping
a story, playing and hearing the same story as told
from different perspectives.
Creativity: through improvisation, spontaneous
creative energy is released.
What is Playback Theatre?
Playback Theatre is an original form of Improvisational Theatre, a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone tells a story or moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles, then watches as their story is immediately
recreated and given artistic shape and coherence.
Building community through personal stories
Playback Theatre creates a ritual space where any
story – however ordinary, extraordinary, hidden or
difficult, funny or heavy – may be told, and immediately made into theatre. And where each person’s
uniqueness is honoured and affirmed, whilst at the
same time building and strengthening our connections to one another as a community of people. Social change and transformation begins here, as we make space for stories from the community, through individual voices, and are affected by them. It maintains communication and understanding also in a difficult social context.
Human Rights Education does not only take place in
class or seminar rooms. Playback Theatre as a format can contribute to the deepening of the values
and practice of Human Rights.
Examples:
Conflict transformation: Our theatre group has played in several events where parts of the same community had difficulty with each other. In a village Playback has been used in hearing from both side on the
difficulties of living together between Roma and
Hungarians.
In a Hungarian school students learned this method
and established their own theatre group to deal with
conflicts between fellow students and also to create a
better school atmosphere.
Community events: On the International Day of
Human Rights we performed in a refugee camp.
In a Jewish community centre stories were told as a
means of coping with past memories. In an old people’s home, with family members also invited, we
depicted stories representing difficult situations from
Hungarian history.
Healing: In a refugee camp we played stories of Albanian and Serbian refugees.
Origins
Playback Theatre grew out of the methodology of
psychodrama. As a theatre form, it was established
by Jonathan Fox (US) in 1975. Since then, Playback
Theatre has found its way into hundreds of settings
and locations. There is an international network
which provides connection and information for Playback practitioners in five continents.
http://www.playbacknet.org/
Aniko Kaposvari, Foundation for Human Rights and Peace
Education, Trainer on Human Rights Education, Mediator
Member of the International Playback Theatre Board
[email protected]
6. Joint project
One of the aims of DARE should be to develop and
submit joint project proposals. These common projects could involve all members of DARE or be a
project amongst a few member organisations. We
should like to present one of the later examples – the
project on Political Participation of the Young, involving Internationales Forum Burg Liebenzell (an AdB
member organisation, AdB itself being a DARE
member), and the Lithuanian Centre for Human
Rights. The project involves partners from Norway
and Czech Republic as well – the Hordaland County
Council and the Europe House Jihlava.
All the organisations mentioned are organising a
common seminar “International Youth Meeting –
Political Participation of the Young”, to which they
are inviting young people (16-23 years old) to take
part. The seminar takes place in Germany on 2 – 9
May 2004. It is expected that participants from Germany, Czech Republic, Norway and Lithuania would
share their experience on forms of participation in
their community, ideas of projects they organise for
young people, and other topics. The idea is to bring
interested and active people together to find out best
practice models of participation, to hear new ideas,
to have interesting discussions and to establish a network for the future.
Akvile Andruliene, Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights,
[email protected]
59
7. A new book on HRE:
The Rights to Human Rights Education –
Basic approaches in Human Rights Education
(Bilingual publication in German and English
but mainly in German)
The Title:
Lohrenscheit, Claudia: Das Recht auf Menschenrechtsbildung – Grundlagen und Ansätze einer
Pädagogik der Menschenrechte. Mit einer Studie
über aktuelle Entwicklungslinien der «Human
Rights Education» in Südafrika; Frankfurt am Main
(IKO-Verlag) 2004; ca. 350 S.; ca. 21,90 r
The author:
Claudia Lohrenscheit, Dr.phil, Intercultural Educator, works as a co-ordinator for HRE at the German
Institute for Human Rights, Berlin
www.institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de
The book:
Human Rights Education is a new educational approach which has evolved since the beginning of the
1990s. Since the United Nations proclaimed a Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004), efforts
and interest in the theory and practice of this discipline have grown considerably. This book summarises the results of an international research project in
this field. It offers practical insights into basic assumptions and ideas of HRE from an international
perspective. The case study on South Africa shows
how HRE is implemented under specific political,
social and societal conditions. The book will stimulate the discussion, promotion and further development of a comprehensive understanding of Human
Rights Education as a cross-cutting discipline in
educational and social sciences.
8. HREA Distance learning course
»Introduction to the European System
of Human Rights Protection and Promotion«
13 September - 5 December 2004
Instructor:
Dr. Gerd Oberleitner (London School of Economics)
This distance learning course provides participants
with practical guidance on how to protect human
rights through the European human rights system,
and specifically the institutions and treaties of the
Council of Europe.
Participants will be introduced to the main European human rights conventions and jurisprudence,
primarily as developed through the European Court
of Human Rights. The course addresses European
human rights standards as they apply to civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights,
and the rights of minorities. Case studies on the freedom of expression, homosexuality, violence against
women, protection of the mentally ill, prisoners’
rights, and the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons, will deepen participants’ understanding of European human rights standards and machinery.
The course is primarily intended for advanced
(under)graduate students of (international) law or
social and political sciences, civic education and history teachers, and NGO staff members from Council of Europe member states.
Participants should have a good written command
of English (the course language is English), have
high competence and comfort with computer and internet use, and have regular access to e-mail and the
internet.
Keywords:
Introduction into Human Rights Education from an
international perspective (with a case study on current developments in South Africa); UN, UNESCO,
political, intercultural and global education, South
African education, international educational research.
Deadline for applications: 15 June 2004
Further information and application forms can be
downloaded from:
Link: See:
9. Links to official human rights reports from
and on particular states
www.uni-oldenburg.de/nordsued/content/Human%20Rights%20Education.htm
(text provided by the author)
http://www.hrea.org/courses/9E.html
Frank Elbers, Human Rights Education Associates
[email protected]
International level
You want to know which persons from a certain state
are member of one of the UN committees?
unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/newcomembycountry?OpenView
All UN country documents (reports to UN Human
Rights bodies, concluding observations...)
unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/newhvviewbycountry?OpenView
60
Concluding observations from the Committee on the
Rights of the Child:
European Court of Human Rights decisions on cases
in your country:
unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/newhvdocsbytreaty?OpenView&Start=1&Count=750&Expand=8.3#8.3
hudoc.echr.coe.int/hudoc/default.asp?Language=en
&Advanced=1
International Court of Justice: cases and decisions,
per country
212.153.43.18/icjwww/idecisions/icasesbycountry.
htm
European level
National party reports to the parliamentary assembly
of the Council of Europe:
assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=http://assembly.coe
.int/Documents/AdoptedText/ta99/EREC1401.htm
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, country by country
coe.int/T/E/human_rights/Ecri/1-ECRI/2-Countryby-country_approach/default.asp
National reports on the revised European Social
Charter
coe.int/T/E/Human_Rights/Esc/4_Reporting_procedure/1_State_Reports/Revised_Social_Charter/Index.asp
Recent conclusions on the implementation of the European Social Charter, by country:
coe.int/T/E/Human%5FRights/Esc/4%5FReporting%5Fprocedure/2%5FRecent%5FConclusions/1_By_State/Social_Charter/Index_State_2004.
asp
Recent conclusions on the implementation of the Revised European Social Charter, by country:
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Human%5FRights/Esc/4%5
FReporting%5Fprocedure/2%5FRecent%5FConclusions/1_By_State/Revised_Social_Charter/Index_2004.asp
National reports for the Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities:
coe.int/T/e/human_rights/Minorities/2._FRAMEWORK_CONVENTION_(MONITORING)/2._Monitoring_mechanism/3._State_reports/List%20of%20
State%20Reports.asp
Opinions of the Advisory Council (country-specific)
on the Framework Convention:
coe.int/T/e/human%5Frights/Minorities/2%2E%5F
FRAMEWORK%5FCONVENTION%5F%28MONITORING%29/2%2E%5FMonitoring%5Fmechanism/4%2E%5FOpinions%5Fof%5Fthe%5FAdvisory%5FCommittee/1._Country_specific_opinions/L
ist%20of%20Opinions.asp
(under ‘respondents’ you can find your country)
Visit reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture on your country:
hudoc.echr.coe.int/hudoc/default.asp?Language=en
&Advanced=1
(under States you can possibly find your country)
[email protected]
10. European Conference: »Networking Europe
– Democratic Citizenship Education«
Santiago de Compostela, Spain,
23rd – 26th September 2004
Europe is becoming larger – geographically, politically, economically and culturally. Given this unique
historic chance, there is now more room to manoeuvre for democratic processes of participation and
new scope for action in respect of the civic society.
The challenges are also growing for civic education work that is strongly transnational in structure.
The concepts and the agendas together with the actors in civic education can no longer be considered
and be set into a relationship as attachable individually and in a national context. Rather, it will depend
more on networking the diversity in cultures and ideas, the intellectual trends of thought and discourse,
making them tangible and conveying them for the citizens into the immediate reality of their lives, and
making them comprehensible.
Only then a European public will come into being
that is able to influence the democratic political
community of the EU sustainedly “bottom upwards”
out of a mature European civic society.
The conception of the European Conference requires
a broad understanding of the formats and contents of
a civic education and it summarises these together
under the concept of a democratic citizenship education. Besides the general and civic education, additionally education on human rights and peace, education for sustainable development, and intercultural
learning are subsumed.
Over four days, in a variety of podiums, in five
working groups and an open space, presentations
will take place on themes, agendas and fields of
practice, actors and multiplicators, subject-related
didactical and country-specific problem fields, existing civil and cultural networks and interactive virtual portals of a European citizenship education in
the form of best-practice examples; and these will be
61
compared with each other and a platform will be initiated for to provide networking and stronger cooperation.
One of the objective lines of the conference is to
discuss a first basic canon of norms and quality standards of a democratic citizenship. With the help of
best-practice examples, a current insight into concepts and structures of a democratic citizenship education in Europe will be developed.
Furthermore, strategies and methods will be compared which are aimed at conveying and implementing a democratic citizenship education in the educational systems of the European member states. Especially with a view to the “European Year of Citizenship through Education” of the European Council taking place in 2005, endeavours will be made to secure lasting results and to develop longterm partnerships with various organizations.
Project call
What is being sought are best practice examples and
currently running education projects in Europe
which reflect the contents, forms of conveyance,
conceptions and methods of a democratic citzenship
education from the perspective of the individual
countries.
The objective line of the 5 working groups will
be: »Benchmarking Democratic Citizenship Education in Europe«.
The titles of the working groups are:
I. Understanding of Democratic Citizenship in the
Non-Public Educational System
II. Understanding of Democratic Citizenship in the
Public Educational System
III. Competences in the Media and Information
Society
IV. Participatory Engagement for Increasing Voting
Rates
V. Education for Sustainability and Intercultural
Learning
fer from the airport to the conference site and back
again. The conference language is English without
simultaneous translation.
On application to the conference management, participants from Central and East European countries
can receive a refund of travel expenses up to a max.
of r 100 at the conference site.
During the conference one has the possibility to exhibit materials and project presentations. This offer
has to be registered with the conference management
in good time.
Organizer:
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal
Agency for Civic Education)
In cooperation with:
University Santiago de Compostela
Free University of Madrid, Spain
Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Cultural Affairs, Austria
Institute for International Relations (IFRI), France
Multimedia Institute, Bosnia
DARE – Damocracy & Human Rights Education
Network
University of Prague, Czech Republic
European Journalists e.V.
Cittadinanzattiva, Italy
Press contact:
Swantje Schuetz, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Press Office, Adenauerallee 86, 53113 Bonn,
Germany, Tel + 49 (0) 1888/515-284; Fax + 49 (0)
1888/515-293; [email protected]
(text provided by the conference organizers)
Registration and Dispatch of Project Examples:
apex – Kultur- und Bildungsmanagement
Anja Ostermann, Reiderweg 18, 58285 Gevelsberg,
Germany, Tel: +49 (0) 2332 4199; Fax: +49 (0) 2332
757056; [email protected]
Notes on the organization
The participation fee is r 85, for students a discount
rate of r 50 is applicable. Included in this are the accommodation in a single room in one of the halls of
residence of the University of Santiago de Compostela from 23.-26. September 2004, breakfast, reception on 23. September, lunch on 24. September and
evening meal on 25. September as well as all the coffee breaks, the cultural framework programme, all
the conference documentation, and the shuttle trans-
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e-DARE
Issue 5 · 28 June 2004
Table of content
2. A learning experience with adults
3. Multicultural perspectives on professional key
terms
4. Spreading the message about rights
5. Ice-breakers, part 1
6. Needs and views of Belgian Flemish teachers
re human rights education
7. Interesting information and links
8. Networking
9. Announcements
Dear friends and colleagues,
Our meeting in Budapest during the last days of
April has been successful with regard to the topic of
ICT in Human Rights Education and Education for
Democratic Citizenship but also has been a step forward in creating a DARE-community.
We had the opportunity to welcome 30 old friends
and new representatives of our member organisations. We shared experiences and questions and profited from the competencies of our professionals in
ICT. The preparatory group had organized a representative and practice orientated set of learning opportunities and invited excellent experts.
We thank our Hungarian hosting organisation
Youth for Rural Areas for all their efforts to arrange
a smooth and efficient meeting.
Following the seminar the second General Assembly
of DARE took place. We are confident to follow our
quite ambitious work plan for the next year which
offers new training possibilities for all members, but
hopefully also the chance to grow together in a sustainable way. DARE depends on the contributions
and active participation of each member.
We would like to draw your attention once more to
the coming European Year of Citizenship through
Education 2005 (EYCE) in 2005 which will be a
chance for all of you to become more visible, on European and national level. Please, have a look in the
last e-DARE, where you can find aims and objectives of EYCE.
We remind you to address the national representatives for the Year and to get in touch with the national EDC coordinator to find out and to discuss with
them what kind of activity you may contribute and
which ways of support exist and you may expect. We
encourage you to try to become formally part of the
planning.
You know that DARE plans a conference in autumn
2005 as a common activity. Another idea is to ask all
member organisations to submit relevant details of
relevant activities for 2005, so that these could be
collected into a publication.
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e-DARE · Issue 5 · 28 June 2004
A first important step has been the statement of
DARE about the involvement of NGOs in the European Year of Citizenship through Education.
Wishing you a good time and energies for your activities
Hannelore Chiout, chair,
[email protected], AdB
2. A learning experience with adults
I would like to share with you an experience in the
field of HRE with adults. Some years ago I was organising a two-day course for people working in
centres for asylum seekers.
It was at the time when there were so many refugees from Kosovo. I invited two experts on the Kosovo situation, one from the Swiss Federal Office for
Refugees (BFF), the other one from the most important Swiss NGO in the field of refugees, the Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe (SFH). I asked them both
to arrange a half-day educational session on the same subject – the human rights situation in Kosovo
1997-98 and Swiss policy on asylum for refugees
from Kosovo within the same period.
My special arrangement was to divide the group of
participants into two halves. Each of these two subgroups met only one of the experts and worked with
her / him for three or four hours. Then the experts
withdrew; and each group was required to prepare a
presentation for the other group as to what they had
learnt from the respective experts. This preparation
took another couple of hours.
On the second day the two groups presented their
knowledge and images about the Kosovo situation
and the related refugee policy. These presentations
turned quickly into a very emotional affair. Most
participants identified themselves with the positions
they had become familiar with – and a serious dispute between the two groups developed. Some people
got quite angry!
We finished the two-day-session with an intense period of reflection. The participants had experienced
vividly how so called ”facts” are woven into different world-views and political positions, and how
quickly an emotional identification with a group-related world-view happens and leads to a polarisation
between groups.
Alex Sutter, Menschenrechte Schweiz
[email protected]
64
3. Multicultural perspectives on professional
key terms
It would be very tempting to jump into philosophical
debate around cultural differences amongst participants at the Council of Europe seminar »Authentic
assessment of student civic competences«, held in
Dimbovita county 12th-17th April 2004 (See the
complete report here).
I shall try however to concentrate on some concrete examples arising from daily activities.
One of the first tasks was to outline the profile of a
”good” citizen within a democracy. The term ”good”
provoked a hot dispute between Westerners (especially the Irish teachers) and Romanians. The former
felt that ”good” encompasses a value judgement that
can become a quite inappropriate label for a certain
group within a very diverse community.
At the same time, it presupposes the opposite type
of citizen: ”bad”.
Who is entitled to say that this citizen is good or that
another is bad?
Based on what criteria?
And what would be the consequences of such a shift
for a sustainable democracy?
In our opinion, ”good” stands for efficient, ideal or
active. Therefore the participatory dimension of civic profile is fully represented. Still we dare to use
”good” because we qualify all these traits as desirable, good in sense of democratic. And we obviously
use ”bad” being aware of the responsibility this implies. Maybe because we regard responsibility as the
bedrock of democratic conduct.
At this point I should that I’d like DARE colleagues
to participate in a discussion based on Joseph Kahne’s view of types of citizens (personally responsible, participatory, and justice-orientated).
The second challenging aspect I want to emphasise
is the role of the diary we filled in during the seminar.
Many Romanian teachers were very happy to use
the diary according to the course agenda – whereas
some foreign colleagues did not feel comfortable reflecting on the issues we suggested precisely at the
times we allocated for that purpose. The idea of
using a diary for professional reflection is wellknown and widely acknowledged amongst educationalists, but in Romania it comes to life mainly during
various training courses or special international projects. We are trying to turn it into a habit because we
strongly believe that the diary encourages analytical
skills which are crucial for an efficient teaching-learning enterprise in general, not to mention civic education.
On the one hand, people belonging to a writingcentered culture and familiar with sharing their professional experience (including reflection) with their
peers do not need to learn how to use a professional
diary. Some of them felt uncomfortable writing in
the diary when I asked them to do so, because they
were used to doing it whenever they wished.
On the other hand, our fellow citizens feel that reflective skills can increase their professionalism and
try to make best use of an opportunity for guided reflection, even though they do not fulfil the task as
well as foreign teachers. They regarded the diary
exercise as a pure learning and professional development opportunity.
The entries were content and time-connected with
each day’s activities:
• Which features of my EDC / HRE work make it
European or transnational?
• How could I do to raise my civic profile? and
• How could I do to improve my fellow citizens’
profile?
• What (in terms of information, data, theories,
concepts, inspiration, etc.) do I use to design the
assessment?
• How does a focus on assessment affect students’
learning?
Recall a recent professional development programme you have attended.
What were its major benefits?
What did you learn about yourself ?
Corina Leca, CRED
[email protected]
of an Amnesty International letter-writing group and
human rights notice-board.
The competition was followed by a Right On
Conference, which took place at the University of
Wales, Swansea in May. This gave the prize-winners
an opportunity to showcase their work, as well as
providing more opportunities to learn about human
rights. Interactive workshops were contributed by
the Electoral Commission (focusing on the right to
vote), the University’s Department of Law (the right
to medical care) and the Wales office of Amnesty International (the right to life).
For more information about CEWC-Cymru’s work,
please visit www.cewc-cymru.org.uk. To find out
about the Peace Mala project, visit
www.peacemala.org.uk.
(CEWC-Cymru is a constituent body within the
Welsh Centre of International Affairs, which is a
DARE member).
Martin Pollard, CEWC-Cymru,
[email protected]
5. Ice-breakers
part 1
We begin here a series of examples of interactive
activities and icebreakers for getting to know participants at international gatherings. The following activities for introducing people of different nationalities to each other have been used at various DARE
seminars.
Activity 1:
Saying good morning in the native language
4. Spreading the message about rights
Schools in Wales recently participated in Right On
2003-04, a competition to promote human rights.
Following introductory classroom sessions, students
aged 11-16 were asked to publicise rights in their
school environment, using any methods they chose.
The competition was organised by CEWC-Cymru
(Council for Education in World Citizenship-Wales)
and sponsored by the Wales Public Law and Human
Rights Association.
The winning students, from Coedcae School (Llanelli, west Wales), used a symbolic bracelet called a
»Peace Mala« to educate their peers about religious
diversity and respect for other culture. Second prize
went to Bedwas High School (Caerphilly, south Wales) for organising a number of projects which encouraged young people to use their right to voice
their opinions; while Gwernyfed High School (Brecon, mid Wales) won third prize for its establishment
◊ Get the participants in a circle
◊ Get them to go around and introduce themselves
by saying good morning or good day in their own
language. But not saying where they come from.
◊ When all have said good morning or good day to
each other, get them back in a circle.
◊ The leader after introducing him / herself picks
out one person by saying good morning to that
person in the latter’s native language – for example „dobre dan“ in Serbo-Croat.
◊ That person then stands in the middle of the circle
and tells the circle where they come from, what
organisation they represent, what they do, what
their expectations are, how they can contribute
and so forth
◊ The person then goes to another person from
whose greeting they remember from earlier – e.g.
„god dag“ in Norwegian, and gets that person to
introduce him/herself.
65
This activity takes about one minute per participant.
This activity can be done also with the Council of
Europe language stickers described in activity 3.
Activity 2:
Your neighbour talks about you
◊ Participants sitting in a row or in a circle are asked to turn to their neighbour and each takes five
minutes to talk about themselves.
◊ In the plenary the neighbour sums up their impression and facts about the other.
Activity 3:
Language awareness activity
In connection with the European Year of Languages
in 2001, the Council of Europe made a set of two
sheets consisting of 45 small detachable stickers.
◊ One says ”Good morning” in 45 European languages, and the other says ”Talk to me”.
◊ Groups of 3-5 participants are asked to group
these together according to country of origin or
according to language groups.
◊ Results are compared
[email protected]
6. Needs and views of Belgian Flemish teachers
re human rights education
In the process of preparing a five-year plan for our
HRE NGO, we wanted a clearer idea of the needs
and insights of Belgian Flemish teachers as to human
rights education in secondary schools. We therefore
carried out a limited inquiry vis-à-vis the target
group – using a questionnaire sent to teachers, almost exclusively those subscribed to our e-mail
monthly newsletter.
We are aware that our approach doesn’t amount to
a scientifically based poll, but it does allow us to get
an idea of teachers’ opinions and needs.
Those who returned the questionnaire were representative of the four existing school networks, comprehensive schools as well as vocational schools, and a
broad range of subjects. Female teachers, and the
age category of 40+, were slightly over-represented.
Asked about the biggest obstacles to human rights
education, the lack of teaching time and of time in
the classroom was an almost unanimous response. In
the second place, teachers referred to their lack of
skills in using active methods suited for this purpose,
and the fact that some subjects do not lend themselves easily to integrating HRE.
It is notable that negative attitudes on the part of
66
school principals or school boards towards HRE are
not seen as an obstacle of real importance. Nor do
teachers consider lack of interest from pupils as a
significant obstacle.
What do teachers and schools lack in order to carry
out HRE?
Here the answers were more divergent, but the average scores did not show great differences. ‘Examples
of how other teachers practise HRE’ scored the highest. Others featuring included ‘suggestions of how
to put into practice the cross-curricular core curriculum on citizenship’ (which contains HR issues), ‘inservice training on working methods for HRE’, ‘opportunities to exchange experiences with other teachers’, scenarios for project days, in-service training
on HR (content), a manual for cross-curricular work
on citizenship. Also mentioned was the lack of availability of people or NGOs for conducting workshops with their pupils.
Categories returning the lowest scores were:
• ‘human rights information’ (given wide availability already);
• ‘websites and CD-ROM’s’ (our NGO has a quite
big website with on-line educational materials, information and links);
• ‘information on cross-curricular targets for the citizenship curriculum’ (education authorities and
school networks provide this quite effectively in
any case) – and
• ‘appropriate working methods’.
Asked about which approaches they would advocate
for HRE in their classes and schools, the almost unanimous first choices were ‘providing, within the
school, equal opportunities for all disadvantaged social groups’ and ‘ensuring active pupil participation’.
Other choices, with those scoring higher first, included: a long term project, a series of lessons, a project
day, doing creative work with a HR content, working
with an interactive exhibition. Lowest scores were
accorded to: philosophy with children, working with
song lyrics, fund-raising activities, working with
poetry and literature.
Asked which forms of support for HRE in the formal
education system they value most, respondents offered support for all options – but most strongly for
training seminars with a duration of more than one
day. Other options supported, in decreasing order of
popularity: suggestions for working on human rights
issues, providing educational resources, publication
of examples of good practice, on-line information on
human rights, examples of good practice examples
in working with the citizenship curriculum, an email newsletter, an exhibition pack, guidance to local school projects, conducting workshops with pu-
pils, organising teacher meetings where experiences
can be exchanged.
Wim Taelman, VORMEN vzw (Belgian Flemish
Organisation for Human Rights Education)
[email protected]
7. Interesting information and links
a) Results of research on citizenship education by
the National Foundation for Educational Research
• Making Citizenship Education Real. Executive
Summary – this includes key findings and action
points from NFER’s research.
• Press Release, Citizenship Teaching – Time for
Review? – news from NFER’s key findings as released to the press.
• National Evaluation of Post-16 Citizenship Development, Executive Summary – key findings from
the second year of a three year evaluation of a
post-16 citizenship development project
b) Some resources about lobbying by NGO’s
• Enhancing NGOs’ Policy Advocacy Skills: Lessons Learned by William A. Douglas and David
Payton
• Lobbying Australia’s ‘lobbying guide’
Concrete and concise hard-learned practical tips
organised in four parts. Part two is considered the
best, because it shows how to define campaign
objectives and targets.
• Agenda Paper Sixty-One: NGO Advocacy Networks in Latin America: Lessons from Experience
in Promoting Women’s and Reproductive Rights.
Bonnie L. Shepard (ISBN 1-57454-134-X).
• BOND Guidance Notes Series 3, The What and
Why of Advocacy
[email protected]
8. Networking
As DARE is a network, it is by definition an opportunity for member institutions to ‘network’ with
other members. On top of that, DARE members also
develop formal or informal networks with other
‘players’. The following short text on networking
was prepared, in transparency format, with a view to
a workshop on this issue. It is compiled and adapted
from various web sources.
a) Networking: definition
”A process of continuous dialogue and consultation
for the purpose of sharing resources to achieve the
best outcomes.” – Sala Tupou & Rufina Latu,
www.spc.int
”A process of informal exchange, and creating channels to gather information, build support and get
things done.” – Gold & Harder, www.ncddr.org
b) Networking – Why?
• to identify allies and partners
• to identify areas of overlap
• to share resources
• to identify potential areas of working together
• to avoid duplication
The ultimate goals of networking:
• to maximise the use of resources
• to deliver better outcomes
• to achieve greater impact
c) A »Ten Commandments« of networking!
1 think first ”what can I do for him / her?“ (offer information, contacts, …)
2 listen
3 do more than giving away business cards.
Build a relationship
4 be visible, capture attention, break the ice
5 help others to establish direct contact
6 broaden your range of contacts
7 reciprocate whenever possible
8 thank the person who provided you
with something
9 follow up on your contacts (whatever you
promised) as soon as possible
10 develop your own networking style
[email protected]
67
9. Announcements
a) HREA Distance learning course „Human Rights
Monitoring“
27 September – 19 December 2004
Instructor: Dr. Krassimir Kanev
(Bulgarian Helsinki Committee)
This distance learning course provides participants
with practical guidance on how to monitor human
rights. Participants will be introduced to the theory
and methodology of human rights monitoring – developed in part through national human rights NGOs,
but primarily through international organisations and
NGOs such as the Committee for the Prevention of
Torture, the International Helsinki Federation for
Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT).
Participants should gain theoretical and practical
knowledge as to the principles and methods of human rights monitoring and on monitoring specific institutions and situations.
The course addresses approaches to identifying
human rights violations, information-gathering, interviewing, monitoring certain basic human rights
and freedoms in the context of closed institutions,
refugee camps or internally displaced persons, trial
observations etc. It deals with preparation of reports,
advocacy, intervention vis-à-vis international monitoring mechanisms, local authorities and other follow-up.
The course involves sixty hours of reading, online working groups, student-instructor interaction
and assignments, and is offered over a three-month
period, beginning on 27 September 2004.
E-mail will be the main medium for the course,
although participants will need to have periodic internet access.
The course is based on a participatory, active learning approach, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer
learning. Participants will do the required reading,
prepare individual and group assignments and participate actively in group discussions.
Deadline for applications: 1 September 2004
Further information and application forms can be
downloaded from:
http://www.hrea.org/courses/4E.html
Frank Elbers, HREA
[email protected]
68
b) 2nd Regional HRE Training for South East Europe ”Teaching Democratic Citizenship Skills and
Values in the new European Countries”
Date: 25th to 29th October 2004
Place: Maribor, Slovenia.
The seminar is open to primary and secondary
school teachers of civic education, curriculum builders, teacher trainers, headmasters, school inspectors
and all educators in non-formal educational systems
(youth workers, NGO activists).
Overall aims of the training are:
• To draw attention to different approaches to teaching democratic values and citizenship skills
amongst the new European countries.
• To enable participants to gain an in-depth knowledge on HRE, share
experience, examples of good practice, curriculum innovation and ideas on incorporating HRE
methodology into formal education.
• To encourage teachers active in HRE to set up
peer support groups within their countries.
• To expand the existing SEE HRE network of researchers, curriculum builders and teachers to foster
the exchange of examples of good practice, especially among participants from south-eastern
European countries.
• To reflect the diversity of European societies and
universality, indivisibility and inalienability of
human rights as the basis of every modern democratic society.
Ten grants covering travel and accommodation costs
are available to those eligible through the CoE InService Teacher Training Programme. For further information and application form, to be submitted to
your national CoE liaison officer, please contact the
CoE website
For other selected participants (youth and NGO
HRE activists) EIP Slovenia is able to cover enrolment fees and documentation costs, but not the travel, accommodation and insurance costs. Application via this route (available on http://www.eip-ass.si
under ‘Trainings’) should be sent directly to EIP
Slovenia via e-mail: [email protected].
All information, including draft programme and application form, is also available on
eip-ass.si/izobrazevanje.htm and
hrea.org/lists/hr-education/markup/msg01549.html
Alenka Bregant, EIP Slovenia – School for Peace
[email protected]
e-DARE
Issue 6 · 28 September 2004
Table of content
1. Working Group 1 meeting in York
2. Icebreakers, part 2
3. ”It is better to jaw-jaw than it is to war-war”
(Winston Churchill)
4. The IV Summer School on Human Rights
in Moscow
5. 14th International Session »Human Rights,
Democracy, Tolerance« –
Content and Methods of Education
6. New publications on HRE in Croatia
7. COMPASS – now in Dutch: KOMPAS
8. Some links for funding and fundraising by NGOs
9. Who is the EDC coordinator for my country?
1. Working Group 1 * meeting in York:
a short report
Working Group 1 convened in York, UK, 2nd-4th
September.
The agenda was as follows:
• making final decisions re the first DARE
publication;
• framing the good practice publication
to be issued next year;
• analysing possibilities for common projects;
• planning the strategy for the European Year
of Citizenship through Education (2005).
As we expected, issues re the publication took up
most of the time. If everything goes according to
plan, the partners / members will receive in December the brochure – including:
– a general profile of DARE;
– the work plan for the Grundtvig 4 project;
– background as to why some members elected to
join DARE – and to the challenges they face;
– three country-based examples on the relationship
between HRE and EDC;
– profiles of the participating organisations;
– the Antwerp Declaration ( June 2003).
Besides technical aspects such as fonts, titles, colours, photos and layout, we discussed the style of the
sections on reasons, expectations and challenges –
and decided to keep everything as it was, excepting
any instances where the text did not comply with the
topic. Such would be the case, for instance, where
there was a mere description of a given NGO’s activity instead of a brief analysis of why DARE mission
was compatible with that NGO’s goals. Some texts
will hopefully be rewritten – and a native English
speaker will check all materials. We believe the diversity of styles is a good thing, illustrating not a reading problem but one of the main principles of DARE
philosophy: respect for one’s personal opinion and
identity and the responsibility emerging from this.
Some of the WG 1 members did a rough editing
and the texts are to go to our colleague from Bulgaria, Daniela Kolarova, who is in charge of the publishing. In the meantime, Agnieszka Paczynska from
Poland will assemble all components of the publication.
* Working Group 1 is the DARE Grundtvig project working
group covering HRE/EDC methodology and concepts.
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e-DARE · Issue 5 · 28 September 2004
Based on the experience of developing the first publication we are trying to make our work on collecting good practice more efficient. Therefore we elected to develop a very clear template that will be filled in by everybody who wants to offer examples of
good practice. We also decided that good practice
should cover examples of lessons, training courses
targeting various groups, and complex projects derived from the concrete practical experience of DARE
network members. We thought feedback from the
beneficiaries / recipients of such good practice and
the reason for choosing a given example should be
added to the template Wim Taelman had sent all of
us last autumn. If said example is based on a consistent theory or very specific knowledge, the material
should be also put in a separate box as a handout.
With a view to identifying criteria for or basic features of good practice, some of us presented concrete
examples of national practice.
Thus Margot Brown from UK explained how the
political education of the ‘70s has evolved into a
three-fold approach nowadays: citizenship education
can be a separate subject, an integrated topic or a
block taught over a long period. Nevertheless it comprises three types of activities: political literacy, moral and social responsibility-orientated exercises, and
community projects. A discussion on the importance
of knowing the learning styles of students or trainees
and creating activities that address all of them occurred during the process of shaping the good practice
template. Assessment was also mentioned as the way
to define something like good practice, and we referred to both the products and process.
Daniela informed us that her organisation (Partners Bulgaria Foundation) is developing an index of
tolerance based on the concrete experience of four
multiethnic communities.
Although we made no decision as to the criteria
for good practice, we did mention ideas such as consistency of topic, method and goals of the practice in
question and the requirement to cover all sectors of
education. I suggested setting out the process of
collecting good practice – as an invitation to our readers to engage in similar undertakings as well as to
try to define ”good” at national level through a survey of teachers, trainers, and students (of various
ages) involved in HRE and EDC. The main idea was
that the process can often be much more resourceful
and inspirational for practitioners than the final outcomes are.
Akvile Andruliene from Lithuania volunteered to
coordinate the good practice publication.
70
We believe that over and above the effort to put together these two books, we had to address the search
for an identity for the DARE network – and this is
why we need so much discussion and analysis before
making any decision. Actually it is now – not at the
stage when it was first legally registered – that the
DARE network is coming to life.
After we had defined ”common project” as a proposal developed by some DARE network members and
submitted on behalf of DARE, we expressed the necessity to start this process as soon as possible for
the sake of DARE’s sustainability.
Then we produced the following list of topics for
possible common projects:
• HRE and EDC teaching, and training materials
applicable in some countries;
• specific methods and techniques employed by
HRE and EDC (such as drama for various target
groups);
• a collection of follow-up activities or a showcase
approach based on the good practice brochure to
be published in 2005;
• the status of trainer, facilitator, mentor, etc. in various countries and even some standards for such
occupations;
• common experience (challenges and success) of
the new EU members 2 or 3 years after their accession;
• documentary films about specific groups, subcultures or customs;
• short HR (or the like) movies played before the
main movie in a cinema;
• movies built on a HR&DC topic followed by public debate;
• surveys on various problems and concerns of teenagers around Europe;
• schools for children and adults promoting active
citizenship.
Some of these ideas come from the practical experience of WG1 members – and the list is open and will
be discussed in Amsterdam next December.
For 2005 (European Year of Citizenship through
Education), we discovered that the situation is quite
similar throughout our various countries: either the
authorities are well prepared for it but not willing to
establish new partnerships with NGOs (e.g. Germany) or they have not yet decided their national
strategy (e.g. Romania). Thanks to two of our colleagues who are EDC national coordinators, we found out some news regarding the year.
In December 2004 Bulgaria will mark the commencement of the European Year of Citizenship
through Education with a conference and later they
will translate the Council of Europe’s materials into
Bulgarian. Norway is considering sending EDC ambassadors and running EDC pilot schools. Besides
these, the Council of Europe will support the translation of the Compass manual and Jump (EDC leaflet)
into many local languages and the development and
distribution of an EDC kit (prepared by David Kerr).
DARE is considering a dedicated day of action
(Hannelore Chiout has suggested that all network
members should run an activity at the same time) for
EYCE 2005.
Activity 3:
Mapping cards on global education
Corina Leca, CRED (Romania)
[email protected]
◊ The group of 2-4 persons sharing the same birth
month are given the same set of 9 cards with statements which they are asked to place in a diamond shape 1+2+3+2+1 according to the importance they allot to the various statements.
◊ When everyone has agreed two and two [Wim:
not clear what this means] groups join together
and compare results.
◊ The activity leader can then map the different results for everyone to see.
2. Icebreakers
This activity can be done with other statements as
well – for example on human rights, political issues
etc.
part 2
Activity 1:
Mapping the participants according
to country of origin
◊ Ask the participants to go and find out where
they are placed geographically in relation to other
participants.
◊ The participants thus form a regional or world
map according to the geographical profile of the
participants.
◊ This exercise allows the participants quickly to
get to know the representatives from neighbouring countries and get an overview of the geographical distribution of the participants.
◊ Participants unknown to each other must interact
with each other and ask each other where they come from in order to find their positions on the
”people map“.
[email protected]
3. ”It is better to jaw-jaw than it is to war-war”
(Winston Churchill)
ICEWC-Cymru (Council for Education in World Citizenship – Wales) has produced a new edition of its
Debating Handbook.
It is aimed at students, teachers and others participating in debates, whether within schools, colleges,
youth groups, or at a broader competitive level.
Activity 2 can be used for grouping persons together
to perform tasks together – for example activity 3.
Debating is a highly effective means of carrying out
citizenship education. Young people are allocated a
motion for debate – for example ”This House would
never talk to terrorists” – and asked to speak as either Proposition or Opposition on it. Through undertaking background research, they learn in detail about issues of global concern; through structuring arguments, they improve their ability to think and plan
coherently; and since debating is a team activity,
they learn to work creatively as part of a group.
◊ Participants are asked to find their place in a
circle or a line according to their birthdays; but
must find their place without speaking to one another. They are only allowed to use their hands and
fingers to communicate with the others the month
and date they were born.
◊ After the participants have found their place each
announces his or her birthday
◊ Participants are then grouped together according
to the month in which they were born.
CEWC-Cymru’s Handbook also stresses the difference between debating and the associated activity
of public speaking. While both require clear explanation of ideas, and the development of speaking
skills to express these confidently, debating adds the
extra dimension of ‘thinking on your feet’. If a debater is challenged on the assertion that ”terrorists simply do not understand political negotiation”, then
s/he must be ready to deliver an immediate response,
by explaining the reasoning in more detail.
Activity 2:
Grouping participants by birthday
The Handbook provides comprehensive guidance for
organisations that wish to introduce debating as a
new activity, and for those that already promote it.
71
At 32 pages, it is an improved version of a well-tested booklet, with information on:
• how to plan debates effectively as a team
• how to persuade the audience and adjudicators by
using effective style, content and strategy
• how to rebut your opponents’ arguments clearly
and accurately
• how to chair a debate
• how to adjudicate in a competitive debate
• how to set up a debating club in your school, college or youth group
• the technical terms used in debating, such as
‘Floor’, ‘House’ and ‘Point of Information’
• essential web-sites for research and support.
For further information on the Handbook, contact
[email protected] or
[email protected].
Copies are available at a reasonable price that includes postage costs. Alternatively, go to our web-site
at www.cewc-cymru.org.uk and find out more about
how debating can contribute fully to education for
democracy.
Martin Pollard, Education Officer, CEWC-Cymru, Cardiff,
[email protected]
4. The IV Summer School on Human Rights
in Moscow
The IV Summer School on Human Rights was held
by the Presidential Human Rights Commission in the
Russian Federation (Chairman – Ella Pamfilova),
Moscow School of Human Rights – MSHR (Director – Anatoly Azarov), Russian State University for
the Humanities (Rector – Irina Karapetianc) on August, 9-20, 2004 in Moscow, Russia.
Applications were accepted from advocates, state
bodies and NGOs representatives, human rights activists, and teachers from institutes of higher education providing legal aid for the people of the Russian
Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent
States. More than 230 applications were received for
25 positions – and so there were nine candidates per
position.
In the Program of the School «International and Russian Mechanisms of Protecting Human Rights and
Freedoms» there were featured such topics as:
1. Introduction to Human Rights.
2. International and Russian Mechanisms of Protecting Human Rights and Freedoms.
Red Cross, Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RF,
Moscow Helsinki Group, the Commissioner on Human Rights in the RF, Amnesty International and
others.
The panel of trainers included both international
and Russian experts. Participants took special enter
and exit tests so as to evaluate their knowledge. Test
results showed a significant increase in their knowledge (from 65% correct answers at the beginning to
89% in the end).
The originality of the MSHR Summer Schools on
Human Rights is that – as to lecturers, the scientific
and methodological level of problems discussed,
quantity of state education institutions taking part in
the School, participation from different regions of
Russia and other states – there is no other such provision within the territory of the RF.
All expenses – teaching, accommodation, participants’ meals and travel and the pack of special literature – were paid for by the organisers of the Summer
School. The main funding was provided by the UNHCR and the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow.
Anatoly Azarov PhD, Director of the Moscow School
of Human Rights
[email protected]
5. 14th International Session »Human Rights,
Democracy, Tolerance«
Content and Methods of Education
The Presidential Human Rights Commission in the
Russian Federation, the Moscow School of Human
Rights, the Federation of Peace and Conciliation and
the Russian State University for the Humanities will
hold on December 13–17, 2004 in Moscow the annual International Meeting ‘Human Rights, Democracy, Tolerance’ – Content and Methods of Education under the auspices of UN, UNESCO and
Council of Europe recommendations on human
rights education.
Those invited to participate include secondary
schools teachers, lecturers from the tertiary sector,
instructors in social sciences, managers of educational institutions, social workers and NGOs representatives. The object: to give them a grounding in human rights, civic, democracy and peace education.
Famous specialists in the sphere of human rights,
law, political science, pedagogy, etc., representing
Russian and international organizations, will take
part.
Organisational and information support was provided by different organisations such as UNHCR,
Council of Europe, International Committee of the
72
The following problems will be discussed:
• human rights and terrorism: prospects for the
future?
• inter-cultural, inter-ethnic, inter-confessional
relations: conflict or dialogue?
• civic education – for civil society;
• international initiatives: human rights, citizenship
through education, tolerance;
• human rights, democracy and non-violence education (tasks, content, methods of upbringing and
teaching): Russian and foreign experience.
Participants will visit educational institutions in
Moscow, government institutions and human rights
NGOs so as to become acquainted with their work in
these fields.
The working language will be Russian. During
formal sessions and (through escorts) free time we
shall provide translation into English.
Additional information can be found on a website of
the Moscow School of Human Rights:
http://www.mshr.ru/engl
Anatoly Azarov PhD,
Director of the Moscow School of Human Rights
[email protected]
6. New publications on HRE in Croatia
From September 2003 to June 2004 the Research
and Training Centre for Human Rights of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy and FFPress
published two teachers’ manuals in human rights
education.
Printing of the manuals was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Netherlands and the Ministry of Science, Education and
Sport of the Republic of Croatia, as well as through
cooperation with the Human Rights Education Associates (HREA).
Living and Learning Rights: Education for human
rights in the system of preschool education
written by D. Males, M. Milanovic and I. Stricevic.
as a practical guide for pre-school teachers and other
relevant professionals, as well as for parents with a
view to facilitating pre-school children’s learning in
self-awareness, rights and responsibilities, equality
and justice in the context of a democratic and culturally plural society. It contains materials that were
originally prepared for pre-school teacher training
seminars on the implementation of the Croatian National Human Rights Education Programme.
The content of the manual is presented in four
parts. The first part deals with international and national standards for the protection and promotion of
the rights of the child, in particular as per the principles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Special attention is given to the child’s right to family and to the rights of parents, as well as to the rights
of the child in the context of pre-school education
within the Republic of Croatia.
The second and the third part are focused on the
protection of the rights of the child in pre-school institution as defined by the National Human Rights
Education Programme. The last chapter targets the
issues of pre-school teacher in-service training in relation to the child’s exercising and learning his or
her rights.
Teaching Rights and Freedoms: Elementary school
teachers’ manual – with class activities
is written by V. Spajic-Vrkas, I. Stricevic, D. Males
and M. Matijevic.
The first draft of the manual was prepared in the project on Peace and Human Rights for Croatian Primary Schools carried out from 1997 - 1999 under the
auspices of UNESCO, the Netherlands Government
and the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
It combines theoretical and practical approaches
to learning human rights in elementary schools.
The first part is an introduction to human rights
and to education for human rights. It covers topics
such as: What are human rights? Theoretical sources
of human rights; International human rights systems;
Main features and divisions of human rights; The
right to education and the exercise of human rights;
Education for human rights; Education for human
rights in Croatia.
The second part contains the Primary School Human Rights Education Programme, divided into five
main areas: Discovering the Self: Learning for selfawareness and self-respect; Knowing the Other:
Learning for understanding and respecting differences; Living in a democratic dommunity: Learning for
democratic citizenship; Building and strengthening
peace: learning for peaceful conflict resolution; and
Preserving the wholeness of the world: Learning for
a global perspective.
Each area is accompanied by information on objectives, methods and evaluation strategies and at the
end of the Programme there is a specially prepared
Instrument for self-evaluation and quality assurance
in human rights education, as well as a simplified
version of some international and national human
rights instruments.
Both manuals are expected to be extensively used as
resource materials at national and local teacher training seminars as well as in pre-service teacher training. The Centre will seek assistance in launching a
new project aiming at monitoring and evaluating
73
their use in practice in the context of implementing
the National Human Rights Education Programme.
Vedrana Spajic-Vrkas, director, Research and Training Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
[email protected]
Wim Taelman, VORMEN vzw (Belgian Flemish Organisation for Human Rights Education)
[email protected]
7. COMPASS – now in Dutch: KOMPAS
KOMPAS, een handleiding voor mensenrechteneducatie met jongeren
is the Dutch translation of COMPASS, a manual of
over 400 pages on human rights education for young
people published by the Council of Europe.
Its translation has been supported by the Belgian
Federal Administration for Foreign Affairs, by the
Evens Foundation, by Triodos Fund and by JINT
(Flemish coordination body for international youth
work). More information on:
www.vormen.org/Kompas (in Dutch! ).
Unfortunately, as we are a poor organisation, we
can’t offer free copies...
[email protected]
balkanidea.org/manuals/index.asp
website of BINET, a Virtual Office for Youth NGOs,
with links to various resources about, among others,
grant proposal writing and fundraising.
ngo.at/fund.htm
The fund-raising centre of The World of NGOs is a
virtual centre for promoting fund-raising and sponsorship services. It provides guidance / information.
hrea.org/erc/Library/display.php?doc_id=386&category_id=23&category_type=3&group= Human
Rights Education Resource book
published by HREA, with a chapter on funding for
HRE. Available on-line and in pdf-format
grantstation.com/grantstation/index.asp
„Securing private grant dollars is an integral part of a
healthy funding strategy for any nonprofit. Although
there are thousands of grant opportunities and billions of grant dollars, finding the right funder can be a
difficult and time-consuming process.
GrantStation provides all the tools and resources
you need to be a successful grantseeker – all in one
place“ (most of the information and services for
members only)
grantstation.com/grantstation/Public/Funding_
Strategies_px/funding_basics.asp
webpage about the basics in funding
europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/
socrates/socrates_en.html
start page for the EU Socrates funding programme
8. Some links on funding and fundraising for
NGO’s in HRE and EDC
coe.int/T/e/Cultural_Co-peration/education/E.D.C/
If_you_are_looking_for_finding/
a webpage on the EDC website of the Council of Europe, with an overview of funding opportunities.
http://www.aedif.if.ua/ngo_res.jsp?lang=eng
a collection of informational resources for Ukrainian
NGOs on facilitating NGO initiatives through funding: much information on fundraising for NGOs,
and other interesting material.
http://www.fundersonline.org/
europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/
phare/index.htm
start page for the Phare programme, which applies to
the accession and candidate countries from Central
and Eastern Europe, and principally involves institution-building measures (with accompanying iInvestment) as well as measures designed to promote economic and social cohesion
kbs-frb.be/code/page.cfm?id_Page=156
webpage of the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium) with their European and international projects
Wim Taelman, VORMEN
[email protected]
a web tool helping to find possible funders
ngomanager.org/dcd/4_Managing_Finances/Fundraising/
a webpage with links to various resources about fundraising for NGOs (writing funding applications, …)
http://www.grantproposal.com/
a site devoted to providing free resources for both
advanced grant-writing consultants and inexperienced non-profit staff
74
9. Who is the EDC coordinator for my country?
Well, just have a look at
coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/
E.D.C/ Coordinators_corner/090_liste.asp
Contact them for information on plans for the 2005
European Year of Citizenship through Education
within your country (if you didn’t do this yet...).
A Glossary of Terms for Education
for Democratic Citizenship
Karen O’Shea
August 2003, Draft
75
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The author wishes to acknowledge all those who
contributed to the Council of Europe documents that
were the source for developing this glossary. They
include report writers, researchers, participants at
seminars and conferences and Council of Europe
staff. Without their deliberations and considered
thinking developing this glossary would not have
been possible.
The author hopes that the terms given in this glossary adequately express the ideas contained in many
of the reports and studies produced and as such reflect the wide range of thinking available within the
Council of Europe. The documents that supported
the writing of this glossary are listed in the bibliography.
Background
The first EDC project (1997 - 2000) sought to explore the concepts and practices of education for democratic citizenship and through research, conferences and significantly through supporting sites of citizenship. As a result of the success of this project a
second project was launched in 2001 and will continue until 2004.
Within this second project, policy development has
been identified as the first priority and there are currently a number of significant activities underway.
In 2001 the first international seminar on EDC policies and regulatory frameworks and significant
progress was held and significant progress has been
made by the appointment of national EDC coordinators within each of the member States.
There are also significant studies underway; the
‘All-European Study on Policies for EDC’, as well as
the development of ‘The Common Framework on
EDC Policies’ and The ”School – a democratic learning community”: the All-European Study on pupils
participation in school.
Contents
Executive Summary
Introduction
Section I: Core Concepts
Section II: Processes and Practices
Section III: Outcomes
Bibliography 23
Executive Summary
Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) is a
subject that has achieved significant prominence and
interest within the Council of Europe and individual
member States. The resulting increase has led to the
widening of the debate and the inclusion on new
partners in the field. A significant number of these
new partners play an important role in promoting
EDC at a policy level.
Some of these new partners are not as familiar
with the nuances of meaning that underpin many of
the terms commonly used within discussion and debates on EDC. This glossary therefore is offered as a
tool to support the promotion of EDC policy in
member States.
It is beyond the scope of this glossary to include the
full range of terms associated with EDC. The terms
chosen reflect current thinking within a number of
Council of Europe documents. They are not offered
as strict definitions but rather as short explorations
of the term and its relationship to EDC.
The glossary includes thirty terms and is divided into
three sections, namely, core concepts, the processes
and practices of EDC and the outcomes of EDC.
Thus it seeks to offer the reader an introductory
framework and pathway through the significant
terms associated with EDC.
As stated above, the first EDC project was the context for the exploration of the concepts and practices
central to EDC. A number of important documents
were produced during this time, many of which are
listed in the bibliography. However, as the work has
turned towards policy-making, the need for a short
glossary of terms has emerged.
Aim
The overall aim of this glossary is to support policy
makers and practitioners in the promotion of EDC
within member States. It seeks to achieve this
through
• offering readers an understanding the key terms
associated with EDC;
• providing a pathway through the concept of Education for Democratic Citizenship by focusing on
three key areas, core concepts, processes and
practices and outcomes;
• supporting the development of a shared understanding of Education for Democratic Citizenship
(EDC) among member states.
The glossary explores thirty key ideas offered in discussion documents, reports and research undertaken
by the Council of Europe. Readers should note however, that the explanations offered are not definitive but seek to reflect current thinking.
77
Glossary of Terms for Education for Democratic Citizenship
Structure
The glossary is structured in the following manner.
Section I: Core Concepts,
offers an exploration of EDC through terms such as
‘citizen’, citizenship’ ‘human rights’, ‘civil and political rights’.
Section II: Processes and Practices,
focuses on the processes and practices of EDC by
examining such terms as ‘life-long learning’, ‘active
learning ’ ‘co-operative learning’ and ‘critical analysis’.
Section III: Outcomes of EDC, explores the outcomes associated with EDC such as ‘ cognitive competencies’, ‘ethical competencies’, ‘participation’,
‘responsibility’ and ‘solidarity’.
Bibliography.
The glossary ends with a bibliography of texts that
were the source of the terms and ideas included.
Section I: Core Concepts
In coming to a shared understanding of EDC, the following terms offer the reader a broad understanding
of certain key the concepts which underpin the tripartite concept of Education for Democratic Citizenship.
The terms included in this sections are
Citizen / Citizenship
Education for Democratic Citizenship
Civil and Political
Cultural Rights Equality
Democracy / Democratic
Human Rights
Social and Economic Rights
Citizenship Sites
Diversity
Citizen / Citizenship
Within the Council of Europe there is a growing recognition that terms such a ‘citizen’ and ‘citizenship’ are neither stable nor limited to a single definition. Traditional views of ‘citizens’ and ‘citizenship’
as being solely related to the Nation State and nationality are giving way to broader definitions, which
are having an important influence on EDC.
Within the context of EDC the term citizen can be
broadly described as
‘a person co-existing in a society’.
This is not to say however that the idea of citizen in
relation to the Nation State is no longer relevant or
applicable, but as the Nation State is no longer the
sole focus of authority, there has been a need to develop a more holistic view of the concept.
This broader understanding of citizen and citizenship offers a potential new model for exploring
how we live together. The challenge therefore is to
move beyond the confines of the ‘Nation State’ to
the concept of ‘community’, which embraces the local, the national, regional and the international contexts that individuals live in.
Within such understanding the idea of ‘citizen’ and
‘citizenship’ includes the idea of ‘status’ and ‘role’.
It involves issues relating to rights and duties, but also ideas of equality, diversity and social justice. It is
no longer enough to limit the idea of ‘citizenship’ to
the act of voting. It must also include the range of
actions exercised by an individual that impact on the
life of the community (local, national, regional and
international) and as such requires a public space
within which individuals can act together.
78
Democracy / Democratic
Democracy is a form of living together in a community. Within a democracy it is very important to
be able to choose between different solutions when
issues or problems arise and to be able to have the
freedom to do so.
This understanding of democracy marks a shift of
emphasis. The traditional understanding of democracy as a form of governance and a political system
based on the rather limited role of citizens as voters
has been challenged by ideas of participation and
participative democracy.
Within Education for Democratic Citizenship, the
adjective ‘democratic’ emphasises the fact that it is a
citizenship based on the principles and values of
human rights, respect of human dignity, pluralism, cultural diversity and the primacy of law.
Education for Democratic Citizenship
Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) has
emerged from more traditional programmes such as
civic education or civic instruction. As an approach
EDC emphasises individual experience and the
search for practices designed to promote the development of communities committed to genuine
relationships.
It concerns the individual and her/his relations
with others, the construction of personal and collective identities, the conditions of living together, to
name but a few.
A fundamental aim of EDC is the promotion of a
culture of democracy and human rights, a culture
that enables individuals to develop the collective
project of building communities. Thus it seeks to
strengthen social cohesion, mutual understanding
and solidarity.
As an educational initiative EDC is aimed at all
individuals, regardless of their age or role in society,
and therefore goes far beyond the school environment in which it is often first applied.
EDC is a process of lifelong learning that focuses on
the following goals:
participation · partnership · social cohesion ·
access · equity · accountability and solidarity.
EDC therefore is a set of practices and activities developed as a bottom up approach, which seeks to
help pupils, young people and adults participate
actively, and responsibly in the decision-making
processes in their communities.
Participation is key to the promotion and strengthening of a democratic culture based on awareness
and commitment to shared fundamental values, such
as human rights and freedoms, equality of difference
and the rule of law. It focuses on providing life-long
opportunities for acquiring, applying and disseminating knowledge, values and skills linked to democratic principles and procedures in a broad range
of formal and non-formal teaching and learning environments.
Citizenship Sites
A citizenship site is the term given to a new, or innovative form of democratic life. These sites are local
grassroots projects that attempt to give life to, and
implement the principles of, modern democratic citizenship.
A site of citizenship may cover a number of similar activities within a specific local area or across
a number of geographical areas or indeed throughout
a country.
And such sites which generally involve different
players are controlled by participants themselves,
explore different forms of participation, combat
exclusion, and are directed towards social change.
They are based on the values and democratic processes, which they aim to promote and consolidate.
Human Rights
Human rights is as much concerned with the development of human beings to their fullest potential
and their relationship with others as it is to do with
articulating the responsibilities of the Nation
State towards individuals.
Important human rights documents include the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
Traditionally human rights have been divided into
categories · civil · political · social · economic
and cultural.
These categories are often associated with particular
time-frames, with civil and political rights deemed
as ‘the first generation’, followed by social and economic as the ‘second generation’ and cultural or development rights being viewed as a ‘third generation’.
Notwithstanding the value of categorising rights,
EDC seeks to promote an integrated understanding of human rights. It places equal emphasis on
all categories: civil, political, social, economic and
cultural. Thus it seeks to balance the tendency that
has existed to regard certain rights as being more important than others.
It is also important to recognise that while traditionally human rights have been associated with the
State and its relationship with the individual, within
79
EDC the language of human rights is one that is
increasingly placing emphasis on the rights of
‘groups’ or ‘peoples’.
Attempts to include these ideas in EDC is important for the development of the concept itself, and
for the development of local, national and regional
communities.
Cultural Rights
The concept of ‘cultural rights’ within the context of
EDC is broadly concerned with issues of ‘identity’.
Issues of identity include language and all that
that implies membership of groups, communities,
peoples as well as issues of heritage.
These rights are internationally outlined in the Covenant on Economic and Social Rights that was adopted by the United Nations Assembly in 1966.
Equality
Equality as a ‘concept’ recognises that everyone, regardless of age, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity etc.
is entitled to the same rights.
The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights starts with the words ‘recognition of the
inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights
of all members of the human family is the foundation
of freedom, justice and peace in the world’.
The idea of ‘cultural rights’ is one of todays most
challenging human rights debates. While the multicultural nature of our societies is broadly accepted,
the political and legal treatment of this reality, i.e.
the definition of rights, those of the persons entitled
to them, and even more those of the groups responsible for them, are still being explored.
The concept of citizenship cannot be divorced from
equality issues.
The existence of inequalities within or between
societies obstructs effective citizenship. Therefore
the idea of equality is at the heart of EDC and it
must concern itself with issues of equality and
empower individuals to act against all forms
of discrimination.
Civil and Political Rights
Diversity
Civil and political rights are in the main concerned
with those freedoms and entitlements individuals
have, and which the State undertakes to respect.
Diversity implies moving beyond the idea of tolerance to a genuine respect for and appreciation for
difference.
Often considered the ‘first generation’ of human
rights, they include freedom to liberty and security
of person, the right to a fair trial, the right to be presumed innocent, the right to marry, the right to participate in public life. They also include the prohibition of torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment,
slavery, forced labour.
It is central to the idea of pluralism and multi-culturalism and therefore is a cornerstone of EDC.
EDC therefore must include opportunities to examine perceptions, challenge bias and stereotyping.
It must also aim to ensure that difference is celebrated and embraced within the local, national,
regional and international community.
These rights are internationally outlined in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that was adopted
by the United Nations Assembly in 1966.
Economic and Social Rights
Economic and social rights are in the main concerned with the conditions necessary for the full development of the human person and the provision
of an adequate standard of living.
Often termed the ‘second generation’ of human
rights, these rights are more difficult to enforce as
they are considered to be dependent on resources
available.
They include rights such as the right to work, the
right to education, the right to leisure and the right to
an adequate standard of living.
80
Section II: Processes and Practices
Education for Democratic Citizenship is an educational process that is based on various and sound educational practices. As such it aspires to ‘best practice’ and is therefore underpinned by a particular
ethos. As a practice it uses a variety of methodologies and the terms outlined below are by no means
an exhaustive list but rather should be seen as an introduction to what lies at the heart of this educational
initiative.
Terms included:
Action
Co-operative Learning
Curriculum Development
Learner Centred
Reflection
Teacher / Educator Training
Active Learning
Critical Analysis
Evaluation
Life-long Learning
Research
Action
The place of action with EDC learning processes is
central to the development to active citizenship.
It is a commitment within the learning process to
enabling learners to move beyond the cognitive dimension of learning and to make use of their skills or
develop new ones.
Action however involves the cognitive dimension. It
is underpinned by the actor’s conception of what is
happening. The action is then reflected upon and
thus gives the action greater meaning to the individual. Within EDC action is part of a whole process
and cannot be seen as an isolated activity.
Actions can take place at a multiplicity of levels,
within learning environments, within institutions,
within the local community as well as actions for
global change.
Active learning
Active learning can be described as the process of
‘learning by doing’.
It is an educational process whereby the learner is
an active partner in the learning process rather
than a passive recipient of knowledge. Individuals or
groups learn better when they are active participants in their own learning.
In relation to methods of teaching it requires the
use of a diversity of methods. The methods chosen
need to provide opportunities for the learner to think,
do and reflect. By including all three dimensions active learning seeks to provide for the whole person.
Active learning methods associated with EDC
include brainstorming, role-play, debate, discussion
and project work.
Co-operative learning
Co-operative learning is concerned with learning
from and with others.
It refers to social and interactive learning where
group processes become the key focus.
Co-operative learning activities enable people to
learn together through working on common projects.
It can also encourage learners to tackle problems together, to reflect and express themselves better. Its
place within EDC is clear as EDC itself is concerned with the development of citizens who co-exist
with others.
Inclusion of co-operative learning activities ensures
a balance between individual and collective learning.
It does not mean an end to individual learning and
can be supplemented by the use of computers,
engaging in personal reflection work and engaging
in personal project work. Co-operative learning activities can also include the use network approaches
such as twinning activities and school on-line networks and so forth.
Critical Analysis
Critical analysis is the process whereby the learner
is encouraged and supported to develop and use
the skills of critical thinking.
Critical thinking skills include the skills of investigation, interpretation, presentation and reflection.
It involves the process of forming one’s own opinion, learning to express it and if necessary to revise
it. Critical analysis involves beyond simple explanations and exploring issues in a more complex way.
Critical analysis is an integral part of constructing
critical social consciousness and as such is a fundamental aspect of EDC. It involves the continuous
analysis of contemporary society and the forces that
shape it.
Methodologies that support critical analysis include
activities such as media analysis, debate, project
work and so forth.
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Curriculum Development
Life-long learning
The concept of ‘curriculum development’ is applicable in all educational settings.
It can be viewed as the process through which the
questions of ‘what do we want the learner to learn?’
and ‘how do we support learning?’ translate into
actual processes and practices, undertaken by all
educators with learners.
Life long learning recognises that each individual is
in a continually process of learning.
Whether within a classroom, adult learning institute
or national curriculum council, curriculum development includes a willingness to engage in creating
learning frameworks that meet the needs of learners.
Ideally, no matter what setting, curriculum development requires a commitment to continuous reevaluation and change as new ideas about teaching
and learning about EDC unfold.
Evaluation
Evaluation is a process whereby what is done is reflected on with an openness to change.
Evaluation is not assessment. It is not solely concerned with what has happened but is also focussed
on what can be done better. It is a process of reflection and action.
Evaluation is a process based activity and can include the setting of aims, objectives, goals, participant selection, data gathering, analysis and dissemination.
The place of evaluation in the development of EDC
as an educational process is crucial. It involves an
examination of what is happening at all levels, from
the classroom or learning setting to the highest level
of policy work and needs to be supported by a commitment to encourage ‘best practice’.
Learner Centred
A ‘learner-centred’ approach to education places the
efforts of the learner to understand things at the
centre of the learning process.
The individual thus becomes the primary focus
and the starting point for learning comes from their
own experience.
An EDC curriculum must therefore focus on the
learner as a whole being by embracing what concerns the individual, the worker and the citizen
throughout their lives. Thus the uniqueness of each
learning environment must be taken into account
when developing EDC curricula.
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The importance of this concept for EDC is related to
the fact that Education for Democratic Citizenship
cannot be limited to schools. As such learning for
democratic citizenship must be seen as a comprehensive task that must include a wide range of formal
and non-formal education settings.
Life-long learning demands a holistic approach to
education. It occurs in a very wide range of places
including work places, local community activities,
and should be available to all individuals and groups
within society, for example, media, police, health
workers and so forth.
To develop an effective life-long learning programme there is a need for coordination and cooperation of the relevant institutions and organisations at all levels.
Reflection
Reflection is the process through which an individual or group actively considers what has
occurred.
Reflection is part of a commitment to the idea of
reflective learning and action.
EDC as a process encourages reflective learning.
Reflection helps give meaning to action and vice
versa. Without the inclusion of reflective activities
the learner can loose a genuine opportunity to develop their own understanding.
Reflective activities can include the use of diaries,
journals, logs, sharing in small groups about what
has happened or what has been learned.
Research
Research is about learning and discovery.
It is a process through which questions or ideas are
investigated, analysed and shared.
There are many forms and approaches to educational research in general as well as to EDC in particular. Within EDC, educational research can support
the development of greater understanding of the
learning process.
It can offer insights and information on key
concepts and ideas that can support the development of curricula throughout the member states.
It can support evaluation by offering opportunities to examine current practice, discover what is
working, what could work better?
It can support democratic practices by ensuring
that learners’ opinions and ideas about life are examined and documented.
Teacher / Educator Training
Teacher / Educator Training is the broad term given
to both the pre-service and continuing professional development of all educators.
It can be viewed as a response to the need for an
expert group of educators committed to the processes and practices of EDC. It is thus an essential component of EDC policy.
EDC challenges traditional roles of ‘knowledge
giver’ to facilitator of learning and thus requires
new models of training.
Such models need to include a wide range of opportunities for additional training throughout their
professional careers.
Section III: Outcomes
The outcomes of EDC are related to the understanding (cognitive), attitudes (affective) and behaviours (pragmatic) that it aims to achieve among individual learners. It is also concerned with what it
aims to achieve at a broader societal level.
The terms included:
Cognitive Outcomes
Pragmatic or Action Outcomes
Social Cohesion
Participation
Affective Outcomes
Positive Peace
Responsibility
Solidarity
Cognitive Outcomes
The word ‘cognition’ is generally associated with
understanding and content knowledge.
In relation to EDC, there is knowledge at three
levels, knowledge about, knowledge of and ‘knowhow’ or procedural knowledge.
It is important that learners know about the rules of
collective life and how these rules developed, their
origin and their purpose.
It is also important that learners have an understanding of the levels of power within society and
how public institutions work, about human rights
and so forth.
However knowledge ‘about’ democratic society requires a greater understanding ‘of the world’.
Such knowledge is underpinned by the realisation
that the world is in a constant state of change. To
participate actively in the development of society
learners need to have some knowledge of the debates of our time for example, What is meant by cultural rights? What do we mean by responsibility?
Others forms of knowledge are reflected in the idea
of ‘know-how’ or procedural knowledge, what constitutes a debate, what are the core approaches included in the democratic process.
Such knowledge is inextricably linked to the
pragmatic or skills domain.
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Affective outcomes
Social cohesion
Affective outcomes are related to the fact that individuals construct themselves and their relationships
in accordance with certain values.
Social cohesion presents an image of a society that
has a strong commitment to promoting positive
human relationships.
It implies a sense of belonging, the well being of
individuals and that of the community.
It involves a commitment to continually improving the quality of life for its members by actively
removing barriers and the causes of division.
The values held by an individual can change. These
values can influence how an individual makes decisions; they facilitate the choices made and also help
structure the environment.
As a result of this changing nature, the development of values and attitudes is a key learning outcome for EDC.
Special attention within EDC is given to those
values that underpin the idea of democracy and
human rights. These include recognition and respect for self and of others, the ability to listen,
and to engage in peaceful conflict resolution.
Linked to the idea of positive peace this term is widely used within Council of Europe documents and
is as much a part of the rationale for EDC as it is a
desired outcome or aim. In this regard EDC is seen
as contributing to social cohesion through its commitment to promoting a respect for human rights and
a commitment to non-violence.
Pragmatic or Action Outcomes
Responsibility
Pragmatic or action outcomes are concerned with the
idea of improving people’s ability to take initiative
and to accept responsibilities in society.
They are those capacities that empower the individual to take an active part in and contribute to
the community, in the shaping of its affairs and in
solving problems.
The concept of ‘responsibilities’ implies the ability
to respond – being responsive to others, and being
responsible for self.
The idea of responsibility can be viewed as a
response to individualisation and fragmentation
of our societies. It seeks to offer a new moral bases
for living together.
However it should not, particularly in educational
terms, be reduced to the idea of conformity.
The notion of responsibility exists on a continuum, with the macro level being concerned with
government and the micro being concerned with individuals, but it must also be recognised that between these two extremes lies a myriad of players.
It also includes recognition of the space between
the local and the global. For example, emphasis on
responsibility on a local level cannot be encouraged
at the expense of a global responsibility and vice
versa.
Within EDC there is the clear recognition that knowledge, attitudes and values only take on meaning in
everyday personal and social life, and are thus
embodied in capacities for action.
Such capacities include the capacity to live and
work with one another, to co-operate, to engage in
joint initiatives to be able to resolve conflicts in a
non-violent manner, to take part in public debate.
Positive Peace
Positive Peace describes a state whereby the collective will is towards promoting peace and removing
the barriers to peace.
It includes a commitment to social justice thereby
moving beyond the idea that peace is the absence of
fear, violence and war.
It includes a commitment to non-violence conflict resolution and seeks to encourage these capacities of individuals and groups to address social problems in a constructive manner.
For EDC educators, it also means promoting democratic processes in the classroom, addressing issues of power or the abuse of power as well as seeking at all times to encourage the skills of listening,
constructive dialogue and a commitment to resolve
conflict.
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Responsibility within a democratic environment
is connected with the practice of democracy.
This practice extends beyond casting a vote and is
about involvement in the democratic process at all
levels, debate, combating prejudice, challenging inequalities and acting for the development of society.
Together with this emphasis ‘responsibility’ as a
democratic practice, it is also about the capacity to
recognise others and the willingness and skills
needed to respond to them as persons with rights.
It is also about fostering in each individual the understanding that our actions can help bring about the
conditions needed to enable everyone seek the fulfilment of their human potential.
Participation
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Participation is concerned with ensuring that each
individual can take her / his place in society and
contribute to its development at whatever level it
may be.
Participation is a crucial element in democratic
stability with the involvement of individuals in public decision-making processes, one of the basic
rights of each person.
Audigier, F., 2000, Basic Concepts and Core Competencies for
Education for Democratic Citizenship, DGIV/EDU/CIT
(2000) 23, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.
Participation is a defining quality of EDC. Participating in the life of the community at all levels depends
on the willingness and capacity of individuals to
engage with each other but also to engage across
communities and between individuals and the institutions that exist.
An individual learns about participation through
participation rather than learning about participation.
EDC therefore is as much about offering opportunities for participation as it is about developing
the skills of participation and the reduction of
obstacles to participation.
Carey, L. & Forrester, K. 2000, Sites of Citizenship: Empowerment, Participation and partnerships, Council of Europe, Strasbourg,
Solidarity
Solidarity is in many ways associated with the capacity of individuals to move beyond their own space
and to recognise and be willing to act in the defence of promotion of the rights of the others.
It is also a key aim of EDC in that it seeks to provide
individuals with degrees of knowledge, skills and
values to live fully the communal dimension of
their lives.
Acts of solidarity are closely related to the idea of
action as outlined earlier. However, solidarity is as
much a mind-set as it is a set of behaviours.
Index: DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 29
Strasbourg, 4 September 2003
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