On 9 December 2016 in Kyiv, Ukraine, EWC together with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine co-organized the round table conference “Democracy and Human rights in the New Ukrainian School”. The conference gathered over 80 participants – experts and educators from different regions of Ukraine, and the National Trainer Network of the EWCs Schools for Democracy Programme.
The conference was organized on the occasion of the launch of the Ukrainian translation of the Council of Europe’s Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights, carried out by EWC. Ana Perona Fjeldstad held a key note presentation on the state of education for democracy and human rights in Europe and in Ukraine. Expert in EDC/HRE Rolf Gollob, representing the Swiss-Ukrainian Programme “Developing Civic Competences”, drew attention to the importance of the national monitoring and evaluation of education for democratic citizenship and human rights. EWC Expert Marzena Rafalska focused on the value of school autonomy and presented the Tool for Democratic School Development worked out by the Schools for Democracy programme in Ukraine.
The expert panel was followed by group discussions on three topics: developing democratic competences in teaching and learning process at school, through democratic school governance and by building partnerships with parents and the local community. The outcomes of the discussions will be summarized in a document with practical recommendations on further implementation of principles of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights in Ukrainian schools.