EWC presents at international e-conference

The Council of Europes’ Reference Framework for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) held a central role when EWC presented experiences from the Schools for Democracy project in Ukraine, and how they have dealt with the challenges presented by the covid-19 pandemic, at an international e-conference promoting European ideas in education in early June.

The topic of the presentation was “Teaching about democracy and civic mindedness in the time of social distancing”, and was warmly welcomed by the large international audience.

“Online fora where practitioners and researchers can discuss, share experiences, strategies and practical solutions to teaching and learning in a distance mode are invaluable”, said Khrustyna Chusak who is the coordinator for the Schools for Democracy project.

“It took some time for the international community of teachers to cope with the first shock wave caused by having to turn to online learning overnight. We need to reflect on this experience and learn from it, and we need to do it now with possible new lockdowns ahead», she continued.

The aim of the event was to disseminate and discuss innovative methodological approaches and teaching techniques and tools related to the emerging changes cause by the pandemic.

«What comes out strongly from the experiences of the last couple of months, is that communities with a truly democratic culture show a better preparedness and resilience in difficult times. This conference for teachers interested in spreading European values is another example of this,» Chusak added.

The conference was organized by the Erasmus+ “Teachers4Europe: Setting up an Agora for Democratic Culture” Program, working for the production of creative work and the promotion of European ideas in education.