Since last year, the European Commission has organised a Civil Society Day prior to the European, Education and Youth Training Forum. The event, held on 19 October, gathered 70 participants from over 40 different organisations, including EFIL. The content of the discussions was very much linked to the follow up of the Paris declaration, especially in view of the recent Communication of the European Commission on Supporting Prevention of Violent Radicalisation published in July. The Commission has initiated a series of initiatives mentioned in the Communication and presented in this leaflet, which range from a wider use of e-twinning, the launch of Erasmus+ virtual exchanges, the promotion of volunteering, the creation of a network of role models/ambassadors and finally a Euridyce publication on Citizenship education in Europe (2017).
The focus of the meeting was “Promoting inclusive education and common EU values through formal and non-formal learning”, a concept that reveals the transformative effect of education on society as a whole. However, this effect requires mainstreaming the concept through all areas of education, involving the many educational actors – representing formal, non-formal and informal sectors – in a dialogue with the institutions to develop effective educational policies. Participants reflected on the meaning of inclusiveness in education through the prism of learning objectives, content and methods; learning environments and their link with the non- formal sector; the role of educators and school leaders; and finally, seeking the optimal governance system to ensure a comprehensive approach. Here you can read the key messages.
Civil society organisations will need to follow very closely the Working Group on ‘Promoting Citizenship’ of the European Commission, which will provide key input to the Council Conclusion on Promoting Inclusion and Fundamental Values through Education foreseen for the end of 2017. The Working Group will work according to the following roadmap:
- Critical thinking and media literacy (Jan-Oct 2016)
- Social and civic competences (Oct 2016- Apr 2017)
- Inclusive education (Apr-Dec 2017)
- Intercultural understanding (Dec 2017-Feb 2018)
- Finalisation of deliverables and planning dissemination (Apr- Jun 2018)
EFIL will make sure to contribute as expert on the topic of intercultural understanding, in particular through the outputs of the Erasmus+ project ‘Intercultural learning for teachers and pupils’.
You can read the last EFILife updates on the Paris declaration follow up here (May) and here (July).
For more information: elisa.briga@afs.org
Photo: ETY Forum (©Teamwork)
Source: Lifelong Learning Platform