Education for Democracy in Schools European Conference on Living and Teaching European Values (7 – 9 of May 2025, Weimar, Germany)
On 7 – 9 May 2025, the National Erasmus+ Agencies, National eTwinning Support Offices, National Erasmus+ Office – Ukraine and education institutions that work with pre-school, school, VET, HE and Adults met in Weimar, Germany for European Conference on Education for Democracy in Schools on Living and Teaching European Values Today.
The event brought together 200 participants from 20 countries of Erasmus+ Countries to discuss challenging issues of living and teaching European Values.
The speakers, moderators, facilitators and trainers during the conference were experts on international cooperation from Erasmus+ Agencies, projects teams, school teachers, journalists and others.
There were 4 participants from Ukraine represented by the schools close to the frontline and teachers training university: Yana TSYKUNKOVA, Marhanets Lyceum #10, Nikopol Region, Dnipro Oblast, eTwinning Ambassador and NGO Tabula Rasa for Future Generation; Svitlana YAKIVYUK, teacher of English and German languages, Kherson School #41, eTwinning Ambassador; Tetyana KALYNYUK, Head of German Language Chair of Ivan Ogieynko Kamyanets-Podilskyi National University and Svitlana SHYTIKOVA, Coordinator of National Erasmus+ Office – Ukraine.
Each day the team actively participated in partnership and ideas marketplace – looking for partners and opportunities for cooperation. The interest to cooperate with Ukraine was big and several ideas were discussed with potential partners. The contacts were provided by the international partners can be found in NEO – Ukraine on the individual request, due to the data protection policy can not be published openly.
The optional programme upon arrival of participants included introduction to eTwinning and funding opportunities under Erasmus+, communicated by Sabine Lioy, National Agency Erasmus+ School Education, Germany with comments from Svitlana SHYTIKOVA, NEO – Ukraine Coordinator on the specifics of Ukraine and open opportunities for cooperation.
The next day opening remarks of Gernot Stiwitz, Director, Educational Exchange Service (Pädagogischer Austauschdienst), Germany were focused on the topic of the event – Living and Teaching European Values.
Keynote: “Valuing differences” – A journey to the heart of democracy by Rolf Gollob, Professor Emeritus at the Zurich University of Teacher Education provided a food for thoughts about democratic values in the changing world.
Presentations of good practices inspired participants for new ideas for cooperation. Among the topics and practitioners were: “History and memory: from the horrors of the Second World War to the defence of human rights” Ludovic Cherel, Collège Charles Baudelaire Clermont-Ferrand, France “From school to EU” Alessia Lazzari, Liceo Scientifico “Da Vinci” Arzignano, Italy “Supporting students to become responsible and cultured Europeans in a changing world – annual conferences of Model United Nations and Europroject Network” Daniel Szczygieł, I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. M. Kopernika, Poland.
They were followed by the parallel workshops:
Experience democracy in order to know democracy – Democracy is not a theory. It must be practiced in everyday life as well as in schools. Rolf Gollob (CH) and Gelly Aroni (EL), from the Council of Europe “Living Democracy” Project discussed and practice energizers and games on the topic of “Living and taking part in democracy”. b) Teaching critical thinking: tackling polarisation and keeping curiosity alive – Join journalists Dr. Annemieke Akkermans (DE) and Jochen Spangenberg (DE) from Lie Detectors for a deep dive into fact-checking, source verification and learn more about media literacy. c) How do we teach controversial issues particularly related to contested narratives in diverse societies? – Britta Kornholt and Gitte Funch (DK), partners in the ConCitizen project, define relevant concepts and present practical methods to teach contested narratives and controversial issues in communities of disagreement (i.e. classrooms). d) Speak Up for Democracy – Addressing Populist Challenges with Democratic Values – Sabine Roehrig-Mahhou and Katrin Echtermeyer (DE) from Wisamar educational institute explore practical strategies for fostering constructive dialogue and championing democratic values—both in classrooms and beyond! e) Information disorders: how to tackle them with students? – Laure Delmoly (FR) from the French CLEMI teacher training network showcases experiences with institutionalized media literacy trainings in France and presents practical approaches and resources to empower children to become informed citizens. f) Roots, not Bridges: Shared Historical Experience as a Basis for Intercultural Youth Exchange – Dr. Alan Bern (DE/US), Other Music Academy, Weimar. How to make shared cultural roots visible and use them to strengthen intercultural youth exchange? The workshop included both short video clips of projects by the Other Music Academy as well as handson experience. g) Counterspeech Against Right-Wing Extremism: Training Responses and other Intervention Strategies – Alexander Geppert and Georg Schütze (DE) from the Network for Democracy and Courage focus on developing response and intervention competencies to counter dehumanising statements and attitudes. Participants shared their experience of rightwing extremist rhetoric and discuss how to find appropriate responses.
Last day was opened by inspiring Maja Zaubitzer speech, Deputy Secretary General of the Federal Students’ Conference, Germany on “Students‘ perspectives on international school exchange, democracy, and participation in schools”.
Several presentations provided possibilities to learn and exchange best practices and to find new ideas for cooperation. In particular:
Stefanie REICHELT, Schulen der Brede (Secondary School, DE) EU 4 U – Electing, living and working as a young person in today‘s Europe and in the future. Stefan ROTH, Bezirksregierung Arnsberg (teacher training institute, DE) Strengthening resilience against Disinformation by media literacy. Agnieszka ORGANISTA, Zespół Szkół Technicznych (vocational school, PL) “Human Rights” – Erasmus+ project. Ambre MAJCHRZAK-DIRUIT, Réseau Canopé (teacher training institute, FR) Eu-e-inspé (Jean Monnet project). Thomas STOLZ, Rottmayr-Gymnasium (secondary school, DE), “We are Europe”. Anne SCHULTE, Jugendförderverein Parchim/ Lübz e.V. (educational center, DE), ACT4CONSENT. Dr. Doris LAX, ADD (School Inspectorate, DE), German-Greek projects on building bridges of understanding and responsibility. Sebastian FASSKE, Daniel Theyson IGS (secondary school, DE) Act local, think global – together for a better Europe. Alexis SEVERIN, French ministry of education – DRAREIC Occitanie – Montpellier (public authority, FR), Building a network to teach active eco-citizenship in schools. Daniela BRAUN, Studienseminar Meppen (teacher training institute, DE) Strengthening the European dimension for future teachers: Job-shadowing project. Maria STEGER, EduNet Europe (teacher training institute, DE).
Erasmus+ Teacher Academy SciLMi: Meta-Scientific Literacies in the (Mis-) Information Age. Amanda HERSBØLL, The Democracy in Europe Organisation (civic and teacher education, DK), Pan-European Awareness in Collaborative Education (PEACE). Dörte METELMANN, BSZ Stendal “Europaschule” & François HUGUET, Lycée Martin Nadaud (vocational schools, DE & FR), “Ways of remembering – Les chemins de la mémoire”.
The presentation session of Yana TSYKUNKOVA, Marhanets Lyceum 10 (secondary school, UA) provided overview of 4 implemented projects:1. Sustainability through National Cuisines, 2. Diversity is our Wealth, 3. Decision Making through Youth Mobility, 4. Informal Education through Youth Mobility.
It was facilitated by Svitlana SHYTIKOVA, NEO – Ukraine Coordinator, who informed participants about the situation in Ukraine’s education, possibilities to cooperate with Ukraine and specificy of implementation of Erasmus+ during Martial law.
Ms. Tsykunkova shared her experience of the Erasmus+: eTwinning projects and how to work and teach in Ukraine during martial law. Other colleagues Svitlana Yakivyuk and Tatyana Kalynyuk added their experience and answered the questions of the participants.
We appreciate the organisers for the opportunity, Ukrainian group for proactive participation and National eTwinning Office – Ukraine for close cooperation!
We look forward to enhancing cooperation and involvement of schools into the Erasmus+ and eTwinning communities.
The Conference details are described at Erasmus+ Schule.