2005 - European Year of Citizenship through Education - 1

The Council of Europe has declared 2005 the European Year of Citizenship Through Education (EYCE), the main objective being to make people aware of the full meaning of citizenship in a democratic Europe.

Today the meaning of the word "citizenship" is no longer restricted to the relationship between the individual and the state but has expanded to include all the rights and responsibilities of a person living in a community. Such rights and responsibilities include the respect that one must exercise towards all those around him and the responsibility of active participation.

EDC programmes

In 1997 European heads of state and government meeting in Strasbourg declared Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) a priority. The Council of Europe then launched the first phase of an official EDC programme that sought to explore the field from an international and lifelong learning perspective.

In order to facilitate the implementation of EDC in all member states, the Council asked them to appoint a national EDC co-ordinator. These co-ordinators meet regularly to take stock and evaluate how their respective country is handling EDC. Meetings also serve for cross-fertilisation of ideas and networking.

In 1998, the Council of Ministers, expressing their concern about the increase in violence, xenophobia, racism and religious intolerance, issued a declaration reaffirming their vision of a society based on solidarity, common values, cultural heritage and diversity and in 1999 followed this declaration with the adoption of an action plan for Education for Democratic Citizenship.

2001 saw the launching of Phase Two of the Council of Europe's EDC programme with the specific objective of transferring the results of Phase One into policies and practices. This was backed by the Committee of Ministers Recommendation 12, which set out detailed guidelines for objectives, strategies, policies and reforms regarding EDC.

This phase came to an end in 2004 with an international launching conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the European Year of Citizenship through Education was officially launched. Member countries were asked to compare what they had promised to do throughout the two phases of the programme with what they had in fact achieved. Thus 2005 EYCE is to serve as a time for closing the compliance gap.

Objectives

The Council of Europe is therefore using 2005 EYCE to help member states further raise awareness of how education can contribute to the various aspects of democratic citizenship, such as respect for diversity and human rights, social cohesion, intercultural understanding and active participation. However this cannot happen unless countries make EDC/HRE (Human Rights Education), a priority objective of their policy making.

The Council firmly believes that unless this happens the programme cannot be implemented and sustained. To help countries achieve these objectives, the Council is offering different types of support, such as the publishing and dissemination of the 'EDC Pack', consisting of a set of reference materials that include a tool for quality assurance of EDC and another tool for teacher training, since both quality assurance and teacher training are considered a sine qua non for the success of the programme.

Malta's role

Like other member states, Malta has been busy implementing EDC. Ever since 1999, the Education Division has been organising conferences and seminars for teachers, Heads of school and other educators.

Among these training initiatives were Democracy In, For and through Schools (1999), Democracy In Schools (2002), Children's Rights (2003), Citizenship Schools (2004) and Citizenship: An Educational Challenge (2005).

Speakers at these conferences have included such well known names in the field of EDC/HRE as Margot Brown, Berger Hareide, Graham Morris, Karlheinz Durr, Titus Alexander and Audrey Osler.

The Education Division has also been regularly sponsoring various educators to attend seminars on EDC/HRE, as well as facilitating attendance at seminars and conferences organised by both local and foreign NGOs, and other international entities such as the Council of Europe and the European Union.

As I have already pointed out, teacher training (both pre- and in-service) is seen as the main condition for the success and the sustainability of EDC/HRE. No country can hope to develop education for democracy unless its educators are fully aware of what constitutes education for democracy and unless they are trained to practise it.

It is now the general opinion that there is a need for specialist teachers of EDC/HRE in European schools. In addition all teachers must be EDC/HRE teachers. In other words, we cannot leave EDC/HRE to a specific person, lesson and textbook.

EDC/HRE is a philosophy and as such must underpin all aspects of education and schooling whether these be curriculum, ethos, school organisation, class interaction, staff/student/parent relations, resourcing, etc. EDC/HRE must pervade both formal and non-formal education. Indeed the latter is an essential aspect of EDC/HRE and Europe is discussing methods of giving recognition and accreditation for it.

Maltese schools

The division, which has been implementing EDC/HRE since the beginning of the Council of Europe programme, sought to make the programme sustainable by appointing an education officer for Democracy and Values Education. While we are not yet in the ideal position, the difference can already be felt.

A programme of projects, initiatives and activities was devised late in 2004 involving (among others) schools, NGOs and Government departments. Some projects were initiated by the division, some by schools, others by outside stakeholders with whom the division entered into a partnership.

Among the many initiatives in progress are the Outreach Project initiated by the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Inter-generational Project suggested by the Department of Social Solidarity and the Talking Book Project in partnership with the Department of Libraries. These and other projects are intended to instil in school children the responsibilities citizens have towards the local and global society and the need for them to play an active role.

As part of the effort to implement EDC, great emphasis is being placed on student and pupil councils in schools. A good number of primary and secondary schools now have a functioning council with a link teacher to support it. Here again, through education children can learn how to participate in decision-making, how to listen to other people's views, how to try to do something about the status quo in a civilised manner, even how to exercise voting rights.

Wherever student councils were introduced and well managed, they were found to give students a hands-on experience for understanding and practising democracy. This is perfectly in line with the slogan that the Council of Europe has chosen for 2005 EYCE: Learning and Living Democracy.

Another practical tool is drama. This year widespread use has been made of this strategy in connection with EDC/HRE. Secondary schools were invited to Offside, a play very ably produced and acted by the Division's Drama Unit which made them reflect on their prejudices, on racism with its potentially ugly results, and on related issues facing Maltese society today.

Another very good production was Cetta u Dean for primary schoolchildren attending Skola Sajf. This play (with a clever acoustic play on the word cittadin for a title) placed several citizenship issues before children, inviting them to compare decision-taking by discussion, persuasion and democratic voting with other, less peaceful methods.

It is not possible to mention here all the citizenship initiatives being organised among local school children or do justice to the hard work of the many stakeholders involved in this Year of Citizenship through Education. The next article however will be focusing on individual initiatives. Meanwhile it is the Education Division's hope that all the efforts being made by many dedicated educators will yield a more responsible, knowledgeable and caring Maltese society.

(To be concluded)

Ms Mifsud is director of Student Services and International Relations of the Education Division and national co-ordinator for Education for Democratic Citizenship.