The Summer Academy: Democracy at School was organized for the third time this year, taking place in Warsaw and Sulejówek, Poland, 7-14 July, with 30 enthusiastic participants from six different countries; Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.






Combining preparatory tasks, a seminar and an extensive online follow-up, the aims of the Summer Academy are:

• to put the CoE Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education and CoE manuals into practice at school and in the local community

• to support the implementation of EDC/HRE principles and practices in schools through action plans oriented towards changes in different dimensions of school life

The official inauguration in Warsaw had opening addresses by:

• Mirosław Sielatycki, Polish Deputy Minister of National Education

• Yulia Pererva, Council of Europe, Directorate General IV, Division on citizenship and human rights education

• Marlena Fałkowska, Deputy director of Centre for Education Development

• Ana Perona-Fjeldstad, EWC director

Following the opening, the participants engaged in round table discussions, and had a chance to ask experts in the field about issues such as democratic school governance, teachers` development, local partnership and education for democratic citizenship and human rights.

The participants also discussed basic concepts of democratic school life, and how to base a school on values. Closely linked to the participants’ own experiences, they then took part in training sessions related to different levels of school life; school governance, teaching methods, classroom climate and partnership with the local community.

The next step for the participants of the Summer Academy is to develop an action plan in cooperation with colleagues and partners. Describing local challenges and concrete measures on how they will work towards change, the plan will serve as basis for the follow-up of the teams, which will take place online until May 2013, with support, advice and facilitation provided by one of the Summer Academy trainers and the organizers.

The Summer Academy: Democracy at School is organized in cooperation between the Polish Ministry of National Education, Centre for Education Development, Council of Europe and The European Wergeland Centre.

The Summer Academy is based on the EWC training model. The model offers capacity building and training activities tailor-made to translate CoE's policy into practice in line with the CoE Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.