1. Activities

Educators' Consultation in Hamburg
Students from the Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg attended a course on the topic of school development during the fall term, where they also got familiar with qualitative and quantitative ways of exploring student participation and democratic school climate. During the 2-day workshop in Hamburg, the students were able to successfully link their attained research perspectives to concrete democratic school development projects in the Hamburg region.

More input on international perspectives, including the ICCS and the Council of Europe's policy documents, programmes and materials in the field of EDC/HRE were also provided during the consultation. 

The workshop was co-organized by the University of Hamburg, the Institute for Teacher Training and School Development in Hamburg and the EWC. It was opened by Prof. Andreas Körber and the German EDC/HRE coordinator Kurt Edler, who both stressed the innovative quality of this event; introducing a new type of university-school cooperation.


The Summer Academy in Poland - call for participants is still open!
The third Summer Academy: Democracy at School will take place in Warsaw, Poland 7-15 July 2012. Bringing together up to 30 participants, it offers training in the field of education for human rights and democratic citizenship to teams of education professionals and local community actors. More information and application form is available at the EWC website. Deadline for applying is 19 February. 


Development of pedagogical resources on education for democracy
The EWC and the CoE Pestalozzi Programme cooperate on the development and testing of pedagogical resources on education for democracy. On January 26-27, a special interest group of the Pestalozzi Network of Trainers met for the 2nd time to develop learning resources related to recognition of learning in the context of education for democracy. This work is part of the cooperation to develop a tool box for education for democracy. This tool box will be tested by educational practitioners in a Tandem Workshop of the Pestalozzi Programme, consisting of a first workshop in Estonia in June and a second workshop in Norway in November.


2. Resources

Intercultural Glossary Project - Latest Update
The Norwegian and German students participating in the peer learning activities related to the Intercultural Glossary Project met in Trondheim January 20-23. They visited places which are linked to the idea and construction of "Norwegian cultural heritage", learning the related narratives, interpretations and debates. These activities were closely related to the conceptual learning activities; examining concepts such as Cultural Heritage, European Identity, Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

The meeting also served as an opportunity to have a shared evaluation of the Glossary Project's approach towards concept learning and the concrete experiences from the peer learning during the fall term. The evaluation was moderated by EWC's Research Coordinator. 

Library
EWC's online library offers free access to resources in the field of education for democratic citizenship, human rights and intercultural understanding. Stay up to date on teaching and research materials, CoE Recommendations, papers and literature in the field.

Latest Publications:

• Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims - Addressing Islamophobia through Education. These guidelines aim to assist educators in identifying manifestations of intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in schools and to provide suggestions on how to prevent and respond to this phenomenon. 
  

• Education about Human Rights - Strengths and weaknesses of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education by Paula Gerber

• Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination - A European Report This report provides comprehensive and comparable data about the extent of prejudice and discrimination against the main target groups in eight selected European countries.
  

Share & Connect
EWC's online network for professionals working in the field; researchers, teacher trainers, teachers, PhD students, government officials, NGO- and youth workers. More than 250 professionals are part of this network; create your profile, share your expertise and join the network!


3. Connect with the EWC

Facebook: Join EWC at: www.facebook.com/theewc.org

Twitter: Get updates in the field and follow EWC's activities directly!


4. Calendar

30 January - 1 February: Young People Combating Hate Speech in Cyberspace is a new project of the CoE Youth Department to be run in 2012 and 2013. A consultative meeting will take place in Strasbourg to plan and structure the project. International Youth Organisations, youth NGOs, as well as representatives from different CoE sectors and the EWC will take part in the meeting. The project aims to contribute to the democratic governance of the Internet and to make it a safer public space by fostering the role of youth work in combating hate speech online and to support youth organisations and young activists to take online action against human rights violations. 

16-17 February: A follow-up meeting to the Think Tank "Schools as intercultural communities: towards indicators for successful intercultural education" (Oslo 4-7 October, 2011), will take place in Strasbourg. The indicators developed during the Oslo Think Tank have now been tested and reviewed by colleagues of the Think Tank participants, and the focus of the meeting will be to compile successful initiatives, guidelines and potential use of these indicators, based on the discussions during the Think Tank and the feedback. EWC will take part in the meeting, which is organized by the Council of Europe Pestalozzi Programme. 

24-25 February: Intercultural Glossary Project follow-up workshop in Berlin. The project partners will meet to present and discuss the results so far and to plan further steps and development of the project.


 Visit the EWC website for more information on our activities and resources