Description

The project Experience Democracy in Schools Now (EDISON) aims to promote democratic education in Southeastern Europe through local school development and national continuing education programmes. To this end, the project pursues two lines of action, at the macro and micro level.

At the macro level (subproject 1), information and training sessions on the topic of democratic education are being offered in eight Southeastern European countries (Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) for teachers, students, principals and parents. The underlying materials are available free of charge on the 14-language Living Democracy website and were developed in previous projects.

At the micro-level (subproject 2), EDISON supports the participatory-democratic development of schools in Kosovo. Teachers, principals and other education experts are guided in workshops on how they can promote the development of their schools. This includes acquiring skills, gathering ideas for putting participatory-democratic processes into practice, and implementing these directly within the schools. The experiences gained are reflected upon at meetings with colleagues from other schools and experts, thereby building up and passing on valuable practical knowledge.

The projects and findings of subproject 2 will be presented to education professionals from Kosovo and from the countries involved in subproject 1 at a closing event. Furthermore, an anthology on the EDISON project is planned, which will describe the projects and results as well as the insights and findings gained. It will include the knowledge generated by the project on establishing and strengthening democratic processes and structures in schools and on promoting school-based developments, using Kosovo as a case study.

EDISON is a project of the Department for International Projects in Education.

Project outcomes

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As part of subproject 1, the Living Democracy website and its resources were presented to teachers, students, principals and parents in the project countries throughout the project’s duration via training sessions, workshops, presentations and recommendations. The on-the-ground delivery was carried out by 16 local democracy experts in eight different country teams. The Covid-19 pandemic posed a major challenge for this subproject, as many in-person events could not be held as planned. In response, monthly online meetings were organised with all country teams, which continued throughout the project. To highlight how the materials were being used in the project countries, news updates from these countries were also published regularly on the Living Democracy website.

Successful developments despite adverse circumstances

Subproject 2 was designed with the support of the Kosova Education Centre (KEC) and implemented in collaboration with the Kosovan Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and the respective local authorities. Ten selected schools were supported through a participatory development process, which led to concrete changes, adjustments or innovations being initiated and implemented in the schools. For example, student clubs were set up, students’ sense of ownership in school matters was strengthened, and cooperation and networking between schools were promoted. Despite major challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and strikes by teaching staff during the project period, the school teams remained committed to the project and successfully found solutions to their concerns.

Guide to democratic school development in English and Albanian

Thanks to the efforts of the various national teams from subproject 1, Living Democracy can now be found on the websites of the ministries of education in several project countries and has been established in various educational institutions for teachers. During the EDISON closing conference on 5 December 2023 in Pristina, the participating schools from subproject 2 presented their work to local education specialists and the MESTI. Their findings were also compiled into a comprehensive final report in English and Albanian, which serves as a practical guide to implementing democratic school development in a participatory manner. Both language versions of the publication are available free of charge on the IPE-Textbooks platform.

Follow-up project focusing on sustainability

Building on the experience gained from EDISON, the follow-up project Sustainable Democratic Culture (SUDECU) explores approaches to peer learning amongst young people and parents in North Macedonia. The work with parents is based on the topics available on the Living Democracy website for parents.

Publications

Contact

Doris Kuhn:

Academic Associate

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Doris Kuhn

Academic Associate

+41 43 305 57 03

doris.kuhn@phzh.ch