European Trade Union Committee for Education

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On 14-15 November 2019, ETUCE gathered around 100 participants in Warsaw for the closing conference of EU CONVINCE, a joint project with the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) and the European School Heads Association (ESHA). We explored ways to turn the vision developed during the project into a reality and shared good practices that implement democratic citizenship and inclusive education in different national contexts.

EU CONVINCE is an EU co-funded project which aims to promote fundamental values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through inclusive quality education for all. By bringing together teachers and other education personnel, school leaders, education employers and the wider education policy community, we sought to create a vision and tools that could have real impact across the education landscape

The project’s outcomes are diverse and include:

• The research report Challenges and Good Practices Related to Promoting Citizenship and Values of Freedom, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Through Education
• Two Joint Statements: Citizenship Education & EU Common Values by the EU CONVINCE project partners and Inclusive Schools Within the Context of Diverse Societies
• The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Citizenship and Human Rights Education for Change, which took place between April and June 2019. All the materials of the course (except the weekly discussions) are available to the public for free.

During the conference various participants shared good practices from their own different countries, on issues such as teaching in a multicultural context or teaching controversial issues. One of the Conference highlights was the panel discussions that took place on the second day. Experts from international organisations such as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Eurydice and the Council of Europe, as well as from local education authorities (Warsaw City Council) discussed the variety of national contexts regarding democratic citizenship and human rights education. There was also a debate about the whole-school approach as way to promote inclusive education from the perspective of teachers, school leaders, employers, students (represented by OBESSU) and families (represented by COFACE Families Europe).

Closing the Conference, ETUCE European Director Susan Flocken said “Building a Europe on fundamental values of freedom, tolerance and inclusion is more important than ever. Education and teachers are at the forefront, but they need support and adequate funding. I am proud of the EU CONVINCE project, which has delivered two great joint statements and some fantastic materials. Now is the time take our vision from paper to practice! I encourage all of our partners to use the statements, the report and the MOOC, translating them into their national languages and applying them in their national context.”