Draft

Professor Audrey Osler
Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education
School of Education
University of Leeds
GB - LEEDS LS2 9TT
A.H.Osler@leeds.ac.uk
www.leeds.ac.uk/cchre

Introductory note

 These questions have been addressed at a number of levels. We have sought to give comprehensive answers for England and/or the UK,[1] as appropriate, but also to provide a flavour of what is taking place across Europe, where possible. The 46 States which are member-states of the Council of Europe participate in the Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) project (www.coe.int/edc). Since the promotion of human rights is a central mission of the Council of Europe, activities within the EDC project have human rights education at their core. Over the past 15 years or so Council of Europe resources for human rights education in the field of EDC have been largely  targeted at countries in Eastern and Central Europe. 

 

1.      What are the structures or institutions available in your country to conduct
(a)   pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

 Pre-service training is largely provided by universities (for example, UK, Finland, Belgium) or institutes with university status (France). The cost of the training is covered by the State. In England, schools work in partnership with initial teacher training (ITT) providers. The Teacher Training Authority (TTA), a government quango, controls funding for ITT and for in-service training which takes place in universities. It also approves a certain number of schools to undertake ITT. Whether or not the provider is a school or a university, trainees in England spend the larger part of their one-year training based in schools. They are supervised largely by teacher mentors with the support of university tutors. The university awards the qualification.  

 In England schools have control over their own in-service training budgets and thus a considerable degree of freedom in choosing these agents and deciding the kind of in-service training that is provided to their staff. Colleges, independent companies, Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and many NGOs with an interest in HRE such as Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org.uk), UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org.uk/education) provide in-service opportunities.

At a European level, the Council of Europe supports national ministries in running in-service training, providing bursaries for up to 10 international participants to join national events, through the Teachers’ Seminar Programme. Since citizenship education is currently a priority area for funding, there are opportunities for HRE in-service education through this mechanism. For example, at a seminar organised by the Maltese Ministry of Education in March 2005, CCHRE played a led role and HRE was centrally on the agenda.

 2.      Which institutions are responsible for ensuring the quality and effectiveness in your country in
(a) pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

The quality of the pre-service training is evaluated by relevant bodies (OFSTED - the school inspection agency for England, and equivalent inspectorates for other countries of the UK, Ministry of Education inspectors for France) and also through self-evaluation practices.

The responsibility for the evaluation of in-service training in English schools lies usually with the schools and their staff. The State is indirectly involved by evaluating teachers’ competence during formal inspections of schools. Since HRE is not an explicit part of the school curriculum in England, it is not directly inspected, although the ethos of the school is subject to inspection. Citizenship education, which was introduced in 2002 (the citizenship curriculum makes specific reference to HR), is subject to inspection, and as been subject to a recent critical report (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications > Citizenship > 17-Jan-05 and 12-Nov-04).

3.      Which institutions are responsible for policies in your country/region of
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

In Europe every country enjoys a degree of independence in the design of the educational policies. The Ministry of Education in each member-state of the Council of Europe is responsible for the design and implementation of policies that are relevant to the State’s educational targets. These formulate the National Guidelines which need to be followed by the institutes providing ITT, either for the qualifications they provide to be accredited or for the cost of the studies to be covered.

On one level, each member-state has to incorporate in these policies the recommendations made by the Council of Europe. There are a number of specific recommendations on HRE, EDC and identity, notably:

Resolution (78) 41 on The Teaching of Human Rights Recommendation R (85) 7 on Teaching and Learning about Human Rights in Schools

Some relevant policy documents (with web links provided) :

EDC Policies in Europe - A Synthesis By César Bîrzéa, Director, Institute of Educational Sciences, Bucharest, Romania

DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 18 final
International seminar on EDC policies and regulatory frameworks, Strasbourg, 6-7 December 2001
Seminar Report by Karen O'Shea
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2002) 6 rev.

Stocktaking Research On Policies For Education For Democratic Citizenship And Management Of Diversity In Southeast Europe: Regional Analysis and Intervention Proposals
Cameron Harrison - Harrison Leimon Associates
Bernd Baumgartl - navreme knowledge development
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2001) 45 Final

Second Policy Development Seminar "Civic education policy and standards setting in the Russian Federation", 28 February - 1 March 2001, Moscow, Russian Federation
Report by Tatiana Bolotina
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2001) 34 revised

Declaration of the Committee of Ministers to Member States (CM (99)76) and Programme on Education for Democratic Citizenship, based on the rights and responsibilities of citizens

Resolution DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 40 Project on ‘Education for Democratic Citizenship’

Recommendation (2002) 12 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on education for democratic citizenship

Declaration of Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education (November 2003) Intercultural education: managing diversity, strengthening democracy

Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe (1997) The participation of young people

Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe (1998) Participation and Citizenship: training for minority youth projects in Europe

RECOMMENDATION 1346 (1997) on human rights education

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

SEMINAR ON `METHODOLOGY OF EDUCATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP', Zagreb, 16-17 June 2000

Report by Rajka Ptiček

DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 27

Recommendation Rec (2002)12 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on education for democratic citizenship.

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 16 October 2002 at the 812th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

Resolution on Results and conclusions of the completed projects in the 1997-2000 medium-term programme adopted at the 20th Session of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education of the Council of Europe, Cracow, Poland, 15-17 October 2000
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 40

Recommendations
International Conference on South Eastern Europe Educational Co-operation for Peace, Stability and Democracy, 12th-14th Nov. 1999, Sofia Bulgaria

Resolution 1193 (1999) on Second-chance schools - or how to combat unemployment and exclusion by means of education and training

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

RECOMMENDATION 59 (1999)1 on "Europe 2000 - Youth participation : the role of young people as citizens"

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

RECOMMENDATION 1401(1999) on Education in the responsibilities of the individual
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

DECLARATION AND PROGRAMME on Education for Democratic citizenship, based on the rights and responsibilities of the citizens
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 7 May 1999at its 104^th Session)
DECS/EDU/CIT (99) Decl E

RECOMMENDATION 1346 (1997) on human rights education
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

EDC Policies in Europe - A Synthesis
By César Bîrzéa, Director, Institute of Educational Sciences, Bucharest, Romania
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 18 final

All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) - A Synthesis of Six Regional Studies : Introduction Draft
David Kerr, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), England; Rolf Mikkelsen, University of Oslo, Norway; Milan Pol, Marsaryk University, the Czech Republic; Isak Froumin, the World Bank, Russia; Bruno Losito, National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System, Italy; Mitja Sardoc, Educational Research Institute, Sloven
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2004) 5

All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) - Regional Study : The Central European Region
Mr Milan Pol Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Brno Czech Republic
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 26 rev

All-European Study on Policies for Education for emocratic Citizenship (EDC) - Regional Study : Eastern Europe Region
Mr Isak Froumin The World Bank, Moscow Office Russian Federation
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 28 rev

All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) - Regional Study : Northern Europe Region
Mr Rolf Mikkelsen Departement of Teacher Education and School Development - Faculty of Education, University of Oslo, Norway
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 27 DRAFT

All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) - Regional Study : Southern Europe Region
Mr Bruno Losito, National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (CEDE), Frascati (Rome), Italy
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 22 rev

All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) - Regional Study : Western Europe Region
Mr David Kerr, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), Slough, United Kingdom
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2003) 21 rev1

Stocktaking Research On Policies For Education For Democratic Citizenship And Management Of Diversity In Southeast Europe: Regional Analysis and Intervention Proposals
By Cameron Harrison and Bernd Baumgartl
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2001) 45 Final

Basic Concepts and core competencies for education for democratic citizenship
By Prof. François Audigier, University of Geneva, Switzerland
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 23

Education for democratic citizenship: a lifelong learning perspective
By César Bîrzéa
DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 21

Strategies for Learning Democratic Citizenship
Dr. Karlheinz Duerr, Prof. Dr. Vedrana Spajic-Vrka_, Dr. Isabel Ferreira Martins
DECS/EDU/CIT (2000) 16

Education for democratic citizenship: words and actions - A survey of NGO's
Report by Jean-Marie HEYDT
DECS/EDU/CIT (99) 52

Sites of Citizenship: Empowerment, participation and partnerships
By Liam Carey, Ireland and Dr. Keith Forrester, School of Continuing Education, University of Leeds, U.K.
DECS/EDU/CIT (99) 62 def.2

Materials produced by the Council of Europe Human Rights Directorate for use in human rights awareness and training activities

 The Human Rights Album (1992)                        

Video "Stand up NOW for Human Rights!" (1995)                                

Stand up NOW for Human Rights! Video support pack (1997)             

The Council of Europe Human Rights Postcard Collection (1998)            

The Council of Europe Human Rights Poster Collection - Set of Three   

 Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe: relevant adopted texts on Citizenship

Resolution 15 (1995) on "Local democracy: a civic project"

Resolution 78 (1999) on "Europe 2000 - Youth participation: the role of young people as citizens"

Resolution 91 (2000) on responsible citizenship and participation in public life

Resolution 92 (2000) on the participation of foreign residents in local public life

Resolution 141 (2002) on the participation of foreign residents in local public life: consultative bodies

European Commission

The EC is also active in the field. A key reference document is the 1995 White paper on education and training: Teaching and learning: towards the learning society

The following extracts from EC documentation make explicit the links between citizenship education and HRE:

European Report on the Quality of School Education: Sixteen Quality Indicators. Report of May 2000 based on the work of the Working Committee on Quality Indicators [Not published in the Official Journal]

26. Civics - Preparing young people for citizenship also involves giving them a civil culture based not only on the principles of democracy, equality and freedom but also on the recognition of rights and duties. According to the report, the challenges facing the sector are the difficulty of promoting social and cultural diversity and the need to make teachers more aware of the importance of their role in students' development as citizens.

27. In Greece, elected senior pupils from secondary schools meet every year in the House of Parliament and discuss matters of current importance. In Italy, all secondary schools have a Statute of students' rights and duties.

 

4.      What studies or evaluations have been completed in your country/region for
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development? 

There are two kinds of evaluations available: the ones made by each member-state and the ones made by the Council of Europe. An initial evaluation of citizenship education in England based on the inspection of 5 citizenship Teacher Training courses was made by OFSTED and was recently publicized (see Q.2).

The Council of Europe evaluation is based on the reports published by and for the member-state’s ministry.  The following studies on EDC Studies have been undertaken. While not all address teacher education and some focus more directly on schools, they provide a flavour of activities across Europe.

 

Audigier, F., 2000, Basic Concepts and Core Competencies for Education for Democratic Citizenship, DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 23, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Belanger, P., 2001, Education for Democratic Citizenship: Methods, Practices and Strategies, Report, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 4509 1.

Bîrzéa, C. 1994 Strategies for interculturally-oriented civics teaching at primary and secondary level DECS/SE/BS/Sem (94)1 Bîrzéa, C. 2000, Project on Education for Democratic Citizenship: A Life-Long Learning Perspective, DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 21, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Carey, L. & Forrester, K. 2000, Sites of Citizenship: Empowerment, Participation and Partnerships, DECS/EDU/CIT (99) 62, Council of Europe, Strasbourg,

Council of Europe, 2000, Education for Democratic Citizenship, Teacher Training Courses 1992-1997, DECS/CIT (98) 53, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Council of Europe, 2000, Sites of Citizenship Brochure, Council of Europe, Strasbourg

Council of Europe, 2001, Responsibility: From Principles To Practice, Report, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 4511 3.

Council of Europe, Remembrance and Citizenship: From Places to Projects. Seminar Report, 2000, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 3981 4.

Duerr, K., Spajic-Vkras,V., and Ferreira Martins, I. 2000, Strategies for Learning Democratic Citizenship, DECS/EDU/CIT (2000) 16, Council of Europe, Strasbourg

Forrester, K., , 2000, DGIV/EDU/CIT (2000) 41, Council of Europe Project on `Education for Democratic Citizenship', Final Conference Report, Strasbourg.

Mc Carthy, S. 2000, Youth Cultures, Lifestyles and Citizenship, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 3985 7.

O'Shea, K., 2002, Education for democratic Citizenship: Policies and Regulatory Frameworks, Report, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 4949 6.

O´Shea, K. (2003). A glossary of terms for education for democratic citizenship.  Council of Europe, Strasbourg. Rus, C. 2001, Education for Democratic Citizenship and Management of Diversity : Project and Policy Development in Southeast Europe, DGIV/EDU/CIT (2001) 28, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Taylor, M. 2002, Critical Approach to the Media in Civic Education, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, ISBN 92 871 4546 6.

 

5.      What effective practices exist in your country/region for
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

There is a variety of practices, especially in the in-service teaching training, reported from different European countries. Many of these practices are applied in the Eastern European countries which are in a period of political change. 

• Promotion of Human Rights Education through extracurricular arts in Romania (Tibbitts, 1997).
• The work of the Development and Inter-Cultural Education (DICE) in the Republic of Ireland (http://www.cice.ie/dice.htm).
• The UNESCO Project D@dalos for all European countries
  (http://www.dadalos.org/int).

These programmes are only indicative of a variety of initiatives that have been undertaken recently in Europe in relation to Human Rights Education. It appears that NGOs and other agencies cover in some extent the need for HRE in teacher training by providing in-service sessions. However, there is a consistency in the reports in acknowledging the lack of relevant ITT training in this field. ITT training and the degree to which it incorporates HRE is dependent in National guidelines published by the Ministry of Education of each country.

6.      What ways have the institutions in your country/region used to monitor, be accountable and/or measure effectiveness of
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

The monitoring and evaluation of ITT programmes takes place through inspections of the ITT providers (universities and certain schools). There are specific guidelines about the frequency and content of these inspections. For OFSTED (England), these guidelines indicate the need for at least 1 inspection for every 5 years for ITT programmes providing good quality of training (more often for providers judged to be providing non-satisfactory level of training).

These inspections aim to answer the following main question:

‘How well does the management of the provision assure high-quality training and continuous improvement?’

and the following key subsidiary questions:

Q1 Are the selection procedures designed and managed to meet the Trainee Entry requirements?

Q2 Does the management of the training programme ensure that the training and assessment and school partnership requirements are met and that high-quality training and good outcomes are promoted?

Q3 Do the quality assurance procedures ensure that the requirements are met and support the management of high-quality training and good quality outcomes?

Issues directly related to HRE do not appear to be inspected in any direct way. The main HRE issues covered by these inspections is the provision of equal opportunities among the trainees, something that as Davies has noticed (1994) should not  be confused with the protection of equal rights.

The inspection examines also the effectiveness of promotion of good race relations in the ITT programmes: ‘In making these judgements, inspectors will consider the extent to which managers monitor whether training programmes promote good race relations and equality of opportunity’ (OFSTED, 2002).

Source: OFSTED web site:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/howwework/index.cfm?fuseaction=howwework.inspections&id=7#whatis

The effectiveness of the in-service training in schools is usually monitored and evaluated by the staff (evaluation forms with closed and open-ended questions) and indirectly through the inspections which evaluate teachers’ professional competence. (This seems to be the case for most of EU countries).

Q7, 8, 9

Note: A more comprehensive examination of the content of the Q7,8 and 9 for four EU countries (Denmark, England, Republic of Ireland and The Netherlands), is contained in  Audrey Osler and Kerry Vincent (Eds.) (2002) Citizenship and the Challenge of Global Education. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham. They provide a SWOT analysis of ‘Global Education’ based on research with key actors in these countries. 

7.      What strengths exist in your country/region for including human rights education into
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

Despite the scarcity of the incorporation of human rights education in ITT and in service training, the European policy documents (of both the Council of Europe and the European commission) are a distinct strength, providing NGOs and other actors with a tool which can be used to put pressure on governments.

The policies related to the promotion of a common European identity raise a variety of HR issues, concerning tolerance, community and collaboration.

Innovative educational policies promoted by and applied from some countries (i.e. Finland and Sweden for the promotion of active learning) promote an ethos conducive to HRE (Niemi, 2002).

The implementation of different forms of EDC in Europe are related to broadly humanistic ideals. There is a clear tendency for contemporary forms of citizenship education to be related to moral development, something that in some countries  challenges long-established views that associate schooling with intellectual/academic training, reserving adolescents’ moral development as the responsibility of the family (Pepin, 2000).

The on-going reform of the educational systems in Central and Eastern Europe is closely related to human rights education and the need to strengthen democracy. Support is given to ITT and teachers’ in-service development by a range of bodies including the Council of Europe. In some cases, these countries seem to be open to innovative policies, especially in ITT training (i.e. Russia) while the incorporation in the curriculum of modules such as ‘Ethics’ or ‘Religious Studies’ (Slovakia) has created new paths for the ITT and increased opportunities for Human Rights Education (Tibbitts, 1997).

The issue of protection of equal opportunities and the promotion of good race relations in the ITT training is of particular importance, especially for countries with a long-established multicultural population, such as Germany and the UK.

For EU member-states European anti-discrimination legislation relating to race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexuality and age has required the introduction or strengthening of national legislation. This creates a positive climate and a legal framework in which HRE is consistent in its goals with legislative standards.     

8.      What weaknesses exist in your country/region for
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

In England:

·        Lack of relevant legislation and national educational policies clearly stating the need for incorporation of HRE in ITT. Indicative of this is the fact that the relevant guidelines set about 50 different standards to describe the successful completion of the ITT, from which not more than 5 seem to be related to HRE. Namely, among the professional values of the teacher should be the consideration for pupils, the promotion of positive values, the ability to work collaboratively and to meet the pupils’ needs and a commitment to the provision of equal opportunities.

·        TT focused on the promotion of teacher’s academic competence; TT which does not promote teachers’ initiatives and creative thinking.

England is somewhat typical in this respect of a number of other European contexts. See, for example O Cuanachain (2005) on the Republic of Ireland.

9.      What opportunities are there in your country/region for human rights education in
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

·        EU priorities – EDC and relevant funding.

·        Citizenship modules within initial teacher education.

·        Exchange of ideas and practices as the EU member-states and Council of Europe member-states work. Use of educational experience of countries with innovative practices (i.e. Finland, Sweden)

10.  What are threats/obstacles exist in your country/region for human rights education in
(a)  pre-service teacher training and
(b)   in-service teacher training/professional development?

·        Educational priorities – Schooling and academic competence.

The emphasis within schooling on academic training leaves little space for the incorporation of human rights education in the TT. Teacher’s academic competence becomes the focus of the training and leads to teaching unbalanced skills. Moreover, it contributes to a vicious cycle of neglect for human rights education, since it promotes and generates a teaching culture which affects and is affected by the schools’ ethos which in turns affects the priorities of the in-service training.

·        Lack of support and initiative from governments to take responsibility for human rights education. This is inevitably related to funding and the formulation of relevant policies.

·        Restricted involvement of NGOs in in-service training.

·        National educational systems have for too long been promoted national ideals and nationalistic views to be easily adjusted to the need of promotion of ideas about European community, tolerance etc. In some cases, a resistance to humanistic ideals can be developed, if seen in the context of the promotion of the EU initiatives.