EDUCATING FOR DEMOCRACY

EDC & HRE

Education: is a form of learning in which the bits of knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research. Frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but may also be autodidactic. Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. It is commonly divided into stages such as preschool, primary school, secondary school, and then college, university, or apprenticeship. 

Right to education:  At the global level, Article 13 of the United Nations' 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to an education. Although education is compulsory in most places up to a certain age, attendance at school often isn't, and a minority of parents choose home-schooling, e-learning, or similar for their children. 

Democracy: is a form of government in which all eligible citizens are meant to participate equally in the proposal, development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run (either directly, or indirectly through elected representatives). 

               - Direct democracy (also known as pure democracy): people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on) policy initiatives directly having active participation in the political decision making. 

                - Indirect democracy (also known as representative democracy): people vote for representatives who then decide policy initiatives. The whole body of all eligible citizens remain the sovereign power but political power is exercised indirectly through elected representatives. 

What is Democracy?-Definition, Types & Principles

Citizenship: is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law of a state that bestows on that person (called a citizen) the rights and the duties of citizenship.

Democratic citizenship: refers to the citizen's legal status and the voting rights that this status implies, but also includes all aspects of life in a democratic society (such as sustainable development, the participation of people with disabilities in society, gender mainstreaming, prevention of terrorism...).

Human being: a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, the power of articulate speech, and upright stance.

Rights: are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "rights structure the form of governments, the content of laws, and the shape of morality as it is currently perceived."

Human rights: are moral principles that set out certain standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in national and international law. They are commonly understood as "inalienable, fundamental, universal, and egalitarian rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being". 

Constitution: is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. 

Democratic School governance: is based in democratic education, i.e. an educational ideal in which democracy is both a goal and a method of instruction. It brings democratic values to education and can include self-determination within a community of equals, as well as such values as justice, respect, and trust.  plays a key role in EDC/
HRE, as it offers students opportunities to learn how to participate in a community. 
The video below, by Jerry Mintz, explains the need for democratic education, and how does it work in practice. 

The goal of the subject Democratic citizenship, where is develop the concepts of EDC and HRE, is to enable and encourage young citizens to participate in their communities. 

Education for democratic citizenship and human rights education are closely interrelated and mutually supportive. They only differ in the focus. 

Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC)

What are the goals?

It refers to a concept of democracy and politics. Focuses primarily on democratic rights and responsibilities and active participation, in relation to the civic, political, economic, legal and cultural spheres of society, thru training, dissemination, information, practices, and activities.

The main goal is to provide to the citizens the necessary pieces of knowledge, skills, and understanding to be able to exercise and defend their democratic rights and responsibilities in society and play an active part in democratic life. It is about defending one's rights, but it is also a way of life and behavior, such as the way to solve problems, or the way to collaborate together with one's immediate environment.

Human Rights Education (HRE)

What are the goals?

The main goal is to provide the citizens the necessary pieces of knowledge, skills, and understanding to be aware of their rights, be able to detect when they are being violated, and take an action to defend, promote and protect human rights, thru training, dissemination, information, practices, and activities.

Why I think that EDC and HRE are important?

Because it provides to the children (the future policymakers) the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes that will help to play an effective role in their community (locally, nationally, or internationally).

I think that it provides the tools to defend their rights, assume responsibilities and duties, and to be aware of their power for influence in the decisionmaking, and realize that they can make a difference. And the part I liked the most: it creates open-minded, empathy, and freethinkers citizens, willing to listen to different opinions and express their views without fear within a non-violent behavior.

Before the program of Democratic citizenship, pupils were only taught about the government structures, but this project pretends to teach as well how can they have a voice in the society in which they live, and why is it important to keep interested, informed, and active politically, and integrate it within their day-by-day decisions. When I talk with the people around me, the most popular sentence I hear is: "I will not start a political discussion. I don't like politics". I do understand them. I mean, I grew up in a family where both of my parents were teachers and debates about moral, education, religion, and political systems were continually active. But I have never got told or encourage in my school to take actions for the benefit of my society and how exactly can I make a difference. So what we see is that a lot of people think that some laws are unfair, and we keep being angry about it, but this does not change anything. In my country, we have an indirect democracy, which means basically that we vote promises (rarely fulfilled) and wait 4 years for being able again to participate actively in making decisions. Just as an example, there is a legal way (a bit complex one) that allows people to request that a decision that has been approved by the government be reviewed and changed, but studies show that most of the population have no even such information. And more than that, they do not get told in the school about this option, the media does not talk about it, and it is quite hard to find it on the internet unless you dedicate special research to find this specific law. So the picture, again, is that the only way they can actively participate in decision-making is through voting promises (rarely fulfilled), every 4 years. And this is what these confused and skeptical people think about the concept of "politics". And they can see that it happens again in other countries, and if I thought that was the definition of policy, you would hear me saying this sentence myself! But if we as teachers do not give information to children, and if the parents of these children do not have this information either, who will provide it to them? It is important to engage the children to be interested in politics and show them how to research for their answer and where can they find such information, since it is a skill that must be learned.

Politics: Definition and Source of Governmental Conflict

I believe that it is very important to understand what "politics" really means, and even more important: HOW can we, as citizens, participate actively to make policies in the benefit of all? How does it technically works theses processes and which steps can we take when we do not agree on how things are being carried on?

But if we as teachers do not give information to children, and if the parents of these children do not have this information either, who will provide it to them?

Explanation of the concept of Democracy, and the "Policy cycle model"

It would be very useful to use a diagram to explain the concept of democracy, and how a decision is being taken in a democratic political system. The first two diagrams could be an example to show to the students to explain the concept of democracy. To explain the decision-making processes, we could choose the third one, extracted from the book Educating for democracy, which explains in a very simple way, part of the concept of democracy and its rules of procedure. Starting with the definition of policy and democracy, we could open a small discussion about what children think about the rules governing the class, which things they would change/not change, and the ways they would like to participate actively in the decisions of the making/changing. 

"The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within. In a true democracy, every man and woman is taught to think for himself or herself". Mahatma Gandhi

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela