2018: Democratic Together – CMBRAE

Project promoter: Centrul Municipiului București de Resurse și Asistență Educațională

Project Code: 2018-EY-PMIP-R1-0019

„Democratic Together“ started with the partnership between CMBRAE and two prestigious European institutions in Norway and Iceland, active in the field of training for democratic citizenship. The aim of the partnership was to build a strong team of experts, as an important asset for CMBRAE in developing future civic and democratic projects in schools. As a result, in the first semester of the 2018/2019 school year, 9 school counselors benefited from two memorable learning experiences in Norway (5 school counselors) and Iceland (4 school counselors).

  1. The European Wergeland Center (EWC) – Oslo, Norway – an educational resource center specializing in providing human rights training programs. The participants visited the OsloMET University, 22 July Center and Fyrstkkalleen School. Course provided: “Building Democratic School Cultures- Training and study visit for school counselors as Teacher Trainers” (5-10 October, 2018)
  2. InterCultural – Iceland (ICI) – Borgarnes – a non-profit consortium that develops and implements educational initiatives, training activities in several fields, among which the most important dedicated to the development of inclusive educational environments. Course provided: „Diverse Society – Diverse Classroom Student’s diversity benefitting social diversity Special focus on key competencies and cooperative learning in multicultural/diverse groups” (11-17 November 2018)

The project activities were subsequent to the general goal – the effective integration of human diversity in school, with a focus on developing activities allowing students with special educational needs (SEN), with disadvantaged or vulnerable backgrounds, to be a natural part of their groups, in the spirit of an inclusive society, which promotes equal opportunities for all.

Thus, the aim was:

  • To elaborate 24 pro-democracy projects for 24 schools in Bucharest.
  • To implement the projects developed by CMBRAE experts, with teachers and school counselors from the selected schools in Bucharest during May-June 2019 and September-December 2019.
  • To design a guide (map/portfolio) containing good practices/activities in order to promote diversity in school, with a high potential of being transferred and to support the development of other projects/educational approaches promoting human rights, diversity and respect for of oneself and of others in school.
  • To disseminate the activities within the participating schools, and in the online summer school – „Democratic Schools and Learning Diversity through Active Learning and Counseling“, organized at national level, and at the final Conference, at the end of the project.

The CMBRAE experts coordinated 24 school counselors in the 6 sectors of Bucharest, provided advice based on the experiences gathered on the Norwegian democracy and actively supported them in writing and implementing 24 educational projects involving students, parents and teachers, and up to the entire community, aiming at developing:

  • respect for the values ​​of democracy;
  • promoting intercultural dialogue;
  • avoiding/preventing discrimination of any kind in the school institution and in the community;
  • respect for human rights in student-student, student-parent-teacher relations;
  • celebrating diversity in class, in school, and in the school community;
  • promoting human dignity, self-confidence and trust in others;
  • integration in the formal, non-formal education of the principles of respecting equal opportunities for all students;
  • creating an inclusive learning environment based on integration, trust and collaboration.