European Year of Citizenship through Education (EYCE) in Austria

• Involving committed people
• Coordination
• Expert Advisory Council
• www.politische-bildung-2005.schule.at
• EDC Action Days Information | Networking | Raising awareness
• EDC in Europe – a challenge for Austria
• Monthly alternating topics
• Accompanying measures and publications
• European Cooperation
• NECE | Networking European Citizenship Education
• Action Days Europe-wide?
• The European “Year” and the Austrian Jubilee Year
• Why EDC?
• Summary and follow-up activities 2006
• Important websites at a glance
• Europe remains on the agenda
• Plan D: Democracy, Dialogue and Debate
• Austria’s President Dr. Heinz Fischer: Review of the European Year of Citizenship through Education 2005

Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) comprises all measures and activities that are aimed at empowering individuals regardless of their age to make use of their rights and fulfil their duties within society. This includes civic education as well as human rights education, peace education, global learning, intercultural education and related educational fields. EDC is therefore a lifelong learning process, which is applied in formal and non-formal educational settings; the target groups are children, young people and adults.

For the “Year” the Department for Citizenship Education and Environmental Education of Austria’s Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture worked out a programme which complied with the content objectives of the Council of Europe’s “Education for Democratic Citizenship” programme and which implemented the recommendations of the Council of Europe.
By carrying out measures and activities designed with the needs of the different target groups and topics in mind, we intended to make the European Year of Citizenship through Education a lively and vibrant event. A multifaceted programme helped increase understanding of democracy and promote the development of education for democratic citizenship. We thus aimed at fostering democratic thinking and raising awareness about the necessity of participating in social and political life.
Apart from EYCE-related measures subsequently described in detail, well-established projects and competitions such as the “media literacy award” or “Europe at school” also took up the topic and placed a special focus within the “Year”.
With the research programme >node< new orientations for democracy in europe the Ministry invited scientists to rethink democracy, to analyse political developments and processes and the mechanisms that guide and control them, and to come up with options and alternatives for the further development of democratic politics. The ongoing process of European integration and in particular the enlargement of the European Union present new challenges for the evolution of democracy in Europe and the programme therefore addresses the future of democracy in Europe.

Involving committed people

All schools, museums, adult learning institutions and other facilities of education as well as non-governmental organisations, local communities and associations were invited to actively participate in the European Year of Citizenship through Education by organising projects, continuing education events, exhibitions and workshops or offering information in the Internet etc., and by cooperating and sharing positive and innovative practices. Students of all different types of school contributed as much to the “Year” as out-of-school partners or other committed individuals and therefore took ownership.

Austria’s President Heinz Fischer assumed the sponsorship for the activities organised in Austria on the occasion of the “European Year of Citizenship through Education 2005”.

Coordination

Ms Sigrid Steininger, Head of the Subdivision for Citizenship Education at the Austrian Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, was put in charge of coordinating all activities in Austria. As Austria’s EDC coordinator she has been closely involved with the EDC programme since 2002 and in preparation for the Council of Europe’s “Year” (EYCE) she also drew up and initiated the Austrian EDC Action Days in 2003. Moreover, since 2004 Ms Steininger has been a member of the Group of Experts on Information and Communication set up by the Council of Europe specifically for the EDC programme.

Ms Sigrid Steininger, Head of the Subdivision for Citizenship Education at the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, has been put in charge of coordinating all activities in Austria. As Austria’s EDC coordinator she has been closely involved with the EDC programme since 2002 and in preparation for the Council of Europe’s “Year” (EYCE) she also drew up and initiated the Austrian EDC Action Days in 2003. Moreover, since 2004 Ms Steininger has been a member of the Group of Experts on Information and Communication set up by the Council of Europe specifically for the EDC programme.

Expert Advisory Council

An Expert Advisory Council was set up in order to assure the quality of activities for the “Year” and to create a network among players; its constitutive meeting took place on 9 December 2004. This advisory council embraces the relevant specialist departments in the Ministry for Education, student representatives, young people and adults as well as people working in non-governmental organisations, the media, teacher training and others. Four meetings were held in 2005. As a result of the interesting exchange and in order to ensure sustainable development of the process started the majority of members decided to continue with their work. Moreover, subgroups focusing on individual topics and projects were established.

www.politische-bildung-2005.schule.at

A website set up by the Austrian coordinator in cooperation with “Education Highway” provided information about all the important events and material available and supplied the relevant background information. Interested persons were able to find information about the objectives of the “Year” as well as activities and individual offerings by accessing this comprehensive information portal. It also provided further information on themes of special interest as well as tips and hints for further help. Important EYCE events were registered in a project data bank launched at the beginning of 2005 which formed the basis for documentation of good examples and interesting project ideas. The Internet portal, which also served as a network for participants and projects, includes entries for the following areas:

The contents of this website will be integrated in a new “Education for Democratic Citizenship” portal in order to ensure that the extensive documentation does not get lost. This portal will go online at the start of the EDC Action Days on April 16, 2006.

EDC Action Days
Information | Networking | Raising awareness

The Action Days were a vital part of the European Year of Citizenship through Education in Austria. As every year they took place around 5 May – the day the Council of Europe was officially founded – between April 27 and May 15, 2005 to be precise.

Preface by Austrian Minister of Education, Science and Culture Elisabeth Gehrer for the EDC Action Days programme:

In this European Year of Citizenship through Education, the Action Days, which have attracted a lot of attention, will take place for the third time. Efforts undertaken by teachers and students will be presented to the general public. All interested persons will find attractive offers and possibilities to inform themselves and to participate far beyond the school environment.
This programme shows that we have again successfully managed to interlink a large number of events and projects and place emphasis on the discussion about questions of interest for society ranging from past issues to important topics for the future.
All educational institutions are required to include citizenship education in their work. Multidisciplinary approaches are as important as acquiring a combination of knowledge, attitudes and skills to this end. These key competences can only be learned if different teaching methods and educational approaches are applied. Learning by doing is crucial for sustainable “democracy learning”, whether at school or out of school – in a local community or a company.
The diversity of measures presented during the EDC Action Days is meant to make appropriate measures available for each target group.
I would like to thank you all for your readiness to participate in reforming traditional civic education into EDC and I wish all educational institutions and the media a lively discussion carried by the firm belief that we can only cope with future challenges through fruitful cooperation.

In the three weeks of this campaign the variety of activities highlighted the broad range of topics within education for democratic citizenship and the different forms of sharing and implementing these ideas. EDC was put into practice at schools and other educational institutions in order to promote broad participation. Hard copies of the Action Days programme including more than 100 events in all of Austria were available at any Austrian school and at partner organisations. This booklet, which also contains valuable information beyond the Action Days, was distributed freely, as was all other materials (postcards, posters, folders etc.) in order to eliminate barriers to the access of information as much as possible.
The website www.aktionstage.politische-bildung.at provided an online calendar of events which was also updated on a daily basis, as well as the possibility to download all important information, materials and print editions.

EDC in Europe – a challenge for Austria

Conference under the auspices of Mr Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

On behalf of the Ministry of Education, the Democracy Center Vienna organised a conference at the start of the EDC Action Days (28/29 April 2005) which included debates about education for democratic citizenship in Austria with a view to European developments.
Democratic development and participation processes, and therefore EDC as well, are becoming increasingly important in a changing Europe, and in the face of rising interdependence worldwide. Educational experts, teachers, NGO representatives, students and foreign experts discussed these issues at the conference in Vienna. The aim of the EDC Action Days opening event within the European Year of Citizenship through Education was to review the situation of education for democratic citizenship in Austria. It also provided possibilities to discuss approaches and solutions and bring up suggestions about how to improve framework conditions. The conference was opened by Austrian President Heinz Fischer. Many additional events surrounding the conference offered an attractive supporting programme.
The book “EDC in Europe – Challenges for Austria”, co-edited by Sigrid Steininger and Gertraud Diendorfer will be published by Wochenschau Verlag (Schwabach – Germany) in May 2006. This publication includes results of the conference.

Monthly alternating topics

There were, however, been far more measures and activities for the European Year of Citizenship through Education apart from the Action Days – specific measures, information and events were prepared with respect to the ten monthly topics:

[January] Learning and living democracy
[February] Democracy and Minorities: The history and present situation of Roma and Sinti
[March] Women: A Majority as Minority?
[April] The political (children’s and youth) book
[May] Commemorating and Celebrating
[June/July] People in movement: People in transit - People in flight
[August/September] Peace: Peacemaking – Peacebuilding – Peacekeeping
[October] Constitutions
[November] Human Rights and Tolerance
[December] United Nations / Southeast Europe (Balkans)

Accompanying measures and publications

Documents and information material providing a theoretical background to EDC and practice-oriented publications, some of which deal with the monthly topics, as well as training were available for all those interested.

• In 2002 the “Recommendation (2002)12 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on education for democratic citizenship” laid down the guidelines, methods and objectives for the reforms and policies in this area. The German translation is meant to ensure the practical implementation of these stipulations.
  Download: English: PDF (59 KB) ; Deutsch: PDF (99 KB)
• The “Glossary of Terms for Education for Democratic Citizenship” by Karen O'Shea has been published in English and German in order to provide a basis for discussing the translations from English into German of problematic key terms such as “citizenship” for which satisfactory equivalents have not yet been found.
  Download: English / Deutsch PDF (211 KB)
• The report “Strategies for Learning Democratic Citizenship” (Karlheinz Dürr / Isabel Ferreira Martins / Vedrana Spajić-Vrkaš) provides a good overview on democracy learning in Europe (methods and approaches), describes settings of democracy learning and points out where democracy learning processes take place.
  Download: English: (PDF) ; Deutsch: [Download: PDF (broken link)]
• An example for a practice-oriented contribution to the European Year of Citizenship through Education is the information leaflet info-blatt 1/2005 “Youth participation” about political participation of children and young people. The term political participation is used in a broad sense here to include the willingness “to go to elections” or to join a political party as well as participating in a model student parliament or working on a project to redesign a skate park.
  Download: Deutsch: (PDF)
• In order to implement “Compass – Manual on human rights education with young people”, which was also translated into German on the occasion of EYCE, there have been trainings for teachers since autumn 2005.
  www.kompass.humanrights.ch

On 10 December 2005, the German-language web-interaction platform KOMPASS went online. The partners cooperating on this web project are the Austrian Service Centres for Citizenship Education and Human Rights Education, the German Human Rights Institute and MERS/Human Rights Switzerland.
The online version includes:

• Exercises with worksheets (ready to use)
• Background information about human rights topics
• A project pool / e-mail-groups
• Country specific examples for Austria, Switzerland and Germany

The website is designed as a cross-border portal for human rights and citizenship education. It provides the individual modules of the KOMPASS manual (practical examples, exercises) with country-specific background material for download. Moreover, a project pool and a mailing list facilitate exchange of experience, networking and discussion among users

KOMPASS Konkret
Currently the Service Centre for Human Rights Education is working on an online version of KOMPASS adapted for use at schools (KOMPASS Konkret) to supplement the KOMPASS manual for the target group of teachers. At the start of the EDC Action Days 2006 KOMPASS Konkret will be available on www.kompass.humanrights.ch.
Information | Download > www.politische-bildung.at

European Cooperation

Austria contributed to the Launching Conference in Sofia at a number of levels. The delegation was headed by Manfred Wirtitsch, Head of the Department for Citizenship Education and Environmental Education, and Sabine Mandl, Head of the Service Centre for Citizenship Education.

Austrian coordinator Sigrid Steininger held a workshop titled “From Policy to Practice in Democracy Learning”.
The organisation KulturKontakt AUSTRIA, which carries out EDC projects in Eastern and Southeastern Europe on behalf of the Austrian Ministry for Education, was represented by Head of Education Monika Mott, and the Austrian educational coordinator in Sofia, Eva Jambor, presented the joint Bulgarian-Austrian-German “Democratic School Project: Managing a school – Developing a school together”.
With financial and organisational support, KulturKontakt AUSTRIA enabled eleven experts from Southeastern Europe to come to the launching conference.
In order to support the organisation of the “Year” the Austrian Ministry for Education made a voluntary contribution to the Council of Europe and, moreover, contributed to the feasibility study for a European Centre of Excellence in financial terms and acted as advisor.

NECE | Networking European Citizenship Education

In September 2004, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) organized the „NECE – Networking European Citizenship Education” Conference in Santiago de Compostela in cooperation with various European partners and in preparation for the “European Year”. As a follow-up measure to this event the bpb with its partners held a number of workshops in different European countries. A workshop on “Quality Assurance in terms of EDC” took place in Austria on October 14/15, 2005. The aim of these workshops was that experts and practitioners deal with crucial questions and tasks of citizenship education on a transnational level. Results were then used for the NECE Conference which took place from 2-4 December, 2005 in Berlin in cooperation with the DARE-network (Democracy and Human Rights Education Europe), EAEA (European Association for Education of Adults) and the Austrian Ministry for Education. A review of the year and the determination of further need for action were on the agenda.
www.bpb.de/nece

Action Days Europe-wide?

Germany’s Action Days, modelled on the Austrian example, took place for the first time from 5-15 May 2005. They were a step towards the ambitious goal of carrying out the campaign in as many Council of Europe member states as possible and of implementing EDC programmes and policies developed by the Council of Europe. On 7 May 2005 in Berlin the Federal Agency for Civic Education carried out a high-profile kick-off event with prominent participants which also embraced a delegation from Austria. Previously, a German delegation had participated at the Opening Conference of the EDC days in Vienna. Therefore, a first step was made towards implementing this initiative on a Europe-wide level on the occasion of the “Year”.

The German authority decided to again carry out Action Days in 2006, starting on 5 May and lasting until 23 May.
www.bpb.de/aktionstage2006
EDC Action Days will take place for the first time from 1-10 May 2006 in the German Speaking Community in Belgium.
www.learnbox.be/aktionstage_pol_bildung_2006

For the upcoming years the aim is that more countries launch such EDC Action Days annually in spring – around May 5 (the day the Council of Europe was founded). Austria’s EDC Action Days in 2007 will take place from April 23 to May 9, thus using the World Book and Copyright Day on April 23 and the Europe Day (May 9) as appropriate framework – timewise and contentwise. By celebrating the World Book Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. The "Schuman declaration" is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union. Today, May 9 has become a European symbol. Europe Day is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.

The European “Year” and the Austrian Jubilee Year

In Austria the European Year of Citizenship through Education coincided with a number of anniversaries commemorating important events of the country’s democratic and political development (60th anniversary of Austria’s liberation and end of World War II; 50th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty and Austrian independence, of Austria’s membership in the United Nations and of public-service television; 10th anniversary of EU membership and many more). The European Year of Citizenship through Education offered possibilities to deal with Austria’s history and to discuss present and future questions at a local, regional and global level.

Why EDC?

The call for more citizenship education and new concepts is getting louder particularly in times of low voter turnout and as statements and actions violating human rights highlight the dangers facing democracy and remind us that we must act against these developments each and every day. The priority of EDC is regularly and unanimously postulated on a regional, national and European level. It is a long-term investment in Europe’s democratic and peaceful future by promoting human rights, tolerance, respect and cultural diversity and it is indispensable for social cohesion. Democracy cannot be taken for granted. It requires efforts and responsible actions. All democratic-minded people were therefore called upon to take up the initiative of this Year of Citizenship through Education and put relevant possibilities into practice. In this respect the European Year was a continuation of the process started by the EDC programme. Therefore, the process did not come to an end with that year but experienced an important highlight.

Summary and follow-up activities 2006

Many measures started or implemented on the occasion of EYCE will be continued and presented during the EDC Action Days 2006, which will again take place in all of Austria from April 16 to May 5.
EDC Action Days 2006:
Learning and living democracy – with a view to Europe
In order to further assure and maintain the success and examples of good practice achieved during this European Year the contents of the Year’s website will be integrated in a new “Education for Democratic Citizenship” portal:
www.politische-bildung.schule.at

The Expert Advisory Council set up for EYCE will continue its work and especially established subgroups will help to even intensify the discussion and cooperation among the members.

Austria will also actively contribute to the evaluation conference in Sinaϊa – Romania (27/28 April 2006) with results of the European Year of Citizenship through Education.

One of the lasting successes of the Council of Europe’s “Year” is that the curricula of vocational schools will be updated and that the various discussions and consultations will be incorporated in the revised decree for citizenship education.

Important websites at a glance

www.politische-bildung.schule.at
www.politik-lernen.at
www.coe.int/eyce & www.coe.int/edc
www.bpb.de/nece

Europe remains on the agenda

The motto of Austria’s EU Presidency 2006 (January 1 to June 30) for the educational sector is “Quality is the objective”. The discussion on EDC will be continued at the Conference “Education for Sustainable Development towards Responsible Global Citizenship” (Vienna, March 13-15, 2006). The aims of the conference, which will take place in the run-up to the Informal Ministerial Conference (Vienna, 16/17 March 2006), are to raise awareness about Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), exchange information on ESD in Europe and to create a common understanding.

In general, the Austrian Presidency also focuses on the financial plan covering the years 2007 to 2013. Moreover, external policies of the European Union play an important role: one of the significant topics is the further development on the Balkans.
The topics growth and employment will be on top of the agenda at the spring summit of European heads of government to take place in March.
Another item on the agenda of Austria’s EU Presidency is the treaty for a European Constitution. Discussions center on new approaches following the failed referenda about the EU Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands. The main aim in this respect is to again win and strengthen citizens’ confidence in Europe and its institutions.

Plan D: Democracy, Dialogue and Debate

This plan launched by Margot Wallström, the Commissioner responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy and Vice-President of the European Commission contains practical suggestions for an EU democracy reform and is meant to make the European Union more comprehensible for its citizens.

At the core of this plan is the creation of a “European public space”, which is aimed at revitalising discussions among politicians, organisations and citizens. The goal is to stimulate a broad debate about the EU among its citizens, to make the general public aware of EU topics and to increase voter turnout for the coming European elections and referenda.
Plan D supposes a number of measures to sustain and revive the dialogue. Also, a White Paper on Communication was issued at the beginning of 2006. It includes proposals for the improvement of communication with external EU actors (lobby groups, NGOs, media, governments). Rolf Annaberg, chef de cabinet to Commissioner Margot Wallström – Vice-President and responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy – presented and discussed „Plan D – Democracy, Dialogue and Debate“ at the NECE-conference “EYCE 2005: National Experiences – European Challenges” (Berlin, 2-4 December 2005).

Austria’s President Dr. Heinz Fischer:
Review of the European Year of Citizenship through Education 2005

„Learning and living democracy“ was the slogan of the European Year of Citizenship through Education 2005 and it should remain the motto for our efforts to live together in peace and fairness. The Council of Europe’s “Year” has initiated a large number of discussions and processes in Austria. An impressive framework programme for awareness raising and politico-historical education was worked out under the auspices of the Ministry for Education and many committed persons and institutions helped to live up to the importance of learning politics and democracy.

At the start of the EDC Action Days– end of April 2005 – I invited all the participants of the “Democracy learning in Europe” conference to my office at the Hofburg palace.
Many experts from Austria and abroad discussed the challenges of citizenship education in the 21st century during this starting event. For the first time in Austria this forum for exchange of experience among teachers and students, the administration and civil society brought together representatives of the various fields of citizenship and human rights education. At an event organised by the Pedagogic Academy in Carinthia and others I was impressed to experience the committed efforts of teachers and non-governmental organisations.

The end of the European Year of Citizenship through Education does not mean an end for our efforts. Strengthening democracy and human rights and the necessity to win European citizens’ confidence in Europe and its institutions will remain important topics for us. The aim of citizenship education is to provide people with the knowledge and competences they need in order to build up a Europe without borders and to participate in political life at local, regional and national levels.

Information | Coordination
Sigrid Steininger
Austrian Coordinator of the European Year of Citizenship through Education
Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
Minoritenplatz 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria – Europe
Fax +43(0)1/531 20-81 25 41
sigrid.steininger@bmbwk.gv.at

Logo of the Austrian EU Presidency
Information about the Austrian EU-Presidency: www.eu2006.at (from January 1, 2006)

Europe is full of colours and variety. In order to visually communicate this European attitude to life, the Austrian Federal Government has decided to use a logo for the Austrian EU Presidency that tells a story of its own and was developed by the Dutch designer Rem Koolhaas.
In May 2001, following the Treaties of Nice, which made Brussels the official capital of Europe, the then President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt invited the designer Rem Koolhaas to discuss the necessities and requirements of a European capital and how these could best be implemented in Brussels.
As an impetus for further discussion, Koolhaas and his think-tank OMA suggested the development of a visual language. This idea inspired a series of drawings and drafts, including the BARCODE. The BARCODE unites the flags of the EU countries into a single colourful symbol.
Whereas there is a fixed number of stars on the European flag, new Member States of the European Union can be added to the BARCODE. Originally, the BARCODE displayed 15 EU countries. In 2004, the symbol was adapted to include the ten new Member States.
Since the time of the first drafts of the BARCODE it has never been officially used by commercial or political institutions. During the Austrian EU Presidency 2006 it will be in official use for the first time.
The logo has already been used for the EU information campaign which will also be continued during the EU Presidency.

Information about the Austrian EU-Presidency
www.eu2006.at
Activities and Priorities of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture during the Austrian Presidency of the European Council
eu2006.bmbwk.gv.at

Geändert am 26.02.2007