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Recommendation 1849 (2008)
For the promotion of a culture of democracy and human rights through teacher education
1. The Council of Europe places special
importance on the learning of democracy. Consistent with its mission
and the fundamental values it promotes, it considers education,
culture and science to be pillars of European society, in a period
of new challenges and situations, which require co-operation and
common efforts.
2. Member states have long acknowledged that democracy and human
rights need to be learned and that teachers play a fundamental role
in this respect.
3. The Action Plan of the 3rd Summit of Heads of State and Government
of the Council of Europe (Warsaw, May 2005), and the recommendations
of the 22nd Session of the Standing Conference of European Ministers of
Education (Istanbul, May 2007) call on the Council of Europe to
step up its work in the field of teacher education. More recently,
the Parliamentary Assembly adopted Recommendations 1682 (2004) on education for
Europe and 1791 (2007) on
the state of human rights and democracy in Europe, which call on
the Council of Europe to adopt a framework policy document on education
for human rights and democratic citizenship. Such a framework document
will have to address, inter alia, the
issue of teacher education.
4. The Assembly strongly supports the activities organised by
the Council of Europe as follow-up to these recommendations. It
also notes with great interest the initiative of the Norwegian authorities
to launch a European resource centre on education for intercultural
understanding, human rights and democratic citizenship, one of the
main objectives of which will be the training of teachers and educators
in these fields.
5. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers call
on governments and the appropriate authorities of member states
to turn to good account the experience and expertise of the Council
of Europe in this field. In particular:
5.1. preparing children for life in a democratic society should
be recognised as an overall aim of primary and secondary education
policies;
5.2. the competences required for promoting the culture of
democracy and human rights in the classroom should be introduced
in the curriculum for the education of teachers of all subjects;
5.3. a lifelong learning perspective in respect of teacher
education should be promoted to help teachers adapt to the needs
of rapidly changing democratic societies;
5.4. grassroots initiatives on teacher education in the field
of democracy learning should be supported and promoted.
6. The Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
6.1. recognise the role of teachers
and other educational staff as important actors in promoting the culture
of human rights and democracy;
6.2. express its renewed support of the Council of Europe’s
“Pestalozzi” programme for education professionals;
6.3. encourage broad dissemination of practical tools on teacher
education developed by the Council of Europe in the areas of education
for democratic citizenship and human rights;
6.4. support the development of an appropriate Council of Europe
framework policy document on education for democratic citizenship
and human rights.