The European Commission’s Communication on the role of education and culture in strengthening European identity from November 2017 and the Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching from January 2018 emphasise that education and training systems are at the forefront of working towards active citizenship and common values in Europe. The Council Recommendation points out that including common values in learning environments is paramount in order to reduce intolerance, polarisation and divisive nationalism. As reflected by these documents, tackling the challenge of strengthening common European values is a high priority to all EU Member States. Therefore, the 2018 Conference was focused on the topic of common European values, active citizenship and key competences.
While a lot had already been done to promote common European values, it was acknowledged that there is a need to further strengthen them through education. This conference was oriented towards solutions and practices that demonstrated value and worked well for different levels of education.
Conference materials
Presentations
Opening plenary session
Effective policies and practices for empowering schools and promoting quality education
Welcome by the Coordinators of the Networks NESET II and EENEE
- Dr Dragana Avramov, Scientific Coordinator of the Network of Experts on the Social Dimension of Education and Training (NESET) (PowerPoint presentation)
- Prof Ludger Woessmann, Scientific Coordinator of the European Experts Network on Economics of Education (EENEE) and Director of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education (PowerPoint presentation)
Welcome by the European Commission
- Mr Jan Pakulski, Head of Unit, Evidence-Based Policy and Evaluation, DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
Keynote address
Teaching uncommon values: education, democracy and the future of Europe
Parallel group session 1
Inclusion and Social Cohesion
- Dr Jana Huttova, Member of NESET and self-employed consultant, researcher and expert evaluator; and Dr Hester Hulpia, Researcher at VBJK (Centre for Innovation in the Early Years) and at Ghent University (PowerPoint presentation)
- Dr Balázs Váradi, Senior Researcher at Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis (PowerPoint presentation)
Parallel group session 2
School curricula, learners’ experience and democratic participation
- Prof Carmel Cefai, Director of Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health, Professor at University of Malta and Member of NESET II (PowerPoint presentation)
- Prof George Psacharopoulos, Professor, Georgetown University (PowerPoint presentation)
Parallel group session 3
Education, Technology and Civic Engagement
- Prof Julian McDougall, Professor and Head of the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University, UK and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PowerPoint presentation)
- Prof Gráinne Conole, Head of Open Education, National Institute for Digital Learning, Dublin City University (PowerPoint presentation)
