Introduction
This working document includes background information for the preparation of the 3rd European Congress on GE by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe together with the following institutional partners: CONCORD-DEEEEP, UNESCO and CoE Education Department and in affiliation with GENE and TRIALOG. This Congress will be held during 26-28 November 2015, in Zagreb, Croatia.
The purpose of this roadmap is to facilitate the consultative process, interaction and collaboration with the aforementioned institutional partners and to create a common understanding and consensus regarding this event. It represents a strategic communication tool that aims at bringing added-value to the shaping of the Congress and stimulating co-organizers to collectively reflect on the conceptualization of the Congress.
Bearing in mind that the European strategy for improving and increasing GE in Europe to the year 2015[1] as well as the Millennium Development Goals come to their target date this year, the 3rd European Congress on GE will represent a propitious momentum to share views and experiences as regards Global Education/ Development Education/ Global Citizenship Education. Furthermore, it seeks to feed into the debate on the thread of consistency in terms of GE and explore new avenues for exchange cooperation in the field for GE/DE/GCED.
Through this Congress, the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the aforementioned co-convenors seek to take stock of the outcomes of the regional and national seminars which took place over a span of three years, from 2013 to 2015, following the strategic recommendations of the 2nd European Congress on Global Education.
The Congress will be held under the theme ‘Education for a Global Citizenship: Unity in Diversity’ as referred in the Congress Concept Paper and other key documents and its objectives are the following:
- Contribute to building a competence framework for global citizenship and intercultural understanding;
- Create an oversight mechanism to support evaluation and integration of GE/DE/GCED in national curricula;
- Strengthen political commitment of stakeholders to promoting the principles and concepts of global education/global citizenship education.
The first part of this roadmap identifies workshop topics, the second part looks at some identified speakers and moderators, whilst the third part monitors events related to GE/DE/GCED which are taking place this year worldwide.
Prospective workshop topics
The Congress may comprise 5 workshops which would be held around 5 thematic paths identified below.
After taking the pulse of the various global events and movements worldwide as regards global education, five thematic areas have been identified: intercultural and interfaith dialogue, active citizenship, education and sustainability, entrepreneurship education, media, information and digital literacy.
These topics are seen through the prism of two perspectives seeking to measure the hard skills or cognitive competences (education and sustainability, entrepreneurship education, media, information and digital literacy) as well as soft skills or social competences (intercultural and interfaith dialogue, active citizenship). The latter epitomize vital values which are complementary to the hard skills deemed necessary to build a better society and a sustainable future. These two dimensions are above all essential so as to spur the debate on education for global citizenship, global education or development education.
[1] Maastrich Global Education Declaration 2002
