Five teachers have been recognised for their outstanding lessons plans promoting democratic culture and innovative teaching methods, following the National Competition “Competences for Democratic Culture and the Cross-Curricular Approach – Application in Practice”.

The winners were selected by an expert jury from the Ministry of Education and the Institute for Improvement of Education. The jury’s decision was extremely difficult due to the high number of outstanding applications.

The authors of five selected lesson plans will have the opportunity to attend specialised training in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, which will take place on 4 and 5 March 2026. They will learn more about the importance of Human Rights Education and develop skills to successfully apply practical tools and methodologies and act as multipliers in their schools and local communities.

Additionally, their works will be published on the specialised portal on Democratic Culture in Education of the Institute for Improvement of Education as part of a database of best practices in the field of education. Apart from the five selected works, more than 50 others will be included in the AI-powered database.

The winners are:

Sladjana Jovic, Chemistry teacher, Svetozar Markovic gymnasium, Nis
Maja Keskinov, Philosophy teacher, 14th Belgrade gymnasium, Belgrade
Jasna Kapelan, English language teacher, Elementary school “Vuk Karadzic”, Backa Palanka
Olgica Spasojevic, Serbian Language and Literature teacher, Elementary school “Petar Lekovic”, Pozega
Marina Lazic, Physics teacher, Elementary school “Veljko Dugosevic, Turija
Warm congratulations are extended to the winners, and to all those who took part in the competition. The level of participation is a testament to the level of interest and commitment to competences for democratic culture in schools and communities in Serbia.

The action “Quality education for all” is part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.