In the framework  of the Joint EU/CoE project ‘Promoting Human Rights Education and Democratic Citizenship in Eastern Partnership countries’ a piloting seminar for teachers and school directors took place in Kharkiv, Ukraine on 1-3 December 2016. The seminar was organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. During three days 36 teachers and school heads, representing 18 schools of Kharkiv in an interactive manner got acquainted with the educational materials of the Council of Europe on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, with the aim of developing democratic governance in their schools.

The main feature of EDC/HRE is that it involves active learning and students’ participation in decision-making processes. Its uniqueness lies in the development and establishment of democratic values in secondary education in Ukraine, the system of democratic self-governance, and the establishment of democratic principles in the education system as a whole.

The aim of the seminar was to introduce the basic principles and tools of EDC/HRE into school governance and help teachers and school heads to take responsibility together, in order to allow students to perceive school as the first institution in their lives that organises teaching, learning and school life as a whole in the spirit of democracy and human rights.