Edu4Europe Forum: Education for European democratic citizenship?

The concept of European Citizenship is a dynamic and complex idea deeply connected with the ideals of democracy, participation and human rights in Europe. Beyond the legal definition of citizenship of the European Union, European Citizenship aims at enabling a space, where civic, political and social matters can be addressed beyond national borders and frameworks, and where European values and ethics can be cultivated, discussed and questioned.

Edu4Europe Forum on European democratic citizenship education provides space for exchange, mutual learning and joint exploration of education for European democratic citizenship. It aims to strengthen youth work practice on this topic and connects to youth policy makers on EEDC. Forum brings together up to 120 practitioners from the youth and education fields, researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations, and other entities involved in European democratic citizenship education.

The first edition was organised in November 2019, at the European Youth Centre of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, focusing on the topic of “Future visions of Europe”, looking at directions the European policies may take and how to involve young people in shaping this European future through educational processes. It was hosted by the French Agency for Erasmus + Youth and Sport in co-operation with: the French ministry of Education and Youth, the EU-CoE youth partnership, the Council of Europe, the German and Italian National Agencies (Jugend für Europa and Agenzia Nazionale per i giovani) and the SALTO South-East Europe Resource Centre. The second edition will be hosted by Italian National Agency in 2022.

In order to create the links between the Forums, a series of webinars were held to explore the topic of citizenship education from various perspectives: