Democratic Culture in Action: Democratic Competences in a Digital Era
Democratic Culture in Action: Democratic Competences in a Digital Era
Project Description
The joint project entitled ‘Democratic Culture in Action: Democratic Competences in a Digital Era’ is implemented in seven different countries across Central and Eastern Europe. It is part of a bigger Pilot Projects Scheme “Human Rights and Democracy in Action”, launched by the European Commission and the Council of Europe in May 2013. The project in Armenia is implemented jointly by the Union of School Centres and CRRC-Armenia.
Social media and social networking play an increasingly bigger role in the lives of children and teens, bringing about various new opportunities and knowledge. However, it also has a downside, for example considering online bullying and distributions of fake news. Therefore, the core goal of the project is to establish a model of democratic competences to be implemented in school curricula, specifically tackling social media. Through human rights education, the initiative aims to teach educators and pupils about the competences needed for navigating through virtual landscapes, and thus contribute to the empowerment and development of a ‘culture of democracy’.
Methodology
Starting with the curriculum review, CRRC-Armenia will carry out focus group discussions with teachers. Those teachers currently engaged in the Union of School Centres aiming at improving their teaching skills in human rights were recruited controlling for gender, age, and teaching experience. Further, based on the first-hand analysis of the data from focus groups, training of trainers will be realized for teachers.