For the proposed project, six European partner organisations formed a transnational team and intend to elaborate the intensity of their collaboration by combining each and every one’s excellence in constructive and non-violent conflict management as well as their competency in dialoguing with educational policy agencies and political bodies. The international team consists of two NGO’s (Croatia, France), two universities (Spain, Sweden), one social cooperative (Italy) and one foundation (Belgium). All partners have experiences in implementation of multilayered international projects, administration and reporting. We jointly agreed that the team of the Coordination pour l'éducation à la non-violence et à la paix would will coordinate our team and our project, while the other partners will form the teams of two to steer the work on the development of curriculum, monitoring and evalution, networking and advocacy. The other partners will be taken the lead responsible for curriculum, monitoring, evaluation, networking and advocacy. The presented project aims at 1. collecting and exchanging good practices in conflict management education in Europe, 2. exchanging experiences in advocacy on non-violent conflict management for teacher’s learning, and 3. developing a European Network in constructive and non-violent conflict management education. The proposed project will be conducted during a period of three years (2015- 2018). Seven transnational meetings are planned with the purpose of coordination, evaluation and monitoring the work and results achieved between the meetings at the national level and to redefine next steps, if needed. The transnational meetings will also be used to carefully re-examine strategies in the light of indicators of achievement for the remaining steps. Between the meetings, partners are assigned to a series of assignments at the country level. This includes: Research on the state of the art in every country; Elaboration and review of the modules for the new curriculum; Elaboration and implementation of the pilot-training; definition of the advocacy policy and identifying stakeholders within the local community, district and on the national level. The proposed project is going to produce the following outcomes. First of all, the researchers from six countries will identify and describe the present situation in conflict management education in their countries in order to be able to identify good practices in conflict management education. The exchange of good practices and its analyses intends to result in the development of a completely new curriculum on non-violent and constructive conflict management. Every partner will develop several modules for this new curriculum which will subsequently be put together and tested. The new curriculum will be based on common effective elements from identified best European practices as well as unique features of these practices that appear to be important and vital for such a curriculum. In addition, a number of identified good practices will be written down to be able to share them with other conflict management trainers and researchers in Europe. In addition, researches will be published describing the state of art in policies in conflict transformation in each country. Based on this research we will be able to identify the most urgent needs in conflict management teachers’ training as well as to identify possible channels to advocate for conflict management teachers’ training. From the dialogues and analyses of state of art in policies in conflict transformation in each country, a position paper will be delivered concerning the advocacy policy priorities at European, state and local levels; identification of educational and political stakeholders on the national and European level. Moreover, one of the project outcomes will be the establishment of a European network of researchers and practitioners, professionals in the field of non-violent conflict management, who will join their capacities to develop quality teacher training materials on non-violent conflict management that could be easily applied in classrooms across Europe, containing examples of best practice and materials easily adjustable to national and local contexts and needs. Furthermore, the network will be active in advocating the values and the practice of non-violent conflict management in educational system, building the network of stakeholders and supporters at the local and nation level and across Europe.
Context of the project The EdUCATe project was born from the observation that, most of the time in Europe, conflict situations are not sufficiently taken into account at school and that some of these situations can lead to violence that has negative effects on school climates. To address these unavoidable conflict situations, the EdUCATe project aims to disseminate knowledge, know-how and tools on nonviolent conflict transformation through the training of teachers and educators. The partners also noted the absence and the lack of a European network for sharing good practices in this area. Objectives of the project Thus, the EdUCATe project had three major objectives: - the exchange of good practices in the field of teacher training in nonviolent conflict transformation (NVCT) with a view to drafting a European curriculum for such training; - the exchange of advocacy experiences with governments on this subject; - and the establishment of a European network of actors for advocacy and the exchange of good practices in this field. This project was therefore built around these three axes (curriculum, advocacy and network) which were each coordinated by two project partners. Number and profile of participating organizations This 36-month project, running from September 2015 to August 2018, brought together six partners, three associations, two universities and one foundation: the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the Centro Psicopedagogico per la Pace e la gestione dei conflitti (Italy), the Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights in Osijek (Croatia), the Evens Foundation (Belgium) and the Coordination for Non-Violence and Peace Education (France), which coordinated it. Description of the main activities implemented First, five of the six partners conducted research activities to identify and describe the situation of teacher training in nonviolent conflict transformation in their countries (Evens Foundation was not involved in this part of the project). Among other things, they identified and analysed 3 good practices per country. Based on this research and their training experience, the partners have drafted an innovative European teacher training programme (curriculum) on nonviolent conflict transformation. This four-module curriculum was tested by the partners during a learning activity, which was a pilot training organized from 11 to 15 July 2017 in France. It brought together a total of 25 participants, i.e. 15 trainees (teachers) selected by the EdUCATe partners and 10 trainers and staff persons. It made it possible to evaluate and validate this curriulum while allowing it to be improved on certain points. At the same time, the partners conducted research on the advocacy actions that had been carried out at European level and in each country on this theme of teacher training and together they defined the common principles of their advocacy and action plans for each country based on the results of their research. Finally, throughout the project, the partners reflected on the creation of a European network on this teacher training on NVCT. The research conducted, in conjunction with previous research, made it possible to identify the various actors in this field in Europe (networks, national associations, universities) and to confirm the absence and the lack of such a European network. Gradually, the partners defined the outlines that this network could take (vision, mission, objectives, structures). The partners organised a European Multiplier Event, entitled "Growing the Movement", in Brussels, on 24 May 2018, in the morning at the Bozar Museum and in the afternoon at the European Parliament. This day was an opportunity to share with other European associations the various results of the project, to discuss in a dynamic way the construction of the European network, whose idea was well received, and to exchange on our advocacy practices with women and men politicians and education officials. Results and impacts achieved Based on their research, the partners drafted several documents. First of all, a of the current situation in terms of training teachers in nonviolent conflict transformation and another on advocacy in Europe for such education. Based on these results, they drafted the three intellectual productions foreseen in the project: a European curriculum in four modules, a European Position Paper on advocacy and an analytical dossier on the creation of a European network for the training of teachers and educators in nonviolent conflict transformation.