Objectives of the Congress

European Congress on Global Education

The Europe-wide Global Education Congress held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on November 15-17, 2002, was a pioneering event. It brought together policy makers and practitioners to reflect on a European strategy framework for improving and increasing global education towards 2015. This reflection resulted in the “Maastricht Declaration”.
 

Ten years onwards, the 2012 European Congress in Lisbon will first analyze the significant changes in scope and substance of global education since the 2002 Maastricht Congress. Over the past ten years, efforts have been made to raise awareness and build the capacity of practioners on global education. The concepts and contents of this pedagogy have been enriched through academic research and input, as well as through synergies with the work scholars and practioners working in the specifics fields of human rights education, intercultural education, education for peace and conflict prevention and education for sustainable development.

The North-South Centre of the Council of Europe has been engaged throughout this period in promoting global education and training educators - in Europe and beyond. In particular, in 2009-2011, the Centre co-organised with local partners national and regional seminars on global/development education in the 12 new members States of the European Union, with the financial support of the European Commission. These seminars brought together stakeholders (government representatives, civil society) with the aim to discuss the present situation of global/development co-operation in the respective country and promote national policy recommendations and practices. The assessment of these seminars will be an important contribution to the conceptualisation, preparations and organisation of the 2012 European Congress.
 

The Congress aims at setting up a road map or action plan to reach the “Maastricht 2015 target”, taking stock of the policy-making and capacity-building initiatives developed since Maastricht, and in compliance with the United Nations UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Millenium Development Goals. This roadmap or action plan should guide institutional and educational stakeholders to bring global education as an integral component into education policies and curricula through improved coordination and propose policy frameworks and capacity-building measures to attain this objective.
 

The Council of Europe and the European Union situations will be addressed complementarily. Representatives of the “quadrilogue”, i.e. of governments, parliaments, regional and local authorities as well as of civil society, will be invited to make contributions to the discussions. True to the ideals and aims of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, the Congress will bring together key actors and practionners not just from Europe, but from all over the world.