Only for Civic education teachers with a vision

Join the international project for strengthening democratic decision-making

In order to stay faithful to its visionary aim to provide all educators with a chance for personal and professional development, the Institute for Contemporary Education established a cooperation with the Embassy of the United States of America. The objective of this collaboration is to improve and work together on the common vision of the future of education that will unite teachers and all young people with progressive ideas.

This cooperation resulted in the US Embassy’s support for the project conducted by the Institute with the aim of giving Civic education teachers a chance to actively participate in building a new community in which young people’s capacities are strengthened when it comes to individual and democratic decision-making.

We proudly present our joint project: Education of the Future Electorate on Decision-Making Processes in Democratic Societies through Civic Education – Socrates’ Trial.

What can you expect from the Socrates' Trial project?

Socrates’ Trial is a unique educational project which gives Civic education teachers to acquire new skills and get to know the most contemporary teaching practices in this field, as well as to empower their students to change the world for the better using their decision-making strategy.

The project consists of a program for teachers and students which covers all important topics in the field of democratic decision-making and judicial processes in democratic societies.

For teachers we have designed a one-day workshop that will include presenting a special guidebook with Civic education teaching materials, while students will enjoy an interactive event that will simulate one of the most famous trials in the history of politics, which has for there purposes been set into the contemporary context: Socrates’ 21st-century trial.

This project has been launched as a combination of formal and informal education which demands that the content is presented through multimedia, with real-life examples of indictments. The objective of this event to, through realistic examples, encourage educators to direct their lessons towards fostering a comprehensive, multidisciplinary problem-solving approach in young people.

Socrates' Trial as the pathway towards democratic decision-making in the society of the future

Research conducted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation in 2019 came to a rather discouraging conclusion that, statistically, Serbia’s youth was not familiar enough with democratic processes of decision-making. This is partially a consequence of the fact that civic education curricula are left aside and not developed enough.

This project, led by the ICE team, has a unique program which includes a contemporary version of Socrates’ trial simulation, as well as dynamic additional contents, and its objective is to empower 30 Civic education teachers from 6 cities/towns across Serbia.

This whole program entails different perspectives on the subject of youth inclusion into democratic decision-making processes in a modern society.

You can become part of the project for civic education of the future!

Who can benefit from this project?

The project will welcome 30 participating Civic education teachers, as well as 600 students who will take part in workshops and the Socrates’ trial simulation, and who will be the focus of the teachers’ competency strengthening during the program. The idea is for the project to strengthen the cooperation among teachers from various backgrounds in an innovative way.

Which parts of the country are covered?

The program will be attended by teachers from 6 cities/towns across Serbia:

  • Belgrade
  • Pančevo
  • Leskovac
  • Niš
  • Zrenjanin
  • Novi Sad

When will the project be conducted?

The project is planned to take place from October 2021 to 30 June 2022. During a virtual conference in June 2022 we will present the project results analyzed by teachers who participated in the project. During the conference, teachers will share their experiences and exchange innovational approaches to Civic education lessons, which will be the final stage of the project.

Do not miss the chance to take part in this unique project – the admissions are completely FREE OF CHARGE!

Why is participating in this project good for your professional development?

The project results will be jointly analyzed by teachers from Serbia and the US during the conference in 2022. The conference participants will be able to share their experiences from the project, as well as successful educational practices in the field of civic education. All teaching resources created during this project will be available to Civic education teachers.

You will take part in creating a professional guidebook that will be used in schools as a didactic teaching resource. You will also acquire new knowledge and adapted tools so as to improve your approach to civic education teaching and bring innovational, progressive ideas into the communication with the youth, which will help them make decisions more easily.

You will be given a unique opportunity to engage in creating a better society and affect the strengthening of the youth’s capacities, while also encouraging their participation in democratic decision-making. As you communicate with other participants, you will gain better insight into how they use the acquired knowledge in the field of civic education in situations where they make decisions that are collectively significant.

Your participation in the project will be followed by relevant media; therefore, your contribution to the civic education culture will become public. By joining a program with international support, you become directly involved into the international network of educators that promote democratic decision-making, and thus you use your work to make the society a better place.

We create a vision of the future where decisions are made democratically

The goals of this program dedicated both to teachers and students boil down to the visionary idea of education as the key to a better society. Students will be part of a project which tends to take initiative for creating future citizenship, brought up so as to be able to communicate and make decisions on their own, in a way that is ethically fair to their environment.

Educating others

By creating a comprehensive guidebook containing particular educational resources based on the materials acquired during the project, we have a mission to educate teachers and students in accordance with innovative practices in Civic education.

Educating others

Strengthening the youth’s capacities

We want to strengthen the capacities of more than 600 young people from all over Serbia through workshops in which they will be presented with real-life situations that will encourage them to take part in democratic decision-making. These capacities will be measured and evaluated at the teachers’ summit in June 2022.

Strengthening the youth's capacities

Promoting dialogue and debate

Both during the simulation of the debate concerning the Socrates’ 21st-century trial, and during the teachers’ virtual conference at the end of the process, this project intends to create and improve the dialogue on the subject of civic education development and the importance of the decision-making process.

Promoting dialogue and debate

What does it take for you to participate?

You are a Civic education teacher
You are from Belgrade, Pančevo, Leskovac, Niš, Zrenjanin or Novi Sad
You will be available to attend workshops from October 2021
You are eager to develop both personally and profesionnally
You believe in the mission of Civic education which brings a better society

Book your place right away

Join the project and take Civic education in your classroom to a next level

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