Immigration, teachers’ loss of authority, and sagging confidence in the process of European construction present challenges so complex that the individual countries of Europe cannot tackle them on their own. Luxembourg actively supports the education for democratic citizenship (EDC) project and is calling for the setting up of a pan-European teacher training resource centre.
Interview with Mady Delvaux-Stehres, Luxembourg’s Minister for Education and Vocational Training
16.06.2005
Question: Why was Luxembourg so enthusiastic in its support for the EDC project, and more particularly for the European Year of Citizenship through Education?
Mady Delvaux-Stehres: For Luxembourg, EDC is not an unnecessary luxury, but a matter of survival. Firstly because 30% of our country’s population comes from other countries. It is no longer a matter of course for Luxembourg’s citizens to share the same values, faiths or cultural origins. Schools’ efforts to teach children about democracy and tolerance are vital to the future of our society.
What is more, Luxembourg’s small size restricts its resources in terms of expertise and research, constantly forcing us to draw on the experience, good practice and information resources of other European countries.
And the European Year is also an important means of raising public awareness of the implications of EDC. Unlike those in the Scandinavian countries, Luxembourg’s schools only turned to democratic participatory practice very recently. The law formalising the setting up of parents’ committees was only passed two years ago, and still applies only to secondary schools, and not primaries.
Question: What is the role of EDC teacher training?
Mady Delvaux-Stehres: Teachers’ authority, like that of politicians, is no longer regarded as natural. On the contrary, it has to be constantly justified.
Their profession and their role are changing rapidly. The aim of the EDC project is to help to give them the know-how and self-confidence they need to combine democratic discussions with greater authority over their pupils.
The classroom could now be transformed into children’s very first school of democracy, where they will learn to think critically and to express themselves freely, while complying with the rules that apply to all.
I believe that the setting up of a European teacher training resource centre would be a very appropriate practical effect of the European Year, and a very suitable way of pursuing the EDC project, which should continue to increase exchanges of information and good practice among European countries.
The Council of Europe has the requisite experience in the field of teacher training to set up and run a pan-European centre of this kind, which would benefit its new member states and the newly democratic countries of Europe in particular, but also the smaller countries which have a constant need to draw on pooled expertise.
Question: Can EDC do anything to remedy people’s loss of confidence in the process of European construction?
Mady Delvaux-Stehres: I am both confused and depressed by the results of the referendums in France and the Netherlands. It seems to me that the “no” votes to some extent amount to a rejection of politicians, a group to which I belong and which is now facing up to a great many questions.
I am not sure that EDC in itself can remedy my confusion or that of society as a whole. The main task of politics is to offer young people a future and to ensure their place in society. This problem could not be solved through a project like the EDC one.
EDC can nevertheless help us to restore a more democratic atmosphere, and to go even further than schools, working with other ministries and institutional partners, NGOs and international organisations.
The presence of a representative of the European Commission at the Council of Europe conference on teacher training gives me hope that these two institutions will be pooling their efforts more in the field of EDC. Such co-operation is all the more necessary for the fact that resources are not unlimited.
(Source: Council of Europe)
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