ARRISE – ECSA Romania

2017
Democratic Competences in the Digital Era
Project Results: Romania
Democratic Competences in the Digital Era: Strategy Paper & Project Results in Romania
ARRISE // ECSA Romania, 2017, Bucharest, Romania
Editor: Ioana Spanache (Borcan), Secretary General of ARRISE// ECSA Romania

http://www.rise.org.ro/

This report was published as part of the project Democratic Culture in Action - Democratic
Competences in the digital era, funded by the Council of Europe and the European Union, through
the Joint Programme Human Rights and Democracy in Action.

Human Rights and Democracy in Action - website: http://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/charter-edc-hre-

pilot-projects/

The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the official policy of the European Union or the Council of Europe.

Photo credits
Cover photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash

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Contents
Short description of the project .................................................................................................... 3
ARRISE’s Attendance to the First Joint Coordination Meeting at the Council of Europe .................. 5
Results obtained during the 3 Focus Groups ................................................................................. 6
2 Focus groups with teachers and experts ......................................................................................... 6
1 Focus group with children................................................................................................................ 9
The Workshops: Democratic Competences in the Digital Era ....................................................... 11
Worksheets and other useful materials to be used in class .......................................................... 12
Useful materials for educators ................................................................................................... 18
2nd Partner Meeting and International Conference “Democratic Competences in the Digital Era” . 20
Video Interviews and Statements ............................................................................................... 22
Media ........................................................................................................................................ 23

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Short description of the project

The project “Democratic Culture in Action – Democratic Competences in the digital era” was
financed by the Council of Europe and the European Union as part of the Joint Programme
Human Rights and Democracy in Action International Co-operation Projects.
Period of implementation: 9 December 2016 – 31 October 2017
Implementing organizations:
 Academy of Postgraduate (Postdiploma) Education – Belarus
 Antikomplex (project coordinator) – Czech Republic
 Centre for Education Policy – Serbia
 Forum for Freedom in Education – Croatia
 Open Education Centre Foundation – Bulgaria
 Romanian Association of International Relations and European Studies – Romania
 Union of School-Centres - Union of Legal Entities – Armenia, in cooperation with the
Caucasus Research Resource Center - Armenia
Overall objective: To implement several indicators from the Reference Framework of
Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) related to the media and social networks.
Expected outcomes:
 Assessment on how competences are currently reflected in the education system of
the partner countries;
 Understanding of the most effective and successful way to implement the CDC in the
digital area;
 2 focus groups with teachers in each partner country where opinions and suggestions
will be collected;
 35 capacity-building Workshops for educators and people working with young people
(5 in each country);
 A strategy paper which includes a summary of national research, suggestions and
recommendations from the meetings and best practice toolkit

Project Team

Professor Iordan Gh. Bărbulescu, PhD Project Coordinator

Professor Cezar Bîrzea, PhD Senior Researcher

Ioana Spanache (Borcan), PhD Researcher/ Coordinator of Scientific Activity

Silviu Tepșan, PhD Candidate Junior Researcher

Florentina Georgescu, PhD Project Assistant

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Other experts involved:

 Ms. Angela Teșileanu (Institute for Education Sciences)

 Mr. Eugen Stoica (Ministry of National Education)
 Irina Cojocaru (MA student at DRIIE, SNSPA)
 Ioana Dodi, PhD (Researcher at DRIIE, SNSPA)

Contact person: Ioana Spanache (Borcan), PhD, Secretary General of ARRISE

ioana.borcan09@gmail.com; ioana.borcan@dri.snspa.ro

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ARRISE’s Attendance to the First Joint Coordination Meeting at the
Council of Europe

On the 31st of January and the 1st of February, 2017, took place in Strasbourg, France, the
First Coordination Meeting for all projects funded in 2016 by the EU/Council of Europe
Joint Programme “Human Rights and Democracy in Action”.

Representatives from 20 partner organisations in 17 countries implementing the projects

met in Strasbourg to benefit from each other experiences and to identify multilateral solutions
where there is the case.

The representatives of the partner organisations had the opportunity to present their projects
to other partners and also to discuss ways of collaboration and how to move forward in the
implementation of the projects in the partner countries.

ARRISE/ ECSA Romania was represented at the meeting by Professor Cezar BÎRZEA,
PhD, member of the Association, and Ioana BORCAN, PhD, Secretary General of
ARRISE. During the event, several representatives from the Council of Europe took the floor,
including Mr. Sjur BERGAN, Head of the Education Department. One of his statements
was:

“Education is not only about the type of economy we want to have, but also about the kind
of society we wish to have.”

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Results obtained during the 3 Focus Groups
2 Focus groups with teachers and experts

2 of the 3 focus groups

organized within the project
took place on March the 3rd
and the 18th in the North of
Bucharest, at the
headquarters of SNSPA, in
the presence of teachers
(Civic Education
discipline), representatives
of the academia, of the
Ministry of National
Education, the Institute for
Education Sciences and
NGOs. The results from
these 2 focus groups are
comprised bellow:

Q1. Is there a difference between how young people communicate in the online environment
vs. the offline environment?

 There are differences between the online and the offline space when it comes to
children’s behaviour and way of communicating. In the online, there is a specific
phenomenon of pretending from their part, based on the anonymity it offers. The
advantage of anonymity is that it gives them courage, but the drawback consists of
lack of responsibility.
 Online environment: space of retreat for young people; free to build an ideal image of
their selves; the biggest challenge consists of distinguishing between reality and the
virtual life.
 A set of risks concerning the online environment, as stated below: the interlocutor is
not always a reliable and serious person; the lack of penalties for what you do in the
online environment; lack of physical, real interaction.
Q2. How can the school and other organizations help young people communicate
democratically online?

During the 1st FG, the following actions were suggested:

 Holding classes addressed to parents, where they can talk more about diversity and
about everyone’s right to education in the context of inclusion;
 Teachers have to act like models because children tend to reproduce behavioural
patterns;
 Organizing personal development classes in which young people could acquire social
competencies;

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  Organizing meetings with parents where they can talk about problems and solutions
concerning the online environment.
During the 2nd Focus Group, emphasis was placed on the freedom of expression as a tool to
encourage young people to communicate and express their ideas, but also on responsibilities
and obligations.
Q3. What are the competencies of people who communicate democratically online?

 It is similar to what happens in real life: there must be responsibility, respect, and
sensitivity. The most important is the respect for other people’s views and acceptance
of differences. The teachers present stated that their role is to act like models on the
Internet in order to change children’s perception of diversity, namely children’s idea
that “everything which is different is against them”.
 A possible solution: involving children in activities that require for them to work in
heterogeneous and multicultural groups.
 The responsibility of teachers is to talk as much as possible about rights and
obligations. Unfortunately, the problem arises in families where parents speak about
diversity as something negative.
 Accepting different points of view and tolerance, but in an active way, involving a
distance and an effort so that the message of the other could be received, but also the
politeness as a form of democratic behaviour.
 Some participants noted that in their experience, students know what politeness and
civilized behaviour require, but they do not always apply them, referring to the fact
that students make a distinction between the classroom environment and the outside
environment.
 Knowledge of Human Rights, critical thinking and the ability to distinguish between
false and true information, empathy, intercultural dialogue, and family as a
determining factor in acquiring these skills.

Q4. In your opinion, does the current formal curriculum include elements aimed at education
for democratic citizenship in the context of cyberspace (knowledge and exercise of rights and
responsibilities in society, valuing diversity, active behaviour in the community / society)?

 FG1: If we talk about formal curriculum as a common core then these aspects do not
exist, but an alternative would be the optional classes. However, it depends on the
flexibility of each school.
 In the case of the 2nd FG, this question wasn’t addressed anymore, as the
representative from the Ministry of Education presented to us the new curriculum for
the set of disciplines with the theme “Social Education”. The 4 disciplines addressed
to students enrolled in 5th to 8th grade include the online dimension and provide them
with competences such as critical thinking.

Q5. Who do you think should be responsible for providing the necessary skills for a
democratic behaviour and mode of communication in the online environment? For example,
the Ministry of Education, through the formal curriculum, NGOs through non-formal and

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informal activities, parents, local authorities? Should this be achieved through partnerships
between public institutions and the NGO environment? Please, give more details.

 According to the participants of the 1st FG, the main responsible is the Ministry of
Education, that should create a national program in this regard. At the local level
should exist more freedom on implementation of the program and teachers could
adapt it depending on their needs. A negative aspect for rural areas compared to urban
areas represents the lack of NGOs that play an important role in providing democratic
skills. Also, children from urban areas have more access to information than those in
rural areas.
 During the 2nd FG, participants reacted unanimously, pointing out that all actors
(Ministry of National Education, formal curriculum, NGOs, parents, local authorities)
must work in a complementary way, each with its own role. Teachers efforts were
appreciated, as they usually managed to overcome the lack of up-to-date teaching
materials and build lessons from scratch according to the new realities. Where there is
will, difficulties can be surpassed.

Q6. How should be promoted in the virtual space/ and especially among young people who
use social media, the democratic culture, respect for diversity (ethnic, cultural, religious, of
opinions and ways of thinking), and mutual understanding?

 1st FG participants’ recommendation is to distribute messages in the online

environment about discrimination and diversity by using videos, pictures and quotes,
as these methods can have the greatest impact on children. Another idea would be to
simulate various situations of discrimination in the virtual environment, and then
discuss about them. Through simulation, children will be able to distinguish better
between right and wrong.
 During the 2nd FG, the new social education program, which contains a fundamental
change, was debated: The allocation of up to 25-30% of study time in the new
disciplines to the realization of an educational project, which implies an exercise of
social and civic competencies that have a direct impact on online or offline
democratic communication. The participants pointed out that a project in which the
child proposes the theme, he/she participates in the realization of the project fiche,
he/she discusses with others, he/she negotiates and in which he/she makes decisions,
represents a good framework for a democratic type of communication, for the
manifestation of respect and for developing these skills in the social and civic areas.

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1 Focus group with children

The 3rd focus group was organised with 25 children enrolled in secondary education (7th
grade) at a school in Bucharest. For this, we wish to thank the Director of the school and the
teachers that facilitated access to class and let us organize it. The results obtained are
described below:

Most used Social Media platforms: Instagram, Snapchat, Steam, Discord

- 11 declared that their most used SM platform is Instagram, and 10 of them post on it
daily. All children check their Instagram account daily.
- Even though all of them have a Facebook account, they do not use it as much.
- Most boys frequently use Steam and play online videogames, usually in the evening,
after school.
- About Snapchat: “The more we talk, the more points we receive.”1
- The boys that use Steam, Discord and Teamspeak, use the latter for downloading or
buying videogames and for meeting new people from Romania or other countries.
They said that a lot of Russians use the platforms. While using these, the children
mostly speak in English, while playing with foreigners. 3 children declared that they
spoke about other topics, unrelated to the games, with their online peers, such as TV
series.
Follow of Youtube vloggers

- More than half of children watch Youtube vlogs, on the following subjects: beauty,
daily vlog, challenges etc.

- One of the boys was himself a vlogger.

Is there a difference between how you behave in the online environment compared to how
you behave in the real world – be it in class or outside it?

- general answer: yes

- Why? – “Because in the online environment we are behind the keyboard, and not in
real life.”; “We are behind the keyboard, we do not know how the other would react
in real life, we lack any danger, and because of that we say what we want, because we
know that nothing will happen to us.”; For example, online many people behave badly
with others, which they would not o in real life. “Most have a lot of nerve behind a
phone. But when in front of someone, they don’t say anything.”
- Some people are not who they said they are online.

1
Snapchat score explained: Snapchat score is the sum total of all snaps sent and received, according to
Snapchat’s website. Every time you send out a snap, your score is increased by a point. And every time you
open a snap, your Snapchat score also increases. However, you do not receive a score for chats. In some cases,
your score may suddenly increase or decrease. Source: http://www.snapptips.com/snapchat-score-2015/

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Cyber-bullying

- Examples: other children download their photos and post them on their accounts,
making fun of them and nasty comments with their friends; girls that make comments
or send messages threatening to beat other girls.
- Most children did not know how to use the privacy settings of social platforms in
order to avoid unwanted people seeing what they are posting. Some of them have
blocked their bullies.
Dealing with false news

- The majority of children declared that they have come across false news – about
celebrities, a possible apocalypse, or regarding wars.
- In order to verify the news, in some cases, they ask their parents or read the
comments.

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The Workshops: Democratic
Competences in the Digital Era

When: 26th and 27th of June, 5th of July

Where: SNSPA headquarters, Bucharest,
Romania
Beneficiaries: 68 educators and youth
workers
Facilitators: Ioana Borcan, Ioana Dodi
Worksheets obtained: 9

The 3 Workshops organized in Romania were

aimed at familiarizing educators with the CDC model done by the Council of Europe, and
even at finding out more about their perception towards the set of competences. In this
regard, we applied a questionnaire regarding the degree to which they use each competence
included in the model during their classes, and we asked them to give examples in the cases
of frequently used competences.
Moreover, during the three days, we worked together with them in order to identify best
teaching methods for providing students with competences for democratic culture in the
context of the new challenges posed by social media and the online environment. From this
activity, we managed to gather 9 worksheets to be used in class, which were built by
educators during the workshops. Some of them can be found further in this document.
Other activities consisted of reflecting on the competences that a European citizen should
have in order to behave democratically in the online environment, analysing the new formal
curriculum and its digital components, as same as consulting different materials (video,
audio, documents) that can be useful in class.
For this activity, we wish to thank Mr. Eugen Stoica, to the School General Inspectors and
the School Inspectors that helped us disseminate the invitations to teachers.

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Worksheets and other useful materials
to be used in class

Worksheet 1: Safety on the Internet

1. Competencies: Analytical and critical

thinking skills

2. Specific competencies

 Identifying advantages and disadvantages of

using the internet;
 Forming and expressing opinions on different
sources of information used by children;
 Awareness of the danger children pose when
using the Internet inappropriately;

3. Target group: students in gymnasium, secondary education

4. Description of the activity

Discussion and debate:

- What are the sources of information you use frequently?

- For what purpose are these sources of information used?
- In what environment do you find it easier to be yourself?
Teamwork

- Each team receives tickets with advantages / disadvantages of using the internet. The
workload involves their division according to the two categories.

- Example: space of freedom of expression, possibility to keep in touch with friends,

way of obtaining information, lack of filtering of information, the risk of being abused
etc.

Presentation made by the teacher: about rights and responsibilities in the online
environment, freedom of expression, the right to education, the right of reply, confidentiality,
the right to property, respect, safety of environment, correct information, personal security
etc.

Case studies – The students work in groups and express their opinion to identified problems
and possible solutions.

Discussions

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In your opinion, which of the following actions represents a violation of rights? What are the
consequences of each violation?

- False tagging a person in the photo

- Uploading a photo you made to a concert where organizers banned photos or filming
Discussions

A person under 18 should be allowed to set up a meeting with a "friend" known on the
internet?

Conclusions

Evaluation of the course: Draw an image on a note or write a word that describes how you
felt during this activity

Worksheet 2: Patriotism and civic respons ibility

1. Competencies
- Knowledge and critical understanding of the world
- Respect
- Co-operation skills

2. Target group: high-school students

3. Description (steps in implementation)
Getting students’ attention: Audition of Guess Who’ s song “Honour” (a song and video with
a very strong message against corruption, morality and honor and civic responsibility -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3imDkvTxWc)

Objectives of the lesson

 O1. Identifying the values promoted by the song

 O2. Making proposals about the meaning of the term “patriotism” + side subjects –
civic responsibility, morality and honor as a citizen
 O3. Making posters that use information about the subject of the lesson
1st activity: Brainstorming – the significance of patriotism (10 minutes)

- Afterwards, search for the word in DEX online (dictionary)

2nd activity: students organized in groups – design posters for civic responsibility and
patriotism – using the Glogster platform (http://edu.glogster.com/?ref=com)

Evaluation

- Tour of the gallery – all posters are projected and discussed. Then, students vote for
the each poster.
Conclusions – pro and against arguments regarding patriotism

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Worksheet 3: Self-portrait

1. Competencies
Knowledge and critical understanding of the self
2. Target group: 5th grade students, secondary education
3. Description of the activity
1st Activity (15 minutes): Self-portrait

- Self-portrait – drawing
- Self-portrait – text (at least 5 sentences)
- Self-portrait – what your Facebook account says about you
- Discussing the results within groups

2nd Activity – individual (10 minutes) – How do my colleagues see me?

- Each student will have a white paper stuck to his/her back

- His/ her colleagues will write each one positive word that characterizes the student
- Each of them reads his characterization

3rd Activity (10 minutes) – Discussions

- Discussions regarding the characterizations made – the students that wish to make
presentations in front of the class can do so.
- Discussion regarding the differences and similarities between the 2 characterizations:
How do I see myself? How do the others see me?

4th Activity (5 minutes): writing a few main points from the homework that needs to be
prepared after the class ends – letter “How do I see myself in 10 years?”

Worksheet 4: Tolerance

1. Competencies
- Openness to cultural otherness and to other beliefs, world views and practices
- Respect
- Knowledge and critical understanding of the self
- Knowledge and critical understanding of the world
2. Target group: 12th grade students (last year of highschool)
3. Description of the activity
Objectives of the lesson:
- Understanding the concept of tolerance;
- Awareness of the importance of having a tolerant attitude in society
1st Session:
- Applying a questionnaire to students regarding their affinities, attitudes towards
xenophobia, racism

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 - Collecting blood samples for the DNA test – the results can be delivered in 2 weeks
and it costs around 20 euro
2nd Session: Discussion regarding the results of the DNA tests
- Free discussions on the following subjects: stereotypes (definition + examples);
ethnocentrism.
- The role and definition of tolerance.
- Watching the following Youtube video in class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaEQEmt5ls
- Announcing the rules for the contest to be organized.
3rd Session
- Organizing a small contest in class – the students are asked to work in teams and
design online campaigns (making posters, writing articles, and other – imagining the
entire campaigns) on the following subject – Tolerance in different environments (eg.
Family, school, public space etc.)
- Discussions
- Awarding the winning team.

Worksheet 5: The divided class

1. Competencies
- Knowledge and critical understanding of the self;
- Emphaty;
- Openness to cultural otherness and to other beliefs, world views and practices;
- Valuing cultural diversity.
2. Target group: students in secondary education
3. Description of the activity
Steps:

a. Projecting “the divided class” movie (1 h)

b. Heuristic conversation (1 h)
- What do you think about the movie?
- How are you feeling?
- How do you think the children in the movie felt?
- How would you feel if you would experience this kind of situation? Give
arguments.
- What do you think was the purpose of this experiment?
- What was the teacher from the movie trying to do, to teach her students?

Observations

This exercise needs 2 consecutive hours. Therefore, as one class lasts only one hour, the
teacher will need to obtain the 2nd hour from another teacher.

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Worksheet 6: Mass-media and public opinion

1. Competencies
- Knowledge and critical understanding of language and communication;
- Co-operation skills;
- Valuing cultural diversity.
2. Target group: 7th grade students – secondary education
3. Description of the activity
Methods used: case studies, problem solving, debate, brainstorming, observation

IT resources: laptop, projector, internet access

First task: 1 week monitoring of press articles published in the online environment on the
following subject – “Roma ethnicity in Romania”

- Searching for key words and expressions relevant for the theme
- Debate the message transmitted through the press articles
- Identifying solutions for improving the inter-ethnic relations
- Follow-up: organizing an educational project within the community – civic education

Recommendations:

- The rules of the exercise need to be well defined

- Offering students explicit diagrams for organizing their work and collecting
information.

Worksheet 8: Knowledge and critical understanding of the self

1. Competencies
- Knowledge and critical understanding of the self;
2. Target group: 10th grade students – tertiary education
3. Description of the activity
- specialists working in different fields are invited to class and they are asked to make
SWOT analyses of their jobs;
- pupils are asked to fill in online questionnaires regarding their abilities;
- afterwards, in class, we try to identify potential jobs according to the results obtained
after applying the previous tests;
- pupils, together with teachers are asked to build career maps, maps of the potential
professional routes with the following elements:
o objectives;
o steps to be undertaken (e.g. studies etc.);
o opportunity costs.
- correlating pupils’ options with the demand on the labor market

Recommendations:

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Motto: “Choose your job as a hobby and you will not work a day.”

Worksheet 9: Education for democratic behavior in the online

environment

1. Competencies
- knowledge and critical understanding of the self;
- openness to cultural otherness and to other beliefs, world views and practices;
- valuing cultural diversity.

2. Target group: 8th grade students – secondary education

3. Description of the activity
Students are split into 5 groups (*5 persons). And the teacher introduces the theme of the
class and the competencies taken into consideration.

Students watch the video “Momondo DNA test” on Youtube. Afterwards they are asked to
work in groups in order to identify the specific cultural elements to a continent of their choice
(cultural elements regarding religion and history, traditions and customs, human rights, media
etc.)

Method used: tour of gallery – debate for identifying the common and distinct elements to
each culture and their influence on human behavior.

Material resources: flipchart, text markers, internet

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Useful materials for educators

Useful websites

1. Council of Europe, page of the project - http://pjp-eu.coe.int/…/democratic-culture-

in-action-democr…
2. Living Democracy (it belongs to the Council of Europe) - http://www.living-
democracy.com/ro/ (it contains manuals + animated video materials)
3. European Commission, Better Internet for Kids: https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/
4. Ora de Net - https://oradenet.salvaticopiii.ro/ (project implemented by Save the
Children Romania): it contains Infografics, statistics regarding the use of internet and
social media platforms by youngsters, video materials recorded by famous Romanian
vloggers, and references to other activities they are undergoing in this regard (for
example, contests addressed to schools and children). Their Youtube channel can be
accessed through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/user/sigurinfoorg/
5. Toolkit offered by Microsoft - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQLjT4jwzQ
- Toolkit - https://aka.ms/msdigcit
- Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/microsoftineducation/
- Internet Most Wanted video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLk118aMn9A
- All videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/MSFTOnlineSafety/videos
6. Center for Legal Resources, Romania (related projects) - http://www.crj.ro/
7. No hate speech movement: a manual for fighting hate speech in the online
environment through education about human rights -
http://fondong.fdsc.ro/bookmarks---un-manual-pentru-combaterea-discursului-
instigator-la-ura-din-mediul-online-prin-educatia-pentru-drepturile-omului-in-limba-
romana
8. No Hate Speech Movement Romania: http://nohatespeech.ro/
9. https://iteach.ro/ - Romanian platform addressed to teachers from all disciplines
10. Glogster – for building interactive media posters: http://edu.glogster.com/
11. Digital Citizans Romania, Social DOers: http://socialdoers.com/our-initiatives/digital-
citizens/
12. Tehne- Center for Innovation in Education: http://www.tehne.ro/ (different resources)
13. School for Democracy (Scoala pentru Democratie), Expert Forum:
http://expertforum.ro/scoalapentrudemocratie/
14. Curriculum for theatre forum, Art Fusion:
http://www.artfusion.ro/docs/doc2016/curriculum_teatru_forum_2010_s.pdf

Video materials

15. Momondo DNA test (about prejudice towards other nationalities) -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaEQEmt5ls
16. Safe internet video spot (in Romanian):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ppm4l_safe-internet-social-spot-child-
romanian-children-romania-kids_school

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17. Cyberbullying video sport (in Romanian):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Q1zmpuuIA
18. Dangers of Social Media – boy edition -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sHoDW8QU4
19. Dangers of Social Media - girl edition -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jMhMVEjEQg
20. 2 apples video – the negative aspects of bullying:
https://www.facebook.com/hefty.co/videos/1918118988416470/?fref=gs&dti=146608
8366755507&hc_location=group
21. 5 ways of avoiding internet trolls, by Romanian vlogger Doza de Has:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt17IKEEtjc&feature=youtu.be&t=38
22. Romanian vlogger Doza de Has on cyberbullying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHkx1q63g8&t=184s

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2nd Partner Meeting and International Conference “Democratic
Competences in the Digital Era”

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The participants came from different backgrounds, both at national and European levels:
academia, NGO’s, the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Institute for Education
Sciences, teachers, the Council of Europe, the European Commission etc. This way, we
managed to approach the discussed issue from different points of views and obtain a holistic
image of the subject.

Among the speakers were: Professor Iordan Gh. BĂRBULESCU, PhD, President
of ARRISE and European Citizen of the Year 2016, Professor Remus PRICOPIE, PhD,
Rector of SNSPA and Vice-President of International Association of Universities (IAU),
Professor Cezar BÎRZEA, PhD, former Director of the Romanian Institute for Education
Sciences and current Director of the Centre of European Studies on Human
Migrations, Katia DOLGOVA-DREYER, Programme Coordinator Human Rights and
Democracy in Action – Council of Europe, Christel DE-JONGE, Policy Assistant
Directorate-General for Education Youth, Sport and Culture – European
Commission, Călin RUS, Expert for the Council of Europe and Director of the
Intercultural Institute in Timișoara, Eugen STOICA, General Inspector for Socio-Human
Sciences, Romanian Ministry of National Education, Ionela CIOLAN, President
of Amnesty International Romania, Silvia FLOAREA, Learnity, Associate Professor Ioan
Cosmin MIHAI, “Al.I.Cuza” Academy of Police and Politehnica University from
Bucharest, Veronica ȘTEFAN, Social DOers, Digital Citizens Romania, Teodora
STOICA, Save the Chidren România, Raluca SĂFTESCU, Euro Youth Club
Association and UEFISCDI, Nick DRĂGOI and Ileana RUSENESCU, Go Live on
Digital Academy, Karolina PUTTOVA and Jan JANOUCH from the coordinating
organization of the project, Antikomplex (Czech Republic), as same as other representatives
from the other 5 partner countries.

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The discussions during the conference focused both on the formal curriculum that
incorporates elements related to CDC, as same as non-formal and informal activities that can
help implement CDC in the context of the digital era. The representatives from the Ministry
of National Education and the Institute for Education Sciences presented the new
developments in terms of formal curriculum, while NGO representatives introduced the
participants to their activities in their fields.

The partners presented the results of the project in each involved country: main points from
the focus groups; a summary of workshop outcomes and best practices regarding the
methodologies, tools or lessons elaborated during them; and the results after applying the test
suggested by Professor Cezar Bîrzea from Romania regarding the way in which educators
perceive the competences for democratic culture.

In the end, all stakeholders involved were excited about the results, as they had the chance to
interact with each other and make new contacts for future partnerships.

The second day of the event (July the 7th) was address only to project partners, as it included
discussions about the future structure of the final strategy paper and identifying a set of
common recommendations to be included in the latter.

Video Interviews and Statements

 Video interview with Ms. Karolina Puttova, Antikomplex Czech Republic

(coordinating organization): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oAzWoIoZfA
(February 2017)
 Video interview with Mr. Calin Rus, Council of Europe Expert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPalwBbrxZw&t=153s (July 2017)
 Video statement with Ms. Ioana Borcan, ARRISE Romania:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1z79A1ZvMU&t=3s (July 2017)
 Video interview with Ms. Lavinia Popa, Teacher:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q93Sg0_pd4g&t=35s (July 2017)

All video interviews and video statements regarding the implementation of the project can be
found on the Council of Europe website: http://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/charter-edc-hre-pilot-
projects/democratic-culture-in-action-democratic-competences-in-the-digital-era

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Media

 Website: http://www.rise.org.ro/
 Page of the project: http://www.rise.org.ro/democratic-culture-in-action-democratic-
competences-in-the-digital-era-project/?lang=en
 Facebook page of ARRISE: https://www.facebook.com/ecsaromania
 Facebook page of the project: https://www.facebook.com/CDConlineRo/?pnref=lhc
 Facebook group for teachers: Profesori Cetățenie Democratică în Era Digitală:
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=profesori%20cet%C4%83%C8%9Benie%2
0democratic%C4%83%20%C3%AEn%20era%20digital%C4%83 (it currently has 57
members)
 Project’s webpage on the Council of Europe website: http://pjp-
eu.coe.int/en/web/charter-edc-hre-pilot-projects/democratic-culture-in-action-
democratic-competences-in-the-digital-era

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