Trainings for teachers have come to an end

Between the 6^th – 7^th, and 13^th – 14^th September in the headquarter of the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR), there were the free trainings for the teachers of history and social studies from the Polish schools in Lithuania carried out.

The trainings were organized by EFHR within implementing the innovative educational project “Europeans, Poles, Citizens”. The aim of the project is to implement the modern curriculum for teaching the subject “Social Studies”, which is intended to shape the civic attitude among the Polish youth in Lithuania by means of the radio broadcasts and a series from newspaper articles.

The trainings were conducted by experts in human rights – dr Laura Koba and professor Wieslaw Waclawczyk. More than 20 teachers from the various schools in Vilnius and in the Vilnius district took part in the trainings.

During the 4-day-long trainings the methodology of teaching social studies, as well as the ways of encouraging students to learn this subject were presented. The issue of human rights and the meaning of the term “conscious citizen” were discussed, and the basic terms connected with functioning of the democratic rule of law were explained.

Other topics were also discussed, such as: “Freedom of speech as the foundation of human actions in a democratic country”, “Human rights and freedoms in the Constitution of Lithuania”, “Lithuanian law”, “International systems”, and “Conventions of the Council of Europe”.

The trainings took place in an atmosphere of a multifaceted discussion. The coaches carried out interesting workshops, during which the teachers were analyzing international documents and the Lithuanian law, staging court hearings, and talking about the rights owing by the particular social groups.

Noble purposes of and the past activities of the Foundation were also presented to the participants of the trainings. The teachers were introduced to the textbook “Europeans, Poles, Citizens”. The participants were talked to be involved in the project implementation.

Every guest was given the basic material on human rights, among others: the brochures of the Council of Europe “Rights and freedoms in practice” and “47 countries and one organization…the Council of Europe” available in many languages, also in Polish and Lithuanian developed at the request of the Council of Europe.

The participants were given the certificates of the civic education course completion.

The survey evaluating the trainings, received from the participants, was very positive. We would like to thank the teachers for their participation, as well as for comments that will help us to improve our offer.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the granted financial support, to the “Vilnius Courier” and the “Vilnius Region Weekly”, and the radio “From Over Neris” for having our trainings under the media patronage.

We would like to thank also the company Runmis for having prepared the delicious refreshments and their professional service.

See you at the next training!

Translated by: Roksana Kasperek