Between the 19th and the 20th of April the quiet Slovenian town of Bled was the capital of Education for Social Justice, hosting a conference that brought together over 80 participants from six European countries. Under discussion was the integration of Education for Social Justice in European school curricula. This is an issue of central importance also for Portugal, where this possibility remains an option.
During two days of work, students, teachers and policy makers shared their experiences on how they are already integrating this theme in their classes and discussed the European Vision on Education for Global Social Justice – considering which aspects should be included in the school curriculum on this issue.
From Portugal went a team of eight people – including three teachers and two students – from the School Grouping Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (Amarante), school Francisco Rodrigues Lobo (Leiria) and School Grouping Nun’ Álvares (Seixal), besides a technician from the Municipality of Seixal and two IMVF technicians. The group had the opportunity to share the Portuguese reality and experience in this European event.
The event, promoted by five European NGOs, including IMVF, sought to strengthen the network of educators, motivating young students to action and raising the visibility of the subject next to education policy makers.
Nearly one hundred participants began by listening to the words of the President of the Republic of Slovenia from a letter in which he stressed the importance of the Conference to the educational community and where he challenged young students to discuss the issues of poverty and social justice.
One of the commitments of the letter of intent signed by the participants was to encourage each of the Governments to adopt measures to promote Education for Social Justice. They also committed to continue to address and press their peers to work on these issues.
This was an activity of the project “World School”, an international project co-financed by the European Commission and the Portuguese Institute for Development Support and implemented in Portugal by IMVF, in a partnership with six European countries.
This initiative aims to support the educational community and to strengthen values, encouraging an active global citizenship and working across the existing projects in the school community, thus projecting the sense of global social justice, from the school to the world.
More information about the Project: www.escolamundo.org