The Council of Europe tool “Quality Assurance of Education for Democratic Citizenship in Schools” includes a set of these indicators divided into subthemes and descriptors which reflect a desired quality of EDC/HRE in a school. These criteria can be used for judgment and evaluation. Applying this will deliver a comparison between the status quo of a school in terms of EDC/HRE and the desired goals.
The table below – part of the above-mentioned tool – can be used for assessing the status quo of EDC/HRE in a school according to quality indicators.44
Areas | Quality indicators | Subthemes |
---|---|---|
Curriculum, teaching and learning | Indicator 1 Is there evidence of an adequate place for EDC/HRE in the school’s goals, policies and curriculum plans? |
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Indicator 2 Is there evidence of students and teachers acquiring understanding of EDC/HRE and applying these principles to their everyday practice in schools and classrooms? |
|
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Indicator 3 Are the design and practice of assessment within the school consonant with EDC? |
|
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School ethos and climate |
Indicator 4 Does the school ethos adequately reflect EDC/HRE principles? |
|
Management and development |
Indicator 5 Is there evidence of effective school leadership based on EDC/HRE principles? |
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Indicator 6 Does the school have a sound development plan reflecting EDC/ HRE principles? |
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(Council of Europe, Democratic Governance of Schools, 2005, p. 58)
44. When the tool was developed in 2005, indicators in the table above were only described as EDC indicators. The extension to EDC/HRE was added to the table for this volume.