EUDEC contributed to the United Nations consultation on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, helping bring the experiences and perspectives of the Democratic Education community into the global discussion on the right to education.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed, recently published a report following the Call for Inputs: Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment at the service of the right to education.
EUDEC was pleased to contribute to this international consultation, bringing together perspectives and experiences from within our network. The report offers important recognition of principles and practices that have been at the heart of Democratic Education for decades.
A significant recognition for Democratic Education
One detail stands out in particular: the report explicitly refers to
“democratic and self-directed education”
as examples of pedagogical approaches aligned with international educational objectives.
This is significant.
For many years, democratic and self-directed education have often been regarded as niche, experimental, or “alternative” approaches—something somehow separate from mainstream education. Yet this report places many of the principles underpinning these approaches at the centre of the discussion on the right to education.
Participation, learner agency, trust, co-decision-making, experiential learning, meaningful relationships and independence are all reflected in the report’s discussion of how education can better serve children’s rights.
These are not new ideas for the Democratic Education community. They are practices that democratic schools and learning communities around the world have been developing and refining for decades.
Well-being is part of the right to education
Another particularly important aspect of the report is its focus on the well-being of children and young people.
The report highlights how excessive pressure to perform, assessment practices based predominantly on marks, being expected to work beyond one’s abilities, and constant rushing can contribute to stress, emotional harm and disengagement.
It calls for educational systems to place greater emphasis on well-being—not as an additional benefit or a luxury, but as an integral part of the right to education.
This strongly resonates with the experiences of democratic learning communities, where creating environments in which children feel safe, seen, respected and trusted is understood as fundamental to meaningful learning.
When children have time and space for questions, mistakes, experimentation, relationships, rest and learning at their own pace, they can become active participants in their education rather than simply recipients of it.
Meaningful participation, not token participation
The report also reinforces the importance of children’s and young people’s participation.
Participation cannot be reduced to student councils, one-off consultations or symbolic opportunities to express an opinion. The report emphasises the importance of children and young people having a meaningful influence on educational processes, including curriculum, teaching practices and assessment.
This is another area in which Democratic Education has long been putting children’s rights into practice.
In democratic schools, learners can participate directly in decisions affecting their learning and their community. Their voices are not simply collected; they can have a genuine influence on what happens.
Recommendations for education systems
Among its recommendations, the report calls on States and education systems to:
- address curriculum, pedagogy and assessment together in order to support inclusive, student-centred education;
- institutionalise the meaningful participation of children and young people in the design of programmes, teaching practices and assessment;
- move away from an overreliance on high-stakes testing;
- develop formative, competency-based, design-based and portfolio-based approaches to assessment;
- place greater trust in teachers and their professional judgement;
- take into account the well-being, participation, inclusion and voice of teachers when monitoring the quality of education; and
- establish safeguards for pupils, parents, teachers and social organisations that report harm resulting from educational practices or assessment systems.
For EUDEC, these recommendations provide valuable support for conversations with schools, educators, families, researchers, policymakers and public authorities about what it means to make the right to education a lived reality.
EUDEC’s contribution
EUDEC’s contribution was coordinated through the Advocacy Working Group, bringing together the knowledge, experience and perspectives of pioneers within our network.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to:
Gabriel Groiss, Charlie Moreno Romero, Henning Garner, Derry Hannam, Olga Kuleczka and Silvia McClanahan
Charlie Moreno Romero; Derry Hannam; Gabriel Groiss; Henning Garner; Olga Kulesza; Silvia Mc Clanahan; and Slobodná Skola
for contributing their experience and expertise to this collective effort.
We also extend our appreciation to Farida Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, for leading this important international process and for creating space for diverse perspectives on how curriculum, pedagogy and assessment can serve the right to education.
From recognition to action
For EUDEC, this report is not an endpoint. It is an opportunity.
For decades, democratic education communities have been demonstrating that children can be trusted as active participants in their own learning and in the communities they belong to. The growing recognition of these principles within international discussions on the right to education strengthens the case for bringing them into wider educational policy and practice.
We hope this report will serve as a valuable basis for further dialogue with ministries, local authorities, schools, families, researchers, media and, above all, with children and young people themselves.
Democratic Education is not a niche experiment. It is a proven way of placing learners, relationships and rights at the heart of what education is meant to be.
Be part of the movement
The conversation about the right to education needs voices from educators, schools, researchers, young people, families and communities who are already putting democratic principles into practice.
Are you working for a more democratic, participatory and rights-centred education? We would love to hear from you. Get in touch with EUDEC, explore our work, or join our growing international community.
