Nurturing a culture of Rule of Law: OSCE Mission to Serbia helps empower Serbian youth through educational reforms
Civic education was introduced as an elective subject in Serbian schools for students of elementary and high schools in 2001. The curriculum focused on nurturing cultural diversity among students, and the success of the classes largely relied on the enthusiasm and skills of individual teachers.
Starting in 2006 until the most recent education reform, which commenced in 2018, the course became an elective compulsory subject, with parents and students being able to choose between civic and religious education.
Since 2017, the OSCE Mission to Serbia prioritized the promotion of the rule of law culture among citizens and particularly among youth, including raising awareness about the basic rule of law pillars in Serbian society and the rights and responsibilities of young people to play an effective role in their communities.
Parallel to these efforts, in partnership with national partners, the Mission developed training curricula for sociology teachers in 2021. In February 2022, the Ministry of Education granted the status of “training of public importance” for the new sociology teaching programme ahead of its rollout.
As opposed to civil education, sociology is a compulsory subject that is taught in secondary schools across Serbia.
Supporting reforms in civic education curricula
To help Serbia establish a strong foundation for the promotion and protection of participatory democracy, human and minority rights and rule of law, the OSCE Mission to Serbia strongly supported Government-led reforms in civic education curricula. Recognizing the need for an improvement in teaching methods and a shift in educational focus from content (reproduction of learning material) to learning outcomes (measurable knowledge with focus on critical thinking), the Mission collaborated with the Ministry of Education and the Institute for Improvement of Education (IIE) to support the reform of the civic education curricula.
The reformed curricula introduced in 2018 has four essential pillars: human rights, democratic society, processes in contemporary society, and civic activism.
The idea behind the reform was to progressively integrate the concepts of human rights and freedoms, mutual understanding, gender equality, understanding among diverse religious and ethnic groups, inter-culturalism, as well as understanding of the concept of separation of powers. The programme was tailored to the respective age of the students according to their school grade.
In addition, the curricula underlined the importance of the responsibility of individuals in recognizing human rights breaches including economic, social, cultural, civil, and political, and finding ways to prevent and combat discrimination.
“The new, reformed curricula require teachers to "breathe life" into them in direct work with the students,” said Eleonora Vlahović, Head of the Professional Development Centre for Education Staff at the IIE. “The OSCE Mission to Serbia has provided significant support, not only in the preparation, but also in the implementation of the new civic education curricula. In addition to the manual, developed with support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, and the first cycle of training, we are continuing to work with teachers to strengthen their capacities to teach civic education.”
Empowering civic education and sociology teachers through training
The Mission to Serbia, in partnership with the IIE, has developed three training manuals specifically designed to equip teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge in teaching civic education. Through comprehensive training sessions, the Mission provided learning opportunities for more than 200 civic education teachers on human rights, fundamental freedoms, rule of law, anti-discrimination, media freedom, inter-culturalism, democratic processes and civic activism over a period of three years. Moreover, an additional 500 teachers have undergone skill-based training to further strengthen their ability to deliver impactful lessons on these topics.
In parallel, in partnership with the IIE, the Mission developed a training seminar for sociology teachers. Sociology, as opposed to civic education, is a compulsory subject in Serbia. This way, the content developed within civic education curricula are further promoted across the education system. The subject is available in the senior year of high school with one 45-minute long class per week.
The Mission also facilitated the delivery of accredited training for teachers of sociology on fundamental rights, principles and mechanisms of human rights, national minorities, inter-culturalism, democratization, and civic participation and diversity. Over a period of two years, ten training sessions in locations across Serbia were made available to some 150 sociology teachers from over 100 schools. The training covered standard subject topics such as the development of democratic culture, but also national minority rights, inter-culturalism, gender equality and youth activism.
The seminars for teachers, organized in 2022 and 2023, support capacity building for sociology teachers and, as a result, will enhance the knowledge base of all secondary schools students in Serbia.
“Teachers emphasized that the materials, topics, and teaching techniques they learned during the seminar are easily applied also in civic education classes. Participants recognized the common themes that can be implemented within the framework of sociology. In this way, even more students can learn about human rights and other topics covered by the subject,” said Melita Rađelović, a civic education teacher and the president of the NAGVIS association (National Association of Civic Education Teachers and Associates).
“The training curricula aims at developing a sense of responsibility among youth on issues of common concern. It further supports creating a shared feeling of belonging and generating values pertaining to inter-culturalism, while nurturing a human rights approach and respect for diversity,” said Milica Rodić, National Programme Officer on National Minorities.
Looking Forward: The Mission’s work with sociology and civic education teachers
As a follow up to the reform of the civic education programme, the IIE, in partnership with the Mission, will take further steps in promoting civic education and supporting the pilot of a nationwide competition in civic education for high school students. This marks the first time that this competition will be organized in Serbia. The objective of this pilot initiative is to enhance visibility of civic education among students and teachers and to give more relevance to the concepts that it covers.
The event will be held in Belgrade between November and December 2023, in co-operation with the Faculty of Political Sciences and with support from NAGVIS. It is expected that the Ministry of Education will incorporate the pilot programme into the official school competition calendar from the following school year onwards.
Through these tireless efforts, the OSCE Mission to Serbia continues to assist the host country in building a sustainable culture of democracy.
“By integrating topics related to rule of law, human rights, and democratic principles into the civic education and sociology curricula, where students can gain a deeper understanding of these concepts, younger generations throughout Serbia will develop critical thinking skills necessary for active, constructive and responsible citizenship,” said Ambassador Jan Braathu.
The OSCE Mission to Serbia hopes to institutionalize the teaching of civic education and permanent training courses for sociology teachers at teachers’ faculties across the country.
In that regard, the Mission will continue to work together with the Serbian authorities, civil society, media, independent institutions and academia towards building a society where children and youth will play an active role in Serbia’s diverse society.