Abstract:

EDISON (Experience Democracy in Schools Now) is a project lasting from 2020 to 2023.

Based on theory and learning material about school development and school governance as well as democracy and education (e.g.: Council of Europe/PHZH 2022; Cuban 2017; Dewey 1916/2000; Fung 2004, Retzl 2014) the overall goals of the project are to strengthen democratic competences at selected schools in Kosovo, and give impulse for and realize relevant developments/innovations at the schools on-site following participatory-democratic principles.
In order to achieve these goals, 10 schools in Kosovo differing in size, area and level (primary to upper secondary level, urban and rural areas of Kosovo, number of students) are undergoing a democratic/participatory “learning on the job” development process (a combination of knowledge-acquisition, practical application and reflection of practical experience). In so doing concrete changes/adaptations or innovations at the schools are being initiated and will be implemented.

The following questions shall be answered:
How do the school teams (principals, teacher leaders) involve diverse stakeholder groups (teachers, parents, students) to define school priorities to work upon?
Which priorities to work upon do schools have?
How is the democratic/participatory “learning on the job” development process realized (successes and challenges)?
What kind of projects are schools planning and realizing to work upon their priorities?
How do the projects work out and what do they achieve?

EDISON uses a blended methodology consisting of:
- Workshops where mandated representatives of the selected schools (principals, teacher leaders) develop competences and exchange experiences with each other. At the workshops basic concepts, principles, techniques of democracy (e.g.: group methods, questionnaires) as well as material on democratic practice (e.g.: teaching and learning material online or paper based) are presented.
- Implementation in between the meetings when team members in cooperation with other stakeholders in their schools put into practice what they have planned and learnt at the meetings.
- Documentation and sharing of experiences and results of the schools` development processes.

A five-step process of democratic action taking is applied, consisting of:
- Agenda setting: Identification of what to act upon (involvement of teachers, parents and pupils views);
- Discussion and proposition: Suggestion, justification and discussion of alternatives, proposals and
strategies to address the priority issues/aspects;
- Action: Drafting of project plans and carrying out the projects;
- Evaluation: Discussing about how things worked out and providing information about the results of the action taken;
- Restart: According to the results of the evaluation, the procedure can end or start again from the
beginning (e.g.: install structures in the school to institutionalize such a procedure).

So far the different school stakeholders have agreed on diverse aspects to work upon (e.g.: student participation, cooperation with community, student-centred learning as well as democracy education during lessons, communication or cooperation between teachers). From now to March/April 2023 schools are about to plan and realize concrete projects. First results (answers to the questions) will be presented and shared.

Keywords:

School development, innovations, participation, democracy, democratic education.