Kategorie: Past Events

One year ago, PILGRIM celebrated its 10th anniversary in Poland. In the eleventh year, the focus is on in-depth topics on how PILGRIM can affect students and schools. These questions were discussed at an international research conference on 18 November 2024 at the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences of the University of Silesia in Cieszyn, Poland, entitled „Sustainable Development in Education – Activities within the International Pedagogical Network PILGRIM“.

From Austria, representatives of the International Pedagogical Network PILGRIM participated and underlined the importance of the European network. All guests from 19 institutions working together in the PILGRIM project (Education for Sustainable Development and Spirituality) were welcomed by the Vice Dean for Science and Artistic Creation, Magdalena Szyndler, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Humanities and Education. Among the institutions were directors at schools, university professors, pastors of the local community, kindergartens, a nursing home and a penitentiary.

A spiritual musical festival was performed by students of the Institute of Music and enriched the programme.

In the second part of the meeting, a workshop took place on the topic „What can be added? What innovations need to be implemented? Proposals for PILGRIM“, in the course of which guidelines were developed for the existing and future new PILGRIM institutions.

Altogether, the theme taken up by the organisers of the conference raised extremely important questions related to sustainable development in education, i.e. the idea of PILGRIM.

Natalia M. Ruman, PILGRIM Ambassador in Poland
(article edited)

At the end of September 2024, a three-day international academic forum took place in Nuremberg (Germany), organised by the department of ‚Religious Education and Didactics of Protestant Religious Education‘ at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. The representative of PILGRIM at CoGREE, Michael Holzwieser from the University College of Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy (Vienna; https://haup.ac.at), held a workshop raising the question “How to deal with a ‘pressure to act’ facing ecological issues when teaching?”. This topic is urgent for many young people, as the “last generation” movement expresses the urgency in its naming. By the way, these movements were partly seen as a prophetic voice or as a sign of the time, that needs to be evaluated from a Christian point of view.

The workshop followed the thesis that value education and spirituality can contribute well to constructivist didactics of ESD. The spirituality of a ‘Theology of Creation’ was applied to a case study and the terms of spirituality, care for creation and official texts were discussed.

The PILGRIM concept combines the spiritual, ethical, and religious dimensions with Education of Sustainable Development and was mentioned as a best practice example. The participants found the Nuremberg Forum to be very profitable.

Memorandum on “Education for Sustainable Development – Spiritual Dimensions”
An interesting output of the Forum is the Memorandum. As a result of the three days at the Forum, it is a statement on what ESD, spirituality and the contribution of religion to ESD is.

Michael Holzwieser

What are our goals? How do we want to work together? Who is involved? The CoGREE team is currently addressing these fundamental questions. At its meeting in Nuremberg at the beginning of November 2024, a number of decisions were taken in this regard: For example, the statement of CoGREE’s mission, which dates back to its founding in 2007, is to be revised to sharpen its profile. In addition, the CoGREE team would like to devote more attention to providing mutual counselling to support member networks in their individual challenges and development processes. At the same time, joint topics should not be neglected: At this meeting, for example, there was an exchange on the topic of interreligious learning, and the necessity of a joint stance towards churches and politics in Europe was also discussed. This team meeting was also marked by personnel changes: Stephanie Polzhofer, the new representative of EuFRES, and Bert Roebben, the new chair of EFTRE, were welcomed in person for the first time (find out more about Stephanie and Bert in their introductory interviews). The entire CoGREE team was pleased with the spirit of renewal and looks forward to deepen the cooperation in 2025.

On November 14, 15 and 16, the CEEC met in Strasbourg for its 103rd General Assembly. The European city for this biannual meeting of the European Committee for Catholic Education was not chosen by chance, as this special edition was the occasion to celebrate the organisation’s 50th anniversary.
Although education is not a competence of the European Union, since it is organised at the level of each state, the creation of the CEEC in 1974 gave rise to a European platform for Catholic education, which is concerned with educational and societal issues, as well as general questions linked to human rights and migration on a global level.
The CEEC is thus a point of dialogue and develops a network between European member countries that promotes collaboration and the activation of common projects related to education at European level. It is involved in the structuring of the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC), and acts as an interlocutor for European political and economic bodies.
This time, no fewer than 22 European countries came together in Strasbourg. A working session on the CEEC’s work was held at the European Parliament. The event also included a meeting at the Palace of Europe with Daniel GUERY, coordinator of the Forum of Catholic INGOs within the Council of Europe, of which the CEEC is a member. Finally, the President and Secretary General of the OIEC, Father Jawad ALAMAT, and Hervé LECOMTE, partners of the CEEC, were among the speakers at this 103rd edition of the CEEC General Assemblies.

The CoGREE Steering Group meeting on 15.05.24 (via Zoom) began under the impression of the death of Lesley Prior, the esteemed secretary of CoGREE and representative of EFTRE. She was remembered with deep sadness, especially as her burial ceremony took place that day. Lesley will be remembered by all as an extremely present, friendly and helpful person.

Stephanie Polzhofer from the Bavarian RPZ was welcomed as the new representative of EUFRES. The meeting, attended by Piet Janssen, Werner Haussmann, Louis Marie Piron, Bianca Kappelhoff, Stephanie Polzhofer and Michael Holzwieser, spent a long time discussing the nature, identity and aims of CoGREE (What makes CoGREE to be CoGREE?), supported by a stimulating presentation by Bianca Kappelhoff. It was recognized that this could only be the beginning of the discussion process. Regarding the future activities of CoGREE, it was agreed that there is currently a lack of resources to organize large public events, but that deepening the existing collaboration and supporting member activities would be useful. It was therefore decided to discuss the objectives further and to discuss possible changes to the basic understanding on the cogree.org website at the next meeting in the fall.

The next CoGREE Steering Group Meeting will take place on November 8 and 9, 2024 in Nuremberg, the European Board of ICCS will meet beforehand (November 7/8, 2024).

Louis Marie Piron agreed to organise the 2025 CoGREE meeting in Paris.

Finally, Werner Haussmann invited all those present to a conference at his university (30.09.-02.10.24) with the theme „Education for Sustainable Development – Spiritual Dimensions“: https://www.evrel.phil.fau.de/nuernberger-forum/nuremberg-forum-2024  

Piet Jansen closed the meeting with words of thanks and best wishes for the work of all participants.

At the beginning of December, eight European networks dealing with religion and education in formal and non-formal settings met in Vienna. In addition to the representatives of CoGREE member organisations (see article ‚Future of CoGREE in the centre of annual conference‘), Walter Lüssi for OIKOSNET Europe and Heike Witzel for EAEE were also present. It was the second meeting of this group, which also includes other interested networks. Following the kick-off in December 2022 in Münster, Germany, the aim in Vienna was to further explore the form and potential of this collaboration. All participants emphasised the importance of this networking across education sectors and the will to continue working together under the provisional title ‚EDU network‘.

Apart from these general debates, the meeting in wintry Vienna focussed on exchanges with the Protestant Churches in Europe. The group met with Pastor Dr Mario Fischer, General Secretary of the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE), which represents 95 churches that signed the Leuenberg Agreement (1973).

The intensive exchange of opinions and information brought both sides closer together and it was agreed that representatives of the EDU network would be welcomed as observers at the 2024 General Assembly of CPCE in Sibiu (Romania). It was also agreed to work more closely together on issues of religious education in the future. In addition, the issue of representation of interests and participation in the work of the Council of Europe was also a key topic. The CPCE had successfully applied for the status as an international NGO there this year.

On 1 and 2 December 2023, the CoGREE team met in Vienna. CoGREE brings together associations, organisations and networks that deal with issues of religion in education. Representatives of the member organisations (CEEC, EFTRE, EUFRES, ICCS, IV, PILGRIM) included: Piet Jansen (CoGREE moderator), Michael Jacobs, Werner Haussmann, Bianca Kappelhoff, Margaretha Hackermeier, Michael Holzwieser, Sonja Danner and Louis-Marie Piron. 

In addition to various reports and items on the agenda, the group exchanged about their current self-understanding more than 15 years after the founding statement of 2007 and discussed future prospects for CoGREE (e.g. successor format Klingenthal)

Thanks were expressed at the end of the conference to Michael Holzwieser for organising the meeting and to Margaretha Hackermeier for her many years of involvement, as she will be retiring from her position next year.

From November 5^th to November 10^th, 2023, GPENreformation and the Presbyterian Church of Ghana invited around 60 members and ambassadors of the network from a total of 15 countries as well as 40 teachers and education officials from Ghana to Koforidua, Ghana. Together they discussed digitalisation in Protestant schools worldwide. The theme of the conference was „Seeds of Hope in complex Times – Protestant Education in the digital Era“.

Digital education opens up new educational opportunities. However, pupils need more than just technical education: They also need social skills to use digital tools and methods appropriately. The school of the future must therefore utilise digital educational materials, tools and access points where they add value and always reflect on the ethical responsibility that goes hand in hand with the technical development. In addition, the globally differing possibilities of stable internet access and the supply of hardware and software can cause new global injustices. For these reasons, GPENreformation will work politically to ensure that state funding for digital equipment in schools is also available to non-profit Protestant schools. The conference was an important step in this direction.

The programme of the event consisted of lectures, impulses and reports, workshops, excursions, church services, an ambassador meeting and diverse cultural performances.

For further informations click here:
https://www.gpenreformation.net/networkactivities/conferences/conference-in-ghana-2023/ 

This article was written by Dr Hendrik Niether.

“Why haven‘t we done this before?” This was the reaction of one of the participants at the European networking event on education, which took place in Münster (Germany) on 2^nd December 2022. For the first time eleven European organisations working in the field of education came together to explore common interests. Quickly it became clear: we have a lot in common!

After having presented the organisations they are engaged in, the participants got a first glimpse of the knots that may tie them together to an even stronger net. The group of 11 investigated four areas: target groups, activities, topics and challenges. And even though some organisations work on religious education as a subject at school, others in adult education and the next with children in congregations or at Christian schools, similar interests started to appear.

The resume of this first adventure was unanimously positive and it was agreed to continue the exchange on the aspects of common interest identified together. The evening was rounded off with a cup of mulled wine at the Christmas market and a shared dinner.

Participating organisations:

CEEC	European Committee for Catholic Education
CEC	Conference of European Churches
EAEE	European Protestant and Anglican Network for life-long learning
ECCE	The European Conference on Christian Education
EFTRE	European Forum for Teachers of Religious Education
EuFRES	European Forum for Religious Education in Schools
ICCS	Intereuropean Commission on Church and School
IV	International Association for Christian Education
PILGRIM	International Education Network PILGRIM
OIKOSNET	Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe
EBN	European Bibliodrama Network

24 February 2022: Russia declared war on Ukraine and invaded the country. No less than 3 months later, the country is still at war. But what is the situation in Ukrainian Catholic schools today? What are the urgent needs of schools and religious communities? To what extent can we, as stakeholders and representatives of Catholic schools in Europe, support our Ukrainian counterparts?

These and other questions were addressed in a live webinar from Lviv on 12 May 2022 co-organised by representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Commission for Education, the European Committee for Catholic Education (CEEC) and the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC).

This event, moderated by Philippe Richard (OIEC) and Guy Selderslagh (CEEC), gave the floor to several players and representatives of the Catholic school in Ukraine:

• Father Petro Mayba, head of the Education Commission of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine
• Sister Khrystophora Bushtyn, member of the Public Council of Churches and Religious Organisations at the Ministry of Education of Ukraine
• Olya Riy, Headteacher of St Sofia’s School in Lviv
• Halyna Tuziak, Headteacher of St Nicholas Nursery School in Lviv

Here below you can find their contributions as transcripts in several languages.