Brussels, 12 April 2018
ECSWE Council meeting, Cracow, January 2018
We are pleased to share a brief report of our Council meeting Cracow, featuring an international conference.
Our last Council meeting took place in Cracow Friday 26th – Sunday 28th January 2018 at the Pedagogical University Cracow.
The meeting featured an International Conference on Alternative Pedagogy on Friday afternoon with speeches by Dr. Kinga Orzeł-Dereń, Pedagogical University Cracow, on the structure of the Polish education system, Georg Jürgens, Managing Director, ECSWE, on the role of the EU in Education and ECSWE advocacy and Adam Winiarczyk, Związek Szkół i Przedszkoli Waldorfskich w Polsce, on history and future of the Polish Waldorf movement. The speeches were followed by a panel discussion on perspectives for the development of alternative education in Poland.
In our internal work, we put a strong emphasis on peer learning based on a new method. Eight case studies of national challenges on themes such as teacher training, professional development, national level advocacy, school leadership and quality assurance, were presented in small groups. Afterwards, the presenters received tailored feedback from their European colleagues on how to tackle their specific national challenges.
Other themes covered: a review of the previous meeting in Dornach, an update on the WOW-Day 2017 and 2018, a report from the ACTS project, news from the assessment working group with Learning for Well-being, a report on the situation of the Dutch Waldorf movement, and further updates on our advocacy.
Besides the working sessions, tours of the Jewish Quarter in Krakow and a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine were organized on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. A joint networking dinner on Saturday evening allowed for informal exchanges between ECSWE representatives and their Polish colleagues.