IDEC@EUDEC Report
In August 2025, from 1 to 7 August, the European and International Conferences of the Democratic Education Communities(IDEC) converged in Belgium under the banner IDEC@EUDEC 2025. The venue was De Kluis, a youth residence in the forested area of Meerdaalwoud, in Sint-Joris-Weert, near Leuven.
This marked the first time either of the two conferences has been hosted in Belgium.
Towards Participatory Education
Without meaningful participation, schools risk becoming environments of passive compliance rather than spaces of active engagement and growth.
Inquiry Based Learning – A Student-Centered Pathway to Knowledge
Imagine entering a 21st-century classroom characterized by engagement and curiosity. Welcome to Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), an educational approach that redefines the learning experience as a collaborative exploration.
Exploring Gender Dynamics in Forest School Kindergartens
This report explores how gender dynamics manifest in children’s play and interactions within outdoor kindergarten environments that follow the Forest School pedagogy.
YOU CARE: From Eco-Anxieties to Action
On October 17 th 2025, 35 young participants from Lithuania, Ireland, Bulgaria, and Italy gathered in Brussels, Belgium, to bring eco-anxiety into light in front of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), youth workers, and peers.
VOLT Art Catalogue
This catalogue presents The VOLT Art Project, an artistic extension of the Erasmus+ project VOLT – VOLcanoes as Teachers, which connects schools in Italy, Greece, and Iceland located in remote volcanic regions of Europe. The project combines STEM exploration and artistic expression, encouraging students to study their local volcanoes and share their discoveries through both scientific and creative lenses.
YOUDEX Toolkit
This toolkit explores the potential of digital storytelling to engage young people in democratic participation and civic engagement. Developed under the Erasmus+ project YOUDEX – Youth Digital Storytelling for Democracy, it places youth personal narratives at the centre, demonstrating how lived experiences can illuminate democratic values in families, schools, and communities across Europe. The toolkit […]
Growing Beyond Gender: Practices for Outdoor Educators
This practical guide is designed to help educators construct, deconstruct, reflect, create, innovate, and unlearn. Readers are encouraged to use the material that resonates with their context, adapt what does not, and share their experiences with others. Gender inclusion is not about erasing differences. It is about ensuring that all children, regardless of their gender […]
CHOOSING EDUCATION AS EUROPE’S DEMOCRACY SHIELD
If the EU is serious about building resilient democratic societies, it must recognise
that education is the foundation.
Decolonizing Education: What Does It Mean to Decolonize the Curriculum?
The ongoing influence of what many scholars call coloniality: the lasting impact of colonial ways of thinking and organizing the world (Quijano, 2007). And one of the places where this shows up most clearly is in school curricula