Platforms & Manuals
Explore trusted platforms and manuals
The following platforms and manuals inspire through their strong commitment to democratic education and their accessible, learner-centred approaches. We particularly value them for the quality and clarity of their resources, their practical relevance for educators and learners alike, and their availability in multiple languages, which makes them usable across diverse European contexts. By exploring these platforms, users can discover engaging ways to bring democracy, European values, and civic participation to life in both formal and informal learning settings, and to complement and enrich the tools offered in this toolkit.
A curated set of high-quality resources to support values-based, participatory learning—covering democratic life, the European Union, human rights, and how to handle controversial issues in safe and respectful ways.
Platform
Living and learning democracy in schools and at home
Living-Democracy.com is an educational platform aimed at teachers, school principals, parents, and educators who want to promote democratic values and human rights in schools. It provides comprehensive resources including ready-to-use lesson plans, thematic units, and structured teaching materials for various school levels. The content focuses on key themes such as identity, participation, conflict, rights, responsibilities, and governance. The pedagogical approach emphasizes active and experiential learning—students are encouraged to learn about, through, and for democracy by engaging in dialogue, critical thinking, and real civic action. The platform is available in multiple languages and used across Europe.
Participation · Rights · Identity · Conflict
Interactive platform
Learning Corner – play, teach, discover the European Union
Interactive educational platform aimed at both students and teachers. It offers age-appropriate learning materials for all school levels, including games, quizzes, maps, worksheets, and presentations. Students can explore the European Union in a playful and multimedia-based way. Teachers benefit from ready-to-use resources and opportunities for exchange with educators across Europe. The platform is available in all 24 official EU languages. It covers a wide range of topics such as the EU Green Deal, EU history, and opportunities for study, internships, and volunteering in Europe
EU · Games · Civic knowledge · Green Deal
Handbook
The Little Big Handbook of Democracy
EWC’s Little Big Handbook of Democracy aims to give young people a tool with concrete and tangible advice and tips that would facilitate effective education for democratic culture and human rights. The activities in the handbook have been developed by the EWC. They are based on and inspired by the activities from the Council of Europe’s manuals for democracy and human rights learning, in addition to our own experiences and expertise. The Handbook is available in English, Polish, Norwegian, and Ukrainian.
Human rights · Activities · Democratic culture
Training pack
Teaching controversial issues
Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2015. 69 pages.
This Training Pack is a professional development programme for teachers which is designed to support and promote the teaching of controversial issues in schools in Europe. It seeks to address the challenges of teaching controversial issues through the development of a comprehensive package of training and professional development material.
- It aims to help teachers recognise the value of engaging young people in controversial issues and develop the confidence and competences to make it a part of their everyday practice, in particular through:
- The creation of ‘safe spaces’ in the classroom where students can explore issues that concern them freely and without fear
- The use of teaching strategies and techniques which promote open and respectful dialogue.
- It takes the view that, while there no ‘quick fixes’ and not every issue will be suitable for every age group, ultimately there is no good reason why controversial issues should be avoided in schools and classrooms and every good reason why they should not.
Available in 13 languages.
Dialogue · Safe space · Critical thinking
Guide (whole-school)
Managing controversy – developing a whole-school strategy
Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2017. 64 pages.
A tool for school leaders and senior managers for handling controversy and teaching controversial issues in schools.
Controversy and controversial issues are at the centre of our democratic societies. This means that learning how to deal with such issues must also be at the heart of an effective education for democratic citizenship and human rights education (EDC/HRE). The publication aims to help strengthen the managing of controversial issues at whole-school level. This will benefit young people and also help contribute to more effective Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE), and the protection and strengthening of our democratic societies.
Available in English and French.
Leadership · School strategy · Controversy
Brochure
What is democracy?
Brochure of Democracy without borders explaining what democracy is, how it has developed over time, and the challenges it faces. Downloads are available in English, German, Italian, French and Swedish.
Basics · Civic education · Global perspective