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© Казанский федеральный университет, 2019 The problems of preserving the historical and cultural heritage of Central Asia and Russia were considered in Kazan 2019-08-19  The international forum dedicated to the topic was organized by the International Institute for Central Asian Studies. The event was held from July 26 to 28.During the forum “Humanitarian Security in the Modern World: Challenges and Practices of Preserving the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Central Asia and Russia”, the main trends in the preservation of historical and cultural monuments of Central Asia and the Eurasian continent as a whole were discussed. URL:https://kpfu.ru/imoiv/problemy-sohraneniya-istoriko-kulturnogo.html © 2018. Internews в Таджикистане. Journalists from Central Asia are invited to attend the media tours in Brussels 2019-08-19  The project “Promoting Stability and Peace in Central Asia” in collaboration with the European Neighborhood Council (ENC) announces a media show for young journalists, bloggers, activists and citizens covering the prevention of violent extremism in Central Asia.The second international media will be held in Brussels (Belgium) on September 8-12, 2019. URL:https://media.tj/zhurnalistov-centralnoj-azii-priglashayut-na-mediatur-v-bryussel/ © 2018. Internews в Таджикистане. The applications for participation in the media tour is open 2019-08-19  Internews, within the framework of the project “Promoting Stability and Peace in Central Asia,” announces the acceptance of applications for participation in the media role “The role of women leaders in preventing violent extremism”, which will be held in the city of Osh, Kyrgyz Republic.During the mediation, participants will be able to discuss the situation related to the issues of radicalization, prevention and combating extremism with experts, theologians and representatives of state bodies, learn about the activities of women leaders in the villages of Nookat, Aravan and the city of Osh, as well as with the work of the "Mutakalim" Women Public Union. URL:https://media.tj/otkryt-priem-zayavok-na-uchastie-v-mediature/ ⓒEEAS The European Union presented a package of programs to assist countries in Central Asia 2019-08-19  Introduced on Sunday at the 15th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Central Asia and the European Union in Bishkek, new cooperation programs with EU financial support are aimed at sustainable development and modernization of the region. As noted in the press release of the European Commission, the announcement of a package of programs worth 72 million euros is the beginning of the implementation of the EU Strategy for Central Asia, adopted in June by the EU Council. The programs announced on Sunday cover the areas of sustainable energy, economic empowerment, education, inclusive sustainable growth. URL:http://interfax.az/view/771525 ⓒvintagemagazine.kz Bullying in Schools of Kazakhstan: The Age of Bullies Gets Younger 2019-08-19  According to experts, Kazakhstan has neither a thought-out anti-bullying policy, nor a protocol of response to bullying at schools. A resident of Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, Amina graduated from school seven years ago, but still remembers bullying. Moreover, she was on both sides of bullying just like many other students. “It was in junior school. The target was my classmate. We opened her copybooks or a school diary and read her grades aloud. We threw her copybook to each other while she was trying to catch it. It lasted for a short time because her grandmother and a teacher came and punished us. It’s unpleasant and shameful to remember this case,” Amina said. No one is surprised with the word bullying. The main character of the famous Netflix TV series, 13 Reasons Why, killed herself because of bullying. “A boy who survived” suffered from it – a well-known main character of all novels by Joan Rolling, Harry Potter. Child psychologist Olga Mustafina said aggressor in this situation seems to call for attention. This is a signal “I am here, look at me”. “It happens if a child doesn’t have unconditional love and support. If a parent is involved, the child will feel support, warmth, love and won’t need to express their negative aggressive emotions to classmates,” she explained. The psychologist thinks a bully doesn’t have positive emotions, so they can get them through negative emotions and aggressive behaviour. In case of school bullying, qualified specialists must be involved. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, there are 7,207 school psychologists in Kazakhstan. It makes 97 per cent of total demand. “They were laughing behind my back and imitated me” From tenth grade, Amina became the target of bullying. However, she attended one of the top 100 educational institutions of the country, which is deemed exemplary. "My friend and I were listening to rock music and it became the main reason for bullying. We were listening to it in English, spoke English to each other, my friend used to draw well.They nicknamed us, shouting out Linkin Park, goths, emo, metalheads. Boys from other grades didn’t conflict openly with us, they were just laughing behind our backs, imitated us, pushed us in the corridor or in a canteen as if accidentally. Classmates were even tougher; they commented everything – from our copybook covers to our appearance. But during tests everyone became friendly because my friend and I were straight A pupils and they needed us to cheat off." Back in 2013, UNICEF studied the rate of violence against children in the schools of Kazakhstan. Two thirds of pupils who completed questionnaires faced discrimination and school violence. Almaty-based centre for children’s safety Angel holds anti-bullying trainings. The head of the centre, Zarina Dzhumagulova, said parents complain about bullying in grades where their children study.  “Maybe there’s no bullying as such, but there may be conflicts within the class, strange aggressive manifestations in some children. And parents want to see a friendlier environment. There are a lot of stories, but unfortunately the age of bullies gets younger. Bullying starts from grade one literally,” Dzhumagulova said. Representative of the ministry of education said children and their parents may call trust line 111 and ask for help. Moreover, a chat is available in Telegram “Let’s protect children together”, which unites all school psychologists, principals and representatives of the children’s protection board. Here they are going to discuss all known cases of bullying. Now it has 4,849 followers. A Telegram-chat Bala Qorgay (Let’s protect children), which now has 744 followers, was created for reporting the facts of unethical behaviour of teachers. However, the ministry explained the majority of requests related to educational issues, rights of children and benefits for low-income and large families. According to Zarina Dzhumagulova, Kazakhstan does not have a thought-out anti-bullying policy as well as the concepts of “harassment” and “bullying” in the law “On education”. “If we take any case of school bullying, we don’t have a protocol of response. What should a teacher do in this case? How to achieve zero tolerance to school violence? There’s no clear instruction on what every participant of the educational process should do in a certain situation,” she said. According to her, Kazakhstan does not record statistics of such cases. At best, there’s a record of suicides and suicide attempts of adolescents, but no one cares about the reasons. URL:https://cabar.asia/ru/bulling-v-shkolah-kazahstana-vozrast-travli-molodeet/ ⓒUNESCO APCEIU calls upon the collective efforts of GCED & ESD at the UNESCO 2019 Forum 2019-08-18  The UNESCO 2019 Forum on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship took place on 2-3 July 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam, under the overarching theme “Learning and Teaching for Peaceful and Sustainable Societies: From early childhood to primary and secondary education”. This Forum was organized by UNESCO, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Training of Viet Nam and the Viet Nam National Commission for UNESCO, with the additional support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development, and the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU). The Forum was kicked off with the opening and congratulatory remarks by the representatives of the organizers. APCEIU Director, Mr Hyun Mook Lim, in his remarks, highlighted the common vision of ESD and GCED which aims to make our world more just, inclusive, peaceful and sustainable. On top of that, he urged the collective efforts of ESD and GCED in a holistic way to mainstream them into curricula and policies despite some differences between them.   Also, APCEIU organized concurrent session 5.2 entitled “The role of teacher training in promoting the social and emotional and behavioural dimensions of learning of ESD and GCED”. By bringing a panel of experts and practitioners together, the session provided rich insights based on the research results from the experiences in teacher exchange which had impacts on minds and attitudes of teachers and students. Furthermore, while sharing progress, achievements and challenges, the panelists discussed how we could make difference in teacher training to transform the learners’ mindset more effectively, with a focus on the international teacher exchange as one of the innovative ways in teacher training.  The 2-day meeting comprised of a myriad of sessions such as panel discussions, town hall meetings, workshops and etc., addressed how the cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural dimensions of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education are reflected in pre-primary, primary and secondary education. With approximately 340 stakeholders from the fields of GCED and ESD across the globe, this Forum successfully concluded pledging to get together again at the Forum in 2021. The upcoming Forum will be devoted to reviewing the global progress made in the areas of ESD and GCED enshrined in Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development of Goal (SDG) 4 on Education. URL:APCEIU calls upon the collective efforts of GCED & ESD at the UNESCO 2019 Forum > APCEIU News - APCEIU (unescoapceiu.org) Photo credit: UNESCO HQ © UNESCO Almaty Критическое и стратегическое мышление для устойчивого развития 2019-04-11  On March 26, 2019, UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office conducted a training workshop for teachers and alumni of Kazakh State Women's Teacher Training University in the framework of their Interactive meetings on Current Education Trends.  In this workshop, participants were introduced to concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The main objective was to familiarize participants with the key competencies that are important for the achievement of all SDGs, as well as educational approaches and tools for the implementation of these competencies. Key competencies include strategic and critical thinking, communication and cooperation, and other skills necessary for sustainable development.  Meirgul Alpysbayeva, National Education Officer at UNESCO Cluster office in Almaty, started the workshop with introducing key terms and concepts and highlighted the role of key competencies for sustainable transformation of societies. Saule Zeinolla, ESD Consultant of UNESCO Almaty conducted practical sessions on teaching methods of mainstreaming these competencies. As a result, participants of the workshop could come to specific projects that would help their learners develop key competencies through reverse brainstorming and other interactive approaches in ESD.  URL:http://en.unesco.kz/critical-and-strategic-thinking-for-sustainable-development Participants of Regional School © UNESCO UNESCO Almaty organized sessions on Education for Sustainable Development for OSCE Regional School on Multilingual and Multicultural Education 2019-02-22  The OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities, in cooperation with the National Center for Professional Development “Orleu” of Kazakhstan, organized a Regional School on "Multilingual and Multicultural Education for Integration and Sustainable Development. Key Aspects of Effective Implementation" from 3 to 7 December 2018 in Almaty. Within the framework of this Regional School, UNESCO Almaty organized practical sessions on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).The objectives of the School included the promotion of balanced multilingual and multicultural education programs for sustainable development, the promotion of multilingual and multicultural education on competency-based approach for advancing SDG4, etc. More than 120 participants, including teachers, principals, teacher educators and trainers, representatives of the ministries of education and science of Central Asia, Mongolia, Georgia and international experts from Ukraine and Estonia as well as representatives of international organizations attended the School.The sessions on ESD by UNESCO were organized in the framework of The School’s Group 4 "Multicultural Education in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4) and Global Citizenship Education ". For these sessions, UNESCO presented practical and interactive methods for mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development, including Disney’s three chairs method, reverse brainstorming, etc. Based on the example of exercises for developing problem-solving and collaboration skills and various topics of ESD and GCED, practical approaches on mainstreaming key competencies for sustainable development were demonstrated. As part of the Group 4 work, other experts also presented the courses such as "Culture of good neighborhood" as the best practice from Ukraine in implementing ESD and GCED, "Stereotypes and their impact on perception", etc.As a result of the joint work, draft guidelines and methodological materials have been developed for assisting countries in implementing multilingual programs at different levels of education, taking into account ESD, the mechanisms for further cooperation between members of the regional network of schools, universities and teacher training centers have been adopted and agreed by participants of the School.Related information: Improving Multilingual and Multicultural Education in Central Asia  URL:http://en.unesco.kz/unesco-almaty-organized-sessions-on-education-for-sustainable-development-for-osce APCEIU and UNESCO Almaty Office launched the GCED Clearinghouse web site in Russian language 2019-02-22  The GCED Clearinghouse, a global database on GCED, was jointly set up by UNESCO and APCEIU to facilitate information sharing and enhance knowledge and understanding of GCED.The GCED Clearinghouse is an information hub where people can find various GCED materials in an organized and clear manner. There is a wide range of information produced by international organizations, such as UN and UNESCO declarations and recommendations, policy papers and guidelines, conference proceedings and reports, scholarly articles, and teaching and learning materials. Although the Clearinghouse mainly serves as an online database for GCED resources, it also introduces up-todate news and events on GCED around the world and provides a list of organisations and programmes which might be of interest to users. The database is intended for use by policymakers, education ministry officials, curriculum developers, researchers, educators, parents, learners as well as general public. GCED Clearinghouse provides a wide range of GCED resources from policies, case studies, teaching and learning materials, and journal articles, from all over the world.The Clearinghouse database basically follows an online library style, but provides a list of categories far more detailed and focused than conventional libraries. Since the Clearinghouse is equipped with a highly subdivided and sophisticated search engine, users can easily refine their searches not only by typing in basic information such as title, author, year of publication, and keywords, but also by using advanced categories such as region/country, language, resource type, format, theme, and level of education. For instance, the user can learn about the main thematic areas of GCED by navigating the site with the category “theme”, which on its own can be subcategorised into sustainable development, international understanding, globalisation, inclusiveness, peace, and much more. In order to increase the accessibility and availability of the GCED Clearinghouse to wider audiences, UNESCO and APCEIU launched Russian website and increased the number of resources in Russian language, adding to the existing multilingual resources.UNESCO Almaty has been an active advocate of GCED with its commitment to the promotion of Culture of Peace and the extensive network within the Central Asian region. It is believed, therefore, that the collaboration between APCEIU and UNESCO Almaty Office will make an extensive contribution to achieving the mission of the GCED Clearinghouse, providing comprehensive data and information exchanges on GCED. URL: http://en.unesco.kz/apceiu-and-unesco-almaty-office-launched-the-gced-clearinghouse-web-site-in-russian Leadership on GCED shown at High-Level Side Event during the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference 2018-12-28  On the occasion of the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, a High-Level Ministerial Side Event took place with the title of ‘Dialogue on Global Competencies and Global Citizenship Education’ on 2 November at the UNESCO Headquarters. This side event was hosted by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, with the partenership of APCEIU and Global Affairs Canada. The dialogue attracted about 110 high-level participants, including 36 education ministers of Member States, as well as ambassadors from permanent delegations and senior officials from around the world. They gathered to discuss transformative and innovative education strategies to promote global competencies and global citizenship education. Ambassador Elaine Ayotte, Permanent Delegate of Canada to UNESCO welcomed the ministers and high-level officials to the dialogue by emphasizing the commitment of Canada and Korea to education and the realization of Education 2030 by saying “Canada and Korea, although different, have many common positions in the field of education. I believe that the reason why our two countries are here today is because Education 2030 agenda is a cornerstone for both our countries, which reaffirms the importance of providing opportunities to achieve education for the better.” Also, Ambassador Lee Byeong Hyun, Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO highlighted the role and need of GCED in a rapidly changing world and urged the efforts of stakeholders by saying “We need to mobilize resources and make the best use of those resources to transform learning environments. This requires collective endeavors of all stakeholders involved in the process, including teachers, communities and policy makers to promote global citizenship education beyond classrooms.” Followed by opening remarks, Mr Qian Tang, Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO highlighted the important role of the Republic of Korea and Canada in promoting GCED and contributing to the realization of SDG 4.7. As well, he thanked APCEIU for its invaluable contribution to GCED. Showcasing the two countries’ work on global competencies and global citizenship education, education ministers from Canada opened the floor to share best practices. Honorable Dale Kirby, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Honorable Sebastien Proulx, Minister of Education, Recreation, and Sports of Quebec introduced 6 components of Canada’s Global Competencies (►Critical thinking and problem solving, ►Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship ►Learning to learn/self-awareness and self-direction ►Collaboration ►Communication ►Global citizenship and sustainability) and shared education reforms in Canada that aim to put global competencies and foster global citizenship at the forefront of education. On behalf of the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of the Republic of Korea, Kim Sang-Kon, Mr Yeonghan Choi, Director General of International Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, talked about lessons learned and challenges in implementing Sustainable Development Goal 4 and Global Citizenship Education. He shared that despite rapid economic development of the country, there are still limitations in the implementation of GCED in the Republic of Korea, but strongly pointed out that this is the future of education for the country. “At this point where the country has flourished, the only way towards further development is to enhance the capacities of the future generations to be sensitive with global challenges and to creatively find solutions.”, mentioned Mr Choi. He also shared the partnership effort with APCEIU in promoting GCED in transforming education in the Republic of Korea towards fostering global citizenship. He introduced initiatives such as the GCED Lead Teachers and International Teacher Exchange Programme, and other programmes that promote international cooperation for education in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. After the presentations from Canada and Korea, the participants were invited to a dialogue moderated by John McLaughlin, Deputy Minister, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development of New Brunswick. The discussion questions focused on challenges and successful initiatives or strategies in developing GCED in schools. Honorable Joof Batlara, Minister of Higher Education of Gambia asserted the political and religious challenges Gambia faces should be tackled with education, especially through GCED to sustain peace. Honorable Benghabrit Remaoun Nouria, Minister of National Education of Algeria shared the serious social issues in Algeria such as social and political turmoil and extreme violence, and highlighted that GCED represents the need to transform education in Algeria. Also, she applauded the work of UNESCO to provide tools and materials on GCED, such as the 『GCED Topics and Learning Objectives』, supported by APCEIU in 2014. The high-level participants had an opportunity to share their experiences and expertise on policy frameworks and implementation of GCED through this dialogue. Honorable Mr Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia shared a current initiative in Cambodia, called “New Generation Schools” which provided resources, equipped teachers and updated methodology that allow students to work in a team and promote collaborative learning. He further mentioned that Cambodia is cooperating with APCEIU to integrate GCED in their national curriculum, which will help students to face and tackle global challenges. Also, Honorable Mr John Chrysestom Muyingo, Minister of State for Higher Education of Uganda mentioned Uganda took the initiative of integrating GCED in the national curriculum in Uganda, a collaborative initiative with APCEIU. Even though the curriculum was not yet wholly changed, it gave an opportunity for schools to complement with new materials for learners and teachers, and to educate trainers. The High-Level Ministerial Side Event contributed to the continued discussion on global competencies and global citizenship education, an integral part of the discussions and debate during the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference. Being part of the strategic objectives of UNESCO in the next biennium (2018-2019), the high-level side event was an important opportunity to enhance partnership amongst different stakeholders, particularly with ministries of education, towards realizing SDG 4.7. URL:Leadership on GCED shown at High-Level Side Event during the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference > APCEIU News - APCEIU (unescoapceiu.org)