The session brought together researchers, practitioners and civic educators, who are working to clarify what high-quality civic education can look like in non-formal settings. The opening from the European Civic Education Collaborative (ECEC) Network set out the motivation for this work: civic education is widely referenced in policy across Europe, yet its purpose and implementation vary considerably. Participants were invited to consider transformative civic experiences as those that produce fundamental change at personal, epistemic or communal levels. The network’s emerging framework and the accompanying guide aim to give educators a clearer structure for planning, analysing and improving such experiences. Andrew Peterson outlined the conceptual foundations and the guide’s two main functions: supporting educators to design experiences with clear pedagogical intent, and offering a structured way to examine whether those experiences are enabling meaningful learning.

Juan Luis Fuentes then presented the rubric developed to translate the framework into an evaluative tool. The rubric organises ten dimensions that matter for transformative experiences, including impact scope, personal development, civic engagement and the contribution to the common good. Each dimension has three levels, allowing educators to situate their work realistically rather than aiming for a predefined ideal. The intention is not to compare projects competitively but to help practitioners understand the characteristics of their own initiatives, the areas in which they are strong, and the areas in which further development is possible. In the session, participants used the rubric to assess the examples presented, illustrating how the tool can support collective reflection.

The first practical case came from the History Co:Lab. Fernande Raine and Susan Rivers described an approach focused on creating learning environments that respond to how adolescents think, feel and engage. They framed civic learning as a developmental process that requires attention to identity, agency and connection to community. Their example of co-designing a game with young people in Dallas demonstrated how structured participation can influence both the young participants’ sense of competence and how adults understand their role in supporting youth. The students’ reflections, shown in the video excerpt, indicated changes in communication skills, empathy and understanding of intergenerational dynamics. The project illustrated how a single learning experience can activate several dimensions in the rubric, including personal development and perceptions of the common good.

The final presentation focused on the National Network for Civic Education in Brazil, represented by João Tavares. He described the political and historical conditions that shape civic education in the country and the coalition’s effort to establish a national policy where none previously existed. The network has mobilised more than 120 organisations, developed a shared agenda and engaged federal and state-level institutions to build a governance model for implementation. The work illustrates how transformative experiences can also emerge at system level: by creating coordination across institutions, strengthening democratic culture and widening opportunities for students to engage with public life. The session ended with a brief application of the rubric to the Brazilian case, reinforcing how structured tools can support educators to analyse diverse practices and draw lessons from them.

Moderator:

Elvira Hadzibegovic
Elvira is the President of Forum MNE, with two decades of experience in youth work and civil society in the Western Balkans. Her work focuses on empowering youth through scalable, impactful civic education practices, driving democratic engagement and inclusive community-building across Europe and beyond.

Speakers:

João Tavares
Lawyer and graduate in Public Administration from FGV-SP, João is co-founder and Executive Director of the Rede Nacional de Educação Cidadã. He previously served as Executive Director of Escola Comum, and is currently a board member of the Associação Brasileira das Escolas do Legislativo e de Contas (ABEL). In 2024, he was recognized as a Young Global Changer by the German think tank Global Solutions Initiative (GSI), affiliated with the G20.

Juan Luis Fuentes Gómez-Calcerrada
Juan Luis Fuentes Gómez-Calcerrada is Vice-Dean of International Relations at the Faculty of Education. He is also a Doctor with a European Mention in Pedagogy and holds an Extraordinary Doctorate Award from the Complutense University, an Extraordinary Bachelor’s Award and a National Award for Excellence in Academic Performance. He is a Delegate of the Dean for Community Relations and Coordinator of the University Master’s Degree in Advanced Studies in Social Education at the Complutense University of Madrid. He is also a Member of the Research Group “Civic Culture and Educational Policies”.

Andrew Peterson
Andrew Peterson is a Professor of Character and Citizenship Education and Deputy Director of the Jubilee Centre of Character and Virtues. Formerly a school teacher, his research concentrates on the connections between character and citizenship education, particularly on the nature of civic virtues and their education in schools.

Fernande Raine
Fernande is a historian and social innovator working at the intersection of democratic renewal and civic education. With a Ph.D. in History from Yale and leadership roles at McKinsey, Harvard’s Human Rights Center, and Ashoka in Europe, her work focuses on strengthening civic agency and collective responsibility.

Susan Rivers
Susan is an expert in adolescent wellbeing and the former Executive Director of iThrive Games. A co-founder of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Games, Self, and Society, she works to expand how young people learn, express, and grow.