Hackathon about the interactivity of online civic education took place on October, 2022, in Sumy (Ukraine) as EENCE satellite workshop. The event took place in an online format.

Video games are gradually becoming the basic cultural tool of modern society, just as the civic theater, sacred theater, balls, cinema, etc. once were.

Video games are becoming not only the main tool for entertainment, but also the main artistic, educational and communicative tool, and perhaps even the main tool for professional implementation.

Civil society is actively using this tool to solve its problems: activists and educators are increasingly using video games in their work. After all, it is much easier to achieve goals in the process of developing civil society if you go halfway with people, using their familiar environment and language. 

Hackathon “Video games as a tool for civic education and activism” consisted of a series of lectures and practical exercises on the role of games in civic education and focused on the participation of adult citizens.

The classes were held for 3 days.

The first block was devoted to the phenomenon of “serious games” as a direction in the gaming industry. We analyzed the key events (conferences, competitions) that bring together game developers, civil activists and teachers. We also analyzed the best cases of “serious games” in various fields: education, psychology, ecology, inclusion, etc.

The second block was devoted to the role of video games in modern wars – how games help draw attention to the suffering of civilians, how games teach survival skills in emergency situations, how games help collect donations, change attitudes towards internally displaced persons. Even during social cataclysms, despite the complexity of the production cycle, games show themselves as an effective tool for the protection and development of civil society.

The third block was devoted to practical advice and recommendations for activists and educators on creating video games to meet the challenges of civil society.

The goal of the hackathon was to strengthen the dialogue and partnership between various stakeholders in the development of interactivity and effectiveness of online civic education and to find new digital tools for the development of civic education.

The hackathon brought together over 30 participants, including civic education experts and partners, as well as video game developers. During the event, micro-groups of experts in game development and civilian experts were created, who prepared ideas for creating future games. It is expected that in the future these groups will create their own game projects, which will be integrated into the system of civic education. The hackathon used such practices and approaches as: gamification, horizontal communications, democracy. The organizers and participants considered this format interesting and effective.

The event was organized by the Public Organization “Center for Lifelong Learning”. The organization has a non-profit status and was created by representatives of various spaces of formal and non-formal education in the city of Sumy (Ukraine) in 2018. 

The purpose of the organization’s activities is to promote the socio-economic development of the local community in Ukraine and the creation of an open civil society in them; realization of creative, cultural, scientific, organizational potential of young people; promotion of healthy lifestyles; creating conditions for quality education throughout life.

Definition of CE

Ukraine is experiencing the biggest challenge since its independence in 1991.

Russia’s large-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the annexation of 4 regions is a threat to the existence of Ukraine as a state, and is also a great threat to the further development of civil society in Ukraine.

These tragic events exacerbated the negative consequences of other challenges facing Ukraine as a result of the prolonged epidemic of COVID-19, economic stagnation due to outdated post-Soviet infrastructure and corruption in state authorities, the annexation of Crimea and the military aggression of the Russian Federation in the east of the country during 2014-2021. p.

These challenges require a comprehensive approach to the formation of an active and responsible citizen with a high sense of self-worth, a stable civic position, developed emotional intelligence and empathy, and a high level of critical thinking. Such a systematic approach involves state support for the development of civic education, which was declared at the legislative level in the new Law “On Education” (2017) and the Concept of the Development of Civic Education in Ukraine (approved by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on October 3, 2018).

The Law of Ukraine “On Education” specifies that the state creates conditions for obtaining civic education aimed at the formation of competencies related to citizens’ realization of their rights and responsibilities as members of society, awareness of the values of a civil (free democratic) society, the supremacy of rights, human and citizen rights and freedoms.

In the Concept of Development of Civic Education in Ukraine (2018), civic education is understood as education and civic education based on national and universal values. The purpose of civic education is the formation and development of civic competences among citizens of Ukraine, aimed at the establishment and protection of statehood and democracy, the ability to defend one’s rights, to be responsible for one’s civic duties, to take responsibility for one’s own life, for the establishment of harmonious relations between members of one’s family and the process of living in the territorial community.

On the basis of the Concept of the Development of Civic Education in 2020, the government developed a draft Strategy for the Development of Civic Education until 2030. In this document, civic education means education aimed at the formation of civic competences, an active civic position, the ability to responsibly exercise one’s rights and comply with civil duties, the ability to establish partnerships and work for the establishment of democracy and the rule of law.

Current frame of work

The basis of the formation of the normative field of civic education in Ukraine is the Concept of the Development of Civic Education in Ukraine, approved by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2018.

The legal foundations of civic education in Ukraine are laid down in the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, the National Strategy for Promoting the Development of Civil Society in Ukraine for 2016-2020, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 68 dated February 26, 2016, the Strategy for the National Patriotic Education of Children and youth for 2016–2020, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 580 of October 13, 2015, the National Strategy in the Field of Human Rights, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 501 of August 25, 2015.

With the adoption of the new Law of Ukraine “On Education” and taking into account Decree of the President of Ukraine dated December 1, 2016 No. 534 “On priority measures to promote the strengthening of national unity and consolidation of Ukrainian society, support of public initiatives in this area”, the plan of measures to strengthen national unity, consolidation of Ukrainian society and support of public initiatives in the specified area, approved by order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 21, 2018 No. 179, there was a need to define specific steps on the way to the formation of civic education in Ukraine.

But the existing regulation does not create downward regulation of this field, as well as uniform ways of organizing civic education in Ukraine. Many authorities, participants of institutionalized or conditional public-state partnership have to take their own steps regarding the implementation of their decisions, taking into account the specifics of the participants of this or that project. It is particularly difficult to cooperate with the newly created governing bodies of united territorial communities; additional difficulties are brought by the process of liquidation of the administrative bodies of old districts in accordance with the administrative system of the country and in connection with the creation of new districts.

In general, both the central and local authorities proceed in their decisions, creating a plan of measures to strengthen national unity, consolidate Ukrainian society and support public initiatives from the European practice of supporting civil society, civic educational initiatives.

The community development project documents acknowledge the fact that civic competences, together with social competences, are included in the eight key competences for lifelong learning according to the Recommendations of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on key competences for lifelong learning No. 2006/962/EC of 18 December 2006.

The Law of Ukraine “On Education” specifies that the state creates conditions for obtaining civic education aimed at the formation of competencies related to the individual’s realization of his rights and responsibilities as a member of society, awareness of the values of a civil (free democratic) society, the supremacy of rights, human and citizen rights and freedoms.

It should be noted that according to the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, the education system should form 12 key competencies, in particular, civil and social competencies related to the ideas of democracy, justice, equality, human rights, well-being and a healthy lifestyle, with awareness of equal rights and opportunities corresponding to the goals and principles of education, which will lay the foundation for a citizen’s search for new ways of civic education at any age.

Also, the authorities in matters of education take into account the recommendations based on the National Strategy on Human Rights, which provides for raising the level of awareness of citizens about human rights, as well as the Charter of the Council of Europe on the Education of Democratic Citizenship and Education in the Field of Human Rights, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on May 11, 2010, which emphasizes the values of democracy and the rule of law.

Stakeholders

Informal civic education continues to develop, responding to new educational needs. This development is provided by hundreds of public organizations that develop their own educational courses, created for the formation of civic competences. An important role in this process is played by the support of such international donor and consulting organizations as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), the British Council in Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, DVV International in Ukraine, Network of Citizenship Education in Eastern Europe (EENCE), etc.

The subject “Civic education” has become mandatory for students of all secondary schools in Ukraine and is included in the curriculum of senior classes. Appropriate textbooks were developed for the study of civic education in schools. For teachers who teach civic education courses, the state provides advanced training courses.

Since 2015, higher education institutions have also started actively practicing civic education courses for students. In particular, in 2019, 22 universities of Ukraine introduced the course “Democracy: from theory to practice”. In 2020, some universities, including Lutsk National Technical University, Sumy State University, and others, introduced a civic education course for students to choose from, called “Active Citizens.”

Since the issue of civic education is on the agenda of government institutions and international donors, there are many organizations that work according to the stated approaches.

Compiling an exhaustive list of organizations and institutions that can be called providers is not possible due to the large number of such subjects, the irregularity of their work, as well as terminological inaccuracies that public organizations and institutions allow in describing their work.

At the local level, local and regional civic organizations are often active, including youth and student civic organizations that hold outdoor events, festivals, forums and seminars, and use new co-working centers and/or libraries.

Libraries and co-working spaces against the background of the pandemic have lost their potential to become modern public spaces, but they continue to be communication platforms of local organizations.

Youth centers, support centers for entrepreneurs, including state centers within the Ministry of Digital Transformation, regional branches of political parties from region to region show a different level of activity and systematic work, but continue to be notable participants in civic education.

There are practically no unified and united networks or platforms for continuous cooperation between providers of civic education in Ukraine, except for the aggregators we have named. Organizations, individual professionals and educators usually work directly with donors and often avoid communication within their professional environment. Therefore, existing projects are not connected with each other, and educational programs and concepts may contradict each other.

Challenges and needs (suggestions) for civic education in Ukraine

The military conflict, the internal displacement of a large number of people and temporary emigration, the post-Soviet legacy, the limited funding of education in the conditions of the military conflict and economic recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons form the following urgent challenges and needs of civic education in Ukraine:

• The need to develop one’s own civic education priorities, which are important for the development of a country in a de facto state of war.
• The formation of critical thinking among the population under conditions of aggressive information propaganda and fakes from the Russian Federation.
• The search for an effective model of coordination of civic education and national-patriotic education.
• Digitization of educational processes.
• Development of game methods of learning (gamification), learning through action and other creative approaches to the educational process.

The Hackathon has been funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education using funds appropriated by the Federal Foreign Office, Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia (Eastern Partnership Programme).