IDEC was established in 1993 in the Democratic School of Hadera in Israel.
Yaacov Hecht invited 20 educators from around the world to jointly contemplate how to change education in the world – how to change the world.
Since then, for the past 24 years, IDEC has been held every year in a different country and continent around the world.
Today, representatives from 50 countries participate in the conferences.
The representatives originate from schools, education institutions and organizations, as well as education systems in Europe, America, the Near and Far East, Africa, and Asia. Teachers, parents, children, educators, theorists, as well as businesspeople attend IDEC in order to learn, to teach, to discover and to be inspired. Some meet at the conference every year and continue to cooperate long after the conference has ended.
One cannot comprehend the joy of education until they see a 14 year-old Puerto Rican Boy and an 80 year-old New-Zealander participating in a captivating dialogue circle among which can be found young people, adults, and children of all ages for whom IDEC is a home. To put it simply – a celebration!
Each year schools or organizations from different countries submit their candidacy to host IDEC (IDEC is held in a different continent each year). The IDEC community votes after discussions. Once the choice has been made, everything in connection with IDEC becomes the responsibility of the host – dates, participants, costs, accommodation and the style of the conference.
Views differ with respect to IDEC goals – the following are an example thereof:
- To create a stage for discussion about democratic education for educators from around the world
- To deal with obstacles in a sympathetic and supportive environment.
- To spreading the idea of democratic and innovative education around the world.
- To form a pluralistic alignment for communication and collaborative learning.
- To adopt the democratic values as the guidelines of educational initiatives.
