We are pleased to share that the AECED website will soon host our Pedagogical Framework and Guides to Practice for aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy. These openly accessible resources build on extensive collaborative research across Europe and respond to key challenges in education for democracy today, including how aesthetic and embodied learning foster democratic values such as freedom, equality and responsiveness.
Resources available from 4 March 2026
The initial releases of the AECED Pedagogical Framework and the Guides to Practice will go live on 4 March 2026, coinciding with the online launch webinar: Register here .
These resources are aimed at educators, practitioners, researchers and policymakers, and designed for practical use across all phases of education.
What you can expect
The resources will offer:
- A clear and accessible Pedagogical Framework on Connecting with Democracy
- Practical Guides informed by case studies and partner expertise across Europe
- Support for integrating aesthetic and embodied learning in varied educational and organisational contexts
- Tools to strengthen democratic engagement through embodied and sensory learning approaches
Stay tuned
Visit www.aeced.org on 4 March to explore the new resources as soon as they are released and stay tuned to see how we further integrate these resources throughout March 2026.
A reminder of launch webinar details
This free online launch webinar will introduce our newly developed Pedagogical Framework and Guides to Practice.
Date: Wednesday, 4th March 2026
Time: 10:30–12:30 CET / 09:30-11:30 UK time (120 minutes)
This 120-minute event will explore how aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy, or AELD for short, can respond to pressing challenges in education for democracy today.
Grounded in research and developed through collaboration with educators, practitioners, and organisations across Europe, the AECED Framework and Guides to Practice offer practical approaches for use across all phases of education, as well as in professional and organisational learning contexts.
What to expect
The webinar will combine insight, experience, and dialogue. Participants will:
- Gain an overview of the AECED Pedagogical Framework and its key ideas, including aesthetic and embodied learning, responsive pedagogy, and democracy-as-becoming
- Explore how the Framework and Guides to Practice can be used in diverse educational and organisational settings
- Take part in a short experiential aesthetic and embodied activity
- Hear from project partners, practitioners supporting the use of the guides, and early adopters already putting the resources into practice
- Contribute questions to a panel discussion including policy and practice perspectives
This event is aimed at national, regional, and local organisations across Europe, as well as educators, practitioners, researchers, and all those with an interest in education for democracy. It will be in English.
Click this link to secure your place – we look forward to seeing you: Register here
About us
The AECED project is Horizon Europe and UKRI-funded and promotes aesthetic and embodied learning to help educators inspire democratic values like empathy, fairness, active citizenship and inclusion. Aesthetic and embodied learning can be thought of as learning through art, movement, and emotion – what affect do you feel from the activity? What’s your response to it? Aesthetic learning involves the senses. Embodied learning acknowledges that learning is not just a cognitive process but also a physical one, deeply connected to the body’s sensations, movement, and perception.
The AECED project aims to enhance the role of aesthetic and embodied learning across all phases of education and organisational learning and has project partners in the UK, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Latvia and Portugal.
If you are an educator or have an interest in education policy or citizenship you can tell us how you’d like to be involved or kept informed about other AECED events, please scan the QR code to register your interest in the project or complete this short form , or visit www.aeced.org to find out more about us.
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