The AFT has a long and established track record in the field of civic education. In the mid-1980s, the AFT launched its Education for Democracy project to promote the improvement of civic education in U.S. schools. The AFT has long held to the principle that the health of any democracy depends on its young people being aware of the value of free institutions and being adequately prepared to function within those institutions. 

In 1987 the AFT Educational Foundation brought together more than 150 prominent Americans from across the political spectrum to sign a statement of principles entitled "Education for Democracy," which called upon schools in the United States to "purposefully impart to their students the learning necessary for an informed, reasoned allegiance to the ideas of a free society." The Education for Democracy project tracks developments in civic education as they relate to democratic institutions, provides model curricula and materials on teaching about democracy and serves as a general source of information and support on this topic for AFT members and other educators.

In 1989, the AFT Educational Foundation extended this project with the creation of Education for Democracy/International (ED/I). The goal of ED/I is to provide teacher unions and educators in newly emerging democracies with technical assistance in teacher training and the development of civic education curriculum materials.  The AFT had received requests for materials on democracy from the teachers' section of the Polish union movement Solidarnosc well before the end of communism in Poland.  With the emergence of democracy throughout Eastern Europe and other regions, these requests from democratic teacher groups and pro-democracy organizations increased. Through ED/I, the AFT Educational Foundation has responded, utilizing the volunteer services of its members, professional staff and elected leaders to conduct overseas and U.S. seminars and training programs.

As an initial project, ED/I organized a series of "Free Society Seminars" in Eastern European capitals and published the results in the major languages of the region.  These papers were later used as the basis for the U.S. Information Agency's publication, What is Democracy?

Since 1989, ED/I has undertaken a variety of projects around the world, focusing on three major activities: teacher training and curriculum development; democratic skills and leadership training; and publications on democracy and education. The ED/I has been involved in programs with educators in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Burma, Croatia, Czech Republic, Eritrea, Hungary, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. 

The Education for Democracy/Nicaragua project, a cooperative effort of the AFTEF and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education and funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is considered by many to be a model of comprehensive reform in the area of civic education. The AFTEF's engagement in all aspects of the project—curriculum reform, teacher training and materials development—has prepared it to deliver similar technical assistance to other emerging democracies.  Particularly relevant is the teacher training program which, employing a "train-the-trainer" model, has prepared 20 Nicaraguan "master teachers" who are now successfully conducting inservice training programs on education for democracy for fellow social studies teachers.

The AFTEF is a member of a consortium of organizations that sponsored three major international civics education conferences: Civitas@Prague, Civitas Panamericano and Civitas@Africa. These conferences brought together more than 1,000 individuals and groups from all over the world to create a new international partnership in civic education.  A major element of this effort is the creation of Civitas International, a global partnership for civic education for democracy.  AFTEF has also played a leadership role in the formulation of the new NED initiative, World Movement for Democracy.

The ED/I project utilizes the expertise of members of the AFT Union Leadership Institute and the union's educational issues department, including specialists in civic education, critical thinking and teacher training.  Through its contacts in the U.S. and throughout the world, the AFT has access to civic education specialists who provide advice on planning and conducting ED/I programs. The AFTEF also relies on the expertise of AFT's teacher and higher education membership in developing and carrying out its projects.