Final conference of the project "Start the Change"

23/11/2018

Novinarski dom, Perkovčeva 2, Zagreb, Croatia

Our thinking and expectations from citizenship education is often indicative of a decontextualized understanding of education and of the expectation that by teaching about certain subjects and by applying certain teaching methods we should be able to attain certain educational aims. Practices based on this understanding often disregard not only the wider context within which formal education operates but also the significance of parallel messages that are conveyed to students via hidden and overt curricula and which are often contradictory to our aims. Many of the plans to educate students in democracy and in peaceful resolution are suggestive of a belief that democratic attitudes can be developed together with the improvement of students’ listening skills, the growth of respect to others’ opinions and to diversity and that these are the direct results of students’ engagement in rational exchange of views and in critical analysis of opinions. What seem to elude us is that education in general and citizenship education in particular often relies upon and often strengthens exactly the same attitudes which it then calls students to control when they are engaged in classroom explorations of social and political issues, including extremism.

This lecture will be an attempt to bring up and discuss some of the contradictory practices in citizenship education by paying attention to the affective (emotional) aspect of citizenship and visiting some theoretical discussions about difference, belonging and identity.

In their very recent report 'Education and Training Monitor 2018 - Country Analysis', The European Commission has (kindly) reminded us about the state of the art of citizenship education in Croatia. No surprise there…we’re not doing well. Thus, the report says that "the level of time devoted to citizenship education in Croatia is low and teacher preparation is weak"; that "Croatia provides the fewest hours of citizenship education"; that “there are no specialist or semi-specialist teachers of citizenship education”; that “there are no national regulations on the pedagogical competences in initial teacher education”, and last, but not least, that “Croatian teachers have significantly fewer opportunities to participate in citizenship education trainings”. Now imagine those teachers who have, despite the odds, decided to engage in civic education. Imagine those teachers who have, regardless of the national ‘battlefield’ around the civic education, invested personal time, energy and emotions into civic education to prove the importance as well as the difference of the local. Imagine those teachers who actually want their students to believe they are here to learn how to become the agents of change. Imagine all those teachers who have been on the other side of the EC report mentioned at the beginning. This is a story about them. Twelve teachers from city of Rijeka talk about civic education, their motivation, challenges and the impact their engagement in civic education have had on their own personal and professional identities. While they don’t hide that “tiredness, eye bags and wrinkles” have been some of the effects of their ‘relationship’ with civic education, let us hear their narratives of empowerment and positive social change.

How do we develop pupils to become Global Citizens who, rather than feeling ‘trapped’ by globalization, can instead participate as ‘Agents of Change’? Everyday we have a choice about what we do as Global Citizens – do we actively pursue solutions towards social justice, employ our critical thinking faculties and consider more than just the single story about world events, OR do we allow others to frame all the answers? Global citizenship involves taking risks and encourages critical thinking and resilience.
Our learners need knowledge, skills and values necessary to be the changemakers. Agency, the ability to achieve goals, is a combination of competence and autonomy. They also need opportunities to take actions towards their goals. In their goal to become resilient and effective in the 21st century educators can provide opportunities to channel students’ positive energies and help them recognize that they are not helpless, that change is possible, and that they can drive it.
This interactive talk outlines current thinking around global citizenship, youth voice and social enterprise, as well as providing practical 'take-away' activities for you to use back in your classrooms.

This interactive workshop aims to explore migration and diaspora communities in the UK and how young people are using social media to create positive platforms to speak for themselves. We will be discussing questions like: What does identity mean? How is social media manipulated to create division in our societies? What is the impact of diversity on the lives of young people? How can social media be used as a platform to get our voices out there? The workshop will also touch upon the findings from UK’s Start the Change research report on Shifting the agenda on education and extremism.

This workshop’s objectives will be to explore and share the work of changemakers in the UK and to discuss the impact of social media on our ideas related to identity, belonging and migration.

Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” (meaning center for creative development in English) was established based on the experience of social and educational work carried out by Danilo Dolci and his collaborators, which started in Eastern Sicily back in 1952. Danilo Dolci is known as one of the first in Sicily using non-violent methods, fasting and marches for peace, regular denunciations of the mafia-nepotistic system and other revolutionary initiatives such as the so-called “reverse strike”, an independent radio station and the maieutic workshops. These initiatives involved thousands of people, while developing a creative space which fosters awareness and bottom-up planning, paving the way for a real change.
We can learn much from the approach of Danilo Dolci and during the workshop a part will be dedicated to his life, work and teachings. Then, together with experienced teachers, participants of the workshop can experience first-hand a method that is inspired on Danilo Dolci’s work: circle time. Thanks to this method, the students can have the chance to brainstorm in an equal way, getting the chance to express their opinions while also inspiring others.
 

This workshop’s objective is to explore what the populism is, its causes and key features and most importantly to discuss together why it is important to talk to students about populism.

The workshop will also provide workshop format that can be implemented in classrooms.

This workshop will introduce methods that inform youngsters about different minorities and cultures such as Roma, Muslim, migrant, LGBT+, refugees. The methods were developed within the project Young ambassadors of intercultural dialogue (www.mamd.si) and are used within three-hour workshops called Hours of intercultural dialogue.

The structure of the Hours will be presented and a few micro methods tackling prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination of different minorities. Also the questionnaire regarding the acceptance of diversity will be introduced.