Naslov
Paving the way to self-empowerment through rights-based approach in education

Autori
Spajić-Vrkaš, Vedrana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
International conference School Education, Pluralism and Marginality: Comparative Perspective

Mjesto i datum
New Delhi, Indija; Patna, Indija, 14.12.2007. - 16.12.2007

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
self-empowerment; rights-based education; human rights education; Croatia

Sažetak
While taking Croatia as an example of a multicultural (multiethnic, multi-religious), post-communist and post-war new democracy of the Southeast Europe seeking its membership in the European Union, we shall analyze the complexity of demands facing education and present an integrative rights-based approach to education in the time of profound social changes and instability. Following the break of Yugoslavia, the ideas, values and practices that were the very pillars of the communist society were nullified literally overnight. Teachers who had been trained to install in their students the values of a collectivistic ideology, anti-national and anti-religious communist identity, state ownership and the duties toward the party and the state were, in a matter of days and with no preparation and no adequate resources, required to teach the opposite and, accordingly, to alter their teaching methods and approaches. The most demanding question was how to find the balance between the principle of national and religious revival and the principle of democratic development, diversity and equality in particular. The former was seen by the majority as a necessary remedy after communism and as a homogenization and mobilization tool for the defense of the country, while the latter was rather superficially understood and rhetorically accepted, partly under the pressure of the international community and partly as the outcome of a growing civil society. In order to contribute to personal and professional self-empowerment of teachers who were, apart from these dilemmas, additionally challenged by a great number of displaced students and the raise in school violence, a group of scientists and civil activists have developed a rights-based approach to teaching and learning in primary school that integrates five dimensions: identity, diversity, democratic citizenship, peaceful conflict-resolution and global perspective. This has been the basis for the development of programs for all levels, including the university, the resource materials, including the manual and the dictionary. It has also initiated a series of empirical studies on educational practice and its outcomes.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija, Pedagogija, Znanost o umjetnosti

POVEZANOST RADA