Teacher training for social sciences education and a democratic citizenship in a postconflict society: The case of the Basque Country

Date of publication: 07/21/2023

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11576/jsse-4819

Keywords:

human rights and peace education, victims´ testimonies, memory and history, Basque Country, democratic citizenship

Abstract

Highlights:

  • Adi-Adian is an initiative of human rights and peace education implemented at the schools of the Basque Country and related to the experience of victims of political violence
  • This Adi-Adian initiative has been applied at Teacher Training School upon future teachers of Primary School
  • The testimony of victims has proven to be effective at rising the empathy and the comprehension of other point of views

Purpose: The Basque Country has been suffering political conflict and human rights´ violation for decades, tearing the social fabric. Human rights and peace education carried out through the testimony of the victims and their memory about this recent violent past can play an essential role in reestablishing the social understanding. This article aims to make known the experience of Adi-Adian initiative developed with the victims of the politic violence in the Teacher Training School of the University of Basque Country and asses its effectiveness in terms of critical thinking and empathy.

Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on group discussion and personal surveys focused on students´ feedback as a suitable method to analyze the way of thinking of students, their feelings and opinions about the violence.

Findings: The results indicate that these initiatives implemented at school might be suitable to achieve the goals of human rights and peace education and deepen on democratic citizenship.

Author Biographies

Aritza Saenz del Castillo Velasco, University of the Basque Country

Aritza Saenz del Castillo, PhD, is a associated professor at Teacher Training School of Vitoria-Gasteiz and a member of the Department of Didactic of Mathematics, Experimental and Social Sciences of the University of the Basque Country. He belongs to Biography and Parliament research group. His scientific investigations are related to citizenship education and History teaching-learning. In the development of these fields, he has focus on the implementation of human rights education and the coeducation policies at the Primary School of the Basque Country.

Joseba Iñaki Arregi-Orue

Joseba Iñaki Arregi-Orue is a Senior Lecture/Associate Professor in the Department of Didactic of Mathematics, Experimental and Social Sciences of the University of the Basque Country, where he has developed his teaching and research activity since 2011. He is the coordinator of the Minor in Intercultural Education at the above mention Faculty and has done extensive research in the field of cultural resilience and global education in post-conflict societies and a globalized world. His main interest focuses on the cases of indigenous peoples, migrants populations and Basque Diaspora, the case of the Basque Economic Agreement as a singular case of Fiscal Federalism and their contributions to European Democratic Citizenship Education.

Leire Agirreazkuenaga Onaidia

Leire Agirreazkuenaga holds a PhD in Education for Sustainability (2020) from the UPV/EHU. She is currently doing her post-doctoral stay at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), in the Faculty of Education at the Paulo Freire Institute. Her current research focuses on Education for global citizenship, sustainability and social justice.

Joseba Jon Longarte Arriola

Joseba Longarte Arriola, Sociology Graduate and Master´s in Intercultural & Multilingual Education, is an associated professor at Teacher Training School of Vitoria-Gasteiz and a member of Social Sciences Teaching Department. He belongs to the research group of the aforementioned department. His scientific investigations are related to Education and Sociology, he has focus on the implementation of the Social Sciences & Intercultural Education at the Primary School of the Basque Country.

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Further information

Published

2023-07-21

How to Cite

Saenz del Castillo Velasco, A., Arregi-Orue, J. I., Agirreazkuenaga Onaidia, L., & Longarte Arriola, J. J. (2023). Teacher training for social sciences education and a democratic citizenship in a postconflict society: The case of the Basque Country: Date of publication: 07/21/2023. JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education, 22(3). https://doi.org/10.11576/jsse-4819

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