Hvornår
Begivenhedstype
“What are the challenges that democracy is facing today?”; “How can we deal with these challenges?”; “Why, regardless of them, is democracy worth fighting for?”. But, most importantly, how can we discuss these and more key questions about democracy with our students?.
As the world celebrates the International Day of Democracy on 15 September, we will kick off our webinar series on “A Resilient Promise: Teaching the Fragility of Democracy”. During 6 weeks of online events, we will reflect not only on how to help our students learn about democracy, but also how they can contribute to making it more stable and safe.
The Design of this Webinar Series
The series will consist of five sessions. It will kick off with a keynote on the allure of authoritarianism and on modern populism, hosted by Prof. Takis S Pappas, which will help us set the tone for future sessions by putting us in touch with first-hand experience of individuals who were part of extremist groups in their youth, what appealed to them, and how did they decide to leave this path and promote democracy and
understanding. The keynote lecture will take place on 15 September 2021 at 17:00 (Amsterdam Time), and it will be followed by three active workshops. Each workshop will give participants practical advice and access to tools to promote:
- An understanding of what is freedom of expression, how it is exercised in a sensitive manner, and what does it mean to sit in discomfort. This workshop will be hosted by Dr. Bjorn Wansink and the team of TerInfo, and will take place on 30 September 2021 at 16:00 (Amsterdam Time). We are currently finalising the description, and will create a dedicated page as soon as possible. The dates are confirmed, and you can already register to this workshop by clicking on the button on the right!
- An understanding of the history of democracy. This workshop will be hosted by Gijs van Gaans, and is inspired by the eLearning Activity on “What can we learn from the Ancient Greeks for democracy today?”. It will take place on 12 October 2021 at 17:00 (Amsterdam Time). We are currently finalising the description, and will create a dedicated page as soon as possible. The dates are confirmed, and you can already register to this workshop by clicking on the button on the right!
- Engagement and Activism. This workshop will be hosted by Prof. Dr. Rolf Gollob (Zurich University of Teacher Education), and will take place on 19 October 2021 at 17:00 (Amsterdam Time). The dates are confirmed, and you can already register to this workshop by clicking on the button on the right!
The webinar series will close with an interactive session where participants will have the opportunity to share the obstacles they encounter when talking about democracy in their classroom, and to discuss approaches on how to overcome these obstacles. This session is currently set to take place on 27 October 2021 at 17:00 (Amsterdam Time).
We will generate dedicate event pages for each session as soon as possible!
What will we learn?
During the webinar series, we will:
- Discuss how different generations may view democracy;
- Discuss the role that expressing extreme viewpoints has in the classroom;
- Discuss best practices for teachers as agents of change;
- Investigate the different democratic activities that are available for young people;
- Be introduced to tips and tricks to lead debates involving contrasting points of view;
- Discuss your experiences regarding the challenges that non-democratic systems pose for the future.