Learning to disagree

 

In today's world, young people are increasingly influenced by social media and information found on the internet. This exposure subjects young individuals to various extremist ideologies and alternative facts. Teachers often face radical viewpoints and are expected to address them. This project aims to assist educators in discussing and debating these issues constructively by exploring different aspects of a topic. The competencies that students acquire through meaningful dialogue and debate in school will also enable them to constructively deal with tensions and disagreements in their daily lives.

 

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euroclio

 

The L2D project has empowered educators across Europe to enable students to acquire social and civic competences through debates, dialogue, and discussions on contentious issues as part of their formal education.

The needs assessment for teaching was designed to evaluate what educators need to help their students gain social and civic competences through dialogue, debate, and discussion on contentious issues. Read the full Research Report here

Content for Dialogue, Debate, and Discussion

A skilled team of 14 history teachers developed, as part of this project, 15 content sets that enable students and teachers to engage in dialogue, debates, and discussions on contentious issues. Each content set provides information on the issues at hand, historical context, different perspectives, and questions that prompt students to think critically.

These content sets focus on four distinct themes:

  1. People on the Move (The case of the cargo ship Valona, How migrants are perceived, Why people migrate)
  2. Borders, Annexations, and Secessions (Catalonian referendum, Northern Irish border, the case of Crimea, and the case of Kosovo)
  3. Surviving Under Pressure (The Algerian War, Leaders in times of turmoil, Wealth tax in Turkey, and Famine in Greece)
  4. Contested Cultural Heritage (Rhodes Must Fall, Renaming streets in Serbia, and Hagia Sophia in Turkey)

All these content sets are available on Historiana.eu under the Historical Content section. To further assist teachers in using these resources, the Learning to Disagree team has developed dedicated lesson plans, available on Historiana.eu in the Teaching and Learning section.

Teacher’s Guide to Dialogue, Debate, and Discussion

This guide is included in the comprehensive "Teacher's Guide to Learning to Disagree." Part 2 of this document supports the use of discussion, debate, and dialogue as teaching methods. It includes supplementary materials for at least 12 types of dialogue, debate, and discussion, providing information on which type works best in different contexts. The guide is available in 13 languages and can be accessed here.

Teacher’s Guide for Assessing Social and Civic Competences

This guide is also part of the comprehensive "Teacher's Guide to Learning to Disagree." Part 3 (Assessment of Competences) includes descriptions of competences aligned with various international documents, including the Council of Europe's Competences for Democratic Culture (2016). It aims to help teachers identify which competences students need to develop further and clarify what actions are required to achieve competence.

Training Package on How to Use Educational Resources

The training package consists of a set of resources that can be used for presentations, workshops, and other training elements that help educators use the resources developed in the project. The training package is available upon request: if you wish to receive it, please contact us at [email protected].

Policy Recommendations

Policy recommendations guide policymakers on how the needs assessment findings support or contradict existing policies that facilitate teachers' ability to not only de-escalate classroom tensions but channel them into constructive dialogue, discussion, and debate that support learning. They also illustrate the extent to which exemplary content is illustrative of the capacity of history education, including its specific multiperspective methodology, to nurture students' ability to handle different viewpoints. Building on this, the recommendations identify opportunities and challenges for integrating this into history education. From the two guides, essential elements that can be enhanced through educational policies are highlighted.

Consortium:

Donor
The project was implemented with the financial support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union as part of the initiative “Learning to Disagree”.