O'Donnell, Aislinn and Kieran, Patricia and Bergdahl, Lovisa and Cherouvis, Stephanos (2018) The Enquiring Classroom Handbook. MIC.

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Abstract

The Enquiring Classroom (TEC) was developed in order to progress inclusive and pluralistic pedagogical approaches to address pressing contemporary questions in relation to democracy, values, identity, integration, religions, beliefs and (forced) migration in educational settings. Whilst a number of approaches address individual issues like citizenship or racism or religion, the TEC project aimed to create pluralistic pedagogies to support teachers in facilitating engagement with a wide range of contemporary questions, supported by a clear philosophy of education. These approaches were designed be incorporated either into existing curricula through a permeated approach or discrete thematic pedagogical interventions. Four key issues drove this in 2016: 1. Forced migration and education of children who were refugees and asylum seekers; 2. Shifts towards more securitised approaches to education that risked shutting down spaces for discussion; 3. The need for educational spaces to invite reflection and dialogue about values, religions and beliefs in the European context; 4. The demand amongst educators for facilitation skills and capacity building in particular in relation to engaging with difficult or challenging topics in schools. The choice of Greece, Ireland, and Sweden was informed by divergent responses and experiences to the refugee crisis, to the question of migration, and to the role of religion in society. Objectives: The primary objective was to build capacity with educators by creating genuinely inclusive pedagogical strategies and training in facilitation to foster a wide range of educational experiences and foreground the voice of young people. This innovative, comprehensive, and pluralistic approach to enquiry based learning aimed to support facilitation of meaningful, open, responsible, and respectful discussion and debate about complex ethical, social, political and religious issues in classrooms. Its novelty stems from creative integration of best practice in philosophy for/with children, living and lived values exercises, experiential and sensory learning, dialogical and interpretative approaches to education about religions, beliefs and ethics, and creative arts-based methodologies, including encounters with contemporary art practice. As the project progressed it became clear that experiencing the methodologies also offered important frameworks for reflection and dialogue amongst educators, activists and youth workers. This involved deepening capacity to engage with and explore questions by fostering skills of active listening, dialogue and (ethical) imagination, ensuring that any 'difficult conversations' that arose in classrooms would be supported by a firm foundation in epistemic skills and virtues associated with communities of enquiry. Key to achieving these objectives was the articulation of a conceptual framework and rationale for this approach to education.

Item Type:	Other
Keywords:	Enquiring; Classroom; Handbook; ERASMUS;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Education
Item ID:	18608
Depositing User:	Prof Aislinn O'Donnell
Date Deposited:	07 Jun 2024 10:53
Publisher:	MIC
Funders:	ERASMUS+
URI:	Organisation
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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