Developing democracy education in Ukraine, Palestine and Norway

Children playing in sunset. Photo.
Copyright: iStock

The overall goal in the present project is to establish a broad and dynamic understanding of democracy development in school. The project will focus on the equipment of pre-service teachers with a broad understanding of democracy development across three different countries, as well as models on how to teach democracy in school.

Project period: 2018-2022

The goals of the project are

  • to pilot and implement an interdisciplinary and international Ukrainan model of teaching in democracy in teacher education
  • establish strong international networks for research and development 
  • Estalicsh strong national networks in teacher education/universities across Ukraine, connecting to Ministry og Education as well as teacher networks in Ukrainian schools. 
  • to establish exchange programs for teachers and students, such as the Erasmus + program
  • to cultivate strong research connections for immediate common publications and for future common applications for research grants 

The background of the project

The threat of conflict, war and an increasing migration represent a critical global challenge. Democratic development is seen as a crucial factor for societal wellbeing and to safeguard human rights. School is considered a key actor in promoting and developing democratic citizenship as a basis for coexistence in society. Thus, this project develops democracy as values for teaching and communicating in school subjects.

The history and the conditions for democracy within Europe and the countries at Europe’s borders are divergent. Many countries are in constant tensions in situation of authoritarian rule, migration and in state of emergency. In Norway, democracy is considered more stable. Yet, changes and conflicts are increasingly affecting on a global level. In this project we see an urgent need for exchanging knowledge about democracy and models in school.

We have chosen two different main partner countries of two different conditions for democracy teaching; Ukraine and Norway. Palestine is partly included as a country of conflicted democracies. 

keyboard_backspace This project in CRISTIN

Contact persons

Project members

Ukraine
Dragomanov University, Ukraine
Dr. Tetiana Matusovytch
sokmatus@gmail.com
 

NGO MERIT UKRAINE
Dr Larysa Kolesnyk
laroka.merit@gmail.com
 

Palestine
Unit: PRIME Peace Research Institute in the Middle East
Dr. Sami Adwan
Professor and dean Hebron University
adwan.sami@gmail.com
 

From USN