Interactive Online Workshop Organized by the Center for Peace Education on Teaching Controversial Issues held

As part of the activities planned for 2021, the Center for Peace Education Hub at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo organized an interactive online workshop on March 25, 2021 on Teaching Controversial Issues, in cooperation with the partner organization forumZFD, in which Eighteen educators from different countries participated (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain).

The lecturer was Professor Judy Pace from the University of San Francisco with extensive experience in teaching management, teaching democratic values, teaching in the social sciences in the context of prioritizing knowledge tests and preparing future teachers to teach sensitive topics.

During the workshop, Professor Pace discussed with the participants the importance of teaching sensitive issues and topics despite many challenges, such as issues (religious, national, gender, racial) identity, curriculum, post-conflict tensions, and various institutional barriers, with participants having the opportunity to discuss about the specific challenges they face in their environments, the specific sensitive issues they would like to teach, and the teaching strategies they use. The lecturer presented her theory on teaching sensitive issues in controlled risk, which is also part of her latest study Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues published in early 2021, which is based on the author's research in Northern Ireland, England and the United States.