Prof. Florian Bieber is Senior Non-Resident Research Associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues (Flensburg, Germany), and also Recurrent Visiting Professor at the Nationalism Studies Program of CEU-Budapest. |
Diversity, Minority Issues and the Challenge of Education in SEE ~ Summary of lectures and workshops ~
Recommended Readings:
The first session will discuss legacies of diversity and legacies of nationalism. The session will draw on problems associated with common historiographic approaches to Southeastern Europe found in the region. The key focus will be on: (a) the Ottoman Empire; (b) the emergence of nation states and forgotten history of the non-dominant groups. The discussions will explore how nationalism has influenced the perception of historical events and how this is reflected in educational materials in Southeastern Europe.
Workshop The discussion is followed by a workshop. The participants divide in different groups of approx. 5-6 participants each. The groups will work separately for approximately 40-45 minutes, followed by discussion of the results in the complete group for 45-50 minutes. The groups are asked to discuss the following questions:
2. Representing Minority in Textbooks and Curricula Recommended Readings:
The second session will focus more specifically on contemporary challenges to teaching and education in diverse societies. The first key aspect which will be touched upon is how minorities are portrayed in the educational system and how this is a reflection of larger social trends. Classical issue of stereotyping and ignoring non-dominant groups in the educational systems will be discussed. Critical reading of both media and textbooks will serve to illustrate the problems under discussion.
Workshop Small subgroups of 4-5 participants will be given different texts from textbooks and other sources. The groups are which they are then asked to analyze in regard to their portrayal of minorities and other ethnic groups (see examples of the Media Diversity Handbook). The groups should particularly examine: (a) is the mention of ethnicity necessary? (b) What is the tone in which the ethnic groups are mentioned? (c) How is the event and ethnicity framed? (d) What does the event tell the reader about the larger historical context? After analyzing the texts, the groups are asked to draft alternative texts to the same events. The different groups report their findings and their alternative proposals than to the overall group of participants.
3. Minority Rights and Education Recommended Readings:
The aspect to be discussed in this session is the larger challenge to addressing diversity in the educational system. Issues here no longer pertain solely to the issue of representation in the curriculum and textbooks, but to the creation of minority-specific classes, multilingualism in education and other issues pertaining to minority education. The issues will be discussed in the framework of both minority rights and in the context of educational reform, which remains a crucial issue in most countries of Southeastern Europe. A focus of discussion here will be the challenge of accommodating minority specific education on one side and on the other side to foster cooperation between the different communities.
Simulation: Teacher Training for Albanians in Montenegro Background The Albanian community of Montenegro (approx. 7 % of the population), represented by two parliamentary parties, has been demanding for nearly a decade the establishment of a separate teacher-training department in Montenegro. The reason for this was the closure of the Priština University in 1990 and the disintegration of Yugoslavia (communities focusing on their respective republic). Another reason is the low number of qualified Albanian teachers and limited (in quantity and quality) education in Albanian in Montenegrin schools. This demand featured prominently in all platforms and proposals put forth by Albanians. Recently, the government has agreed to establish an Albanian language teacher-training department. It has been insisting, however, that the department should be located in Nikšic, where the relevant faculty of philosophy is located (University of Montenegro has also departments in Podgorica, Bar and elsewhere in the country) are located. Students would follow courses at the department for Albanian language at the faculty of philosophy in Nikšic for two years and additional two years Podgorica. The Albanian community has been instead demanding the department to be located in Ulcinj, the only town with an Albanian majority or in Tuzi (close to Podgorica). The Albanian community has been complaining that Nikšic is inconvenient and few Albanians would be ready to move there for their studies (for financial and other reasons). The government opposed moving the training from Nikšic for three reasons:
Nikšic itself has no Albanian community. There are, however, additional Albanian communities in the North-east, in Plav, close to the Kosovo border and in Podgorica itself and especially in the town within the capital’s municipality, Tuzi. While distance are small in Montenegro (a trip Ulcinj-Nikšic takes approx. 2 hours), mobility is not high among minority communities. Task: The group divides into two-three subgroups. Within each group, half constitute the Albanian minority representatives, the other half Montenegrin government representatives. The task is to develop a compromise. The groups have 30-45 minutes to develop a compromise. These are subsequently presented to the overall group and discussed. Prof Florian Bieber |