Democratic Education International Seminar

Thanks to Kim for this
01 Jul 09 - 08 Jul 09
Transnational Perspectives on Democratic Education: an intensive international seminar and taught course

Institute of Education, University of London

In association with University of Wisconsin Madison; University of Melbourne; International Centre for Education for Democratic Citizenship

This intensive programme aimed at educators combines keynote lectures by world renowned academics; active workshops involving the keynotes and a programme of visits. It is offered as an accredited master’s module and will also be of interest to doctoral students and those seeking a one-off refreshing short course.

Confirmed speakers include: Michael Apple, Diana Hess, Gloria Ladson-Billings from Madison; Johanna Wyn and Julie McLeod from Melbourne; Michael Fielding, David Gillborn, Ann Phoenix, Hugh Starkey from London.

Activities and workshops include: seminar hosted by Parliamentary Education Service; visit to schools implementing human rights and citizenship education; whole school human rights education with UNICEF UK and Amnesty International; using multicultural resources of Museum of London; new media and democratic participation.

Participants will join an online pre-sessional forum hosted on a specially developed website and moderated by course faculty.

The aims of this programme are:

? To explore transnational perspectives on democratic education by drawing on experience and scholarship from three national contexts.

? To provide opportunities for in depth engagement both with leading scholars acting as faculty and with students from other universities.

? To engage with institutions and cultural artefacts in the host city that have relevance to struggles for democracy and education.

The themes addressed are:

What is democracy? Why study democratic education, and why now? Tensions and challenges in democratic agendas in different national and transnational agenda; lack of conceptual clarity?

What is citizenship? Changing forms and challenges (national, cosmopolitan, citizenship across difference)

What is democratic education? Deliberation and talk as forms of democratic ed. Deliberative traditions. What skills do educators need? Curriculum and professional resources

Diversity and inclusion: policies and responses in different national settings

Civil Rights, Human Rights and the law: campaigning for justice

Student voice and youth participation in a digital age. New forms and sites of democratic participation. In what ways are young people engaging?

Places are limited, so to register interest and obtain further details please contact: Ruth Shewan

06 Jul 09 - 10 Jul 09
Teacher Training at Parliament

Houses of Parliament > event website

Accommodation from the 5th July.

Focus: This week-long residential is funded to include travel and accommodation (if needed) for delegates to stay in London and attend a series of talk, workshops, seminars and observations on the work and role of Parliament. Designed to give a thorough working knowledge to develop the delegates own professional knowledge in this area, there are also opportunities for you to work with other colleagues to develop educational resources for use within the classroom.

For more information visit the website or contact

Claire O'Neill