‽istis again ponders international days and weeks - and hope for
the future (weekending November 18th 2023)
This weekending ‽istis is again pondering ‘international days’ and weeks[i].
The website Global Dimension[ii] (offering
resources for teachers) and pages[iii]
on the United Nations web-offerings provide a calendar which this week includes:
·
Inter
Faith Week (12th – 19th
November): ‘strengthening inter faith relations and increasing understanding
between communities’. Though the Church of England’s November General Synod[iv]
meeting this week may suggest that increasing understanding within a
faith can be a mighty challenge!
·
Global
Entrepreneurship Week: ‘a
celebration of enterprise and entrepreneurial people.’
·
Global
Education Week (14th
– 20th November): ‘highlighting the role of education in building a better
world.’
·
International
Day for Tolerance (16th
November): ‘encouraging respect, dialogue and co-operation among different
cultures, civilizations and peoples.’
·
World
Philosophy Day (16th
November): celebrating the importance of philosophy to society.’ (and ‽istis
will let you think about that one for a moment…)
There seems to be a link between the last three – not least as
they all seem potentially to map and guide us in territory that ‽istis frequently travels in.
As the introduction on the
Global Dimensions resource pages suggests, at the core of Global
Education Week global education are connections. ‘We want the citizens of
tomorrow to see beyond divisions like class, race and nation. We want them to
work together globally to ensure a fair, green and prosperous future for
everyone.’
World Philosophy Day highlights ‘how philosophy develops our capacity
to reason and to think through problems in a logical way. This in turn improves
tolerance, global understanding and… helps us respond to major contemporary
challenges by creating the intellectual conditions for change.’[v]
The ideas behind the International Day for Tolerance seem to move us from cognition/thinking to behaviour/action.
Initiated by UNESCO in 1985, the day ‘aims to raise awareness about intolerance
and the necessity for tolerant societies.’ It is ‘much more than passively
accepting the other. It brings obligations to act, and must be taught, nurtured
and defended… This means building societies founded on respect for human
rights, where fear, distress and marginalisation are supplanted by pluralism,
participation and respect for differences.’
Looking
and listening to the news on Thursday November 16th 2023 and across
the week it would seem that we may have some way to go - both in our thinking
and doing.
However,
it was a link to another webpage and a specific document that caught ‽istis’
attention in particular: Teaching Controversial Issues: A Guide for Teachers[vi]. Some elements seem important to share directly
here.
p.3:
What are controversial issues? They can:
· Evoke strong feelings and views
· Affect the social, cultural, economic and environmental context in
which people live
· Deal with questions of value and belief, and can divide opinion
between individuals, communities and wider society
· Are usually complicated with no clear ‘answers’ because they are
issues on which people often hold strong views based on their own experience,
interests, values and personal context
· Arise at a range of scales
affecting local, national and global communities
· Include a wide range of topics such as human rights, gender
justice, migration and climate change
· Can vary with place and time, and may be long standing or very
recent. For example, an issue that is controversial in one community or country
may be widely accepted in another.
p.4: Various reasons are given for introducing and exploring
controversial issues in a safe space created in a classroom, not least as
‘developing and strengthening values of empathy[vii] and respect will[viii] therefore enable young
people to contribute to social change as global citizens.’
p.5: ’By actively participating in difficult arguments and
debates, young people learn to make reasoned judgements, respect the opinions
of others, consider different viewpoints and resolve conflicts.’ ‘To ignore controversial issues is to ignore
the realities in many young people’s lives.’
Thinking skills can be developed: information processing,
reasoning, enquiry, creative thinking, evaluation.
p.8 & 9 refer to the role that a teacher/discussion
facilitator has - not least in creating and maintaining a ‘safe space’ which is
characterised (p.10) as one which is collaborative, respectful, provides an
‘opportunity for open dialogue where young people can test out their views in
an open forum…’ ‘Setting the boundaries for an inclusive discussion (through
ground rules[ix])
where all young people are able to participate is important.’
p.7: A ‘global citizen education approach’ is emphasised which:
‘far from promoting one set of answers…
encourages young people to explore, develop and express their own values
and opinions, while listening to, and respecting other people’s points of
view.’
As the week ends and the news perhaps engulfs and threatens to
swamp ‽istis and maybe you too in a ‘slough of despond’[x], ‽istis wonders whether
the one-time pupils behind some of the voices heard so dominantly in synod, in
Westminster, in the ‘holy land’ might not have benefitted from expert
facilitation and lesson-shaped doses of ‘controversial issues’.
The ‘hope for the future’ aspect of this weekending’s blog title
comes from the thought that the future just perhaps, possibly, maybe in the
hands of enough young people who, if they survive the present that we have
created for them, have ‘developed their ability to address controversial issues
in meaningful and appropriate ways’ and can make ‘informed choices as to how
they exercise their own rights as well as responsibilities to others.’ (p.7 of
the Oxfam publication)
Oh,
and as a bit of a postscript (because it may be a while before ‽istis returns
to ‘international days’) next week brings us: World Toilet Day, World
Children’s Day and Buy Nothing Day. In the near future there is Remembrance
Day for Lost Species which, depending on our actions this day and this week
- and the actions of tomorrow’s children and young people - may or may not
someday include us…
©‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme
and past blog entries to be found on X/Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. X/Twitter ‘follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue
welcome...
[i]
See previous blogs: June 2022 https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2022/06/pistis-re-ponders-international-days.html
October 2020 https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2020/10/pistis-reclaims-post-weekending-october.html
August 2019 https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2019/08/pistis-reclaims-international-day-wc.html
[ii] https://globaldimension.org.uk/ ‘Teaching
resources to bring connection, compassion and conversation to your classroom’
[iv] https://www.churchofengland.org/about/general-synod/groups-sessions-information/general-synod-november-2023
[v]
UNESCO explanation
[vi] https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/teaching-controversial-issues-a-guide-for-teachers-620473/
Full ‘pdf’ of the document is available here and ‽istis would commend it
heartily.
[vii]
There it is again – see previous blogs…
[ix]
Words in parenthesis added by ‽istis from later in the text.
[x] John
Bunyan ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ http://www.covenantofgrace.com/pilgrims_progress_slough_of_despond.htm
how apt for the activities in the Church of England’s General Synod this week,
where progress v status quo was perhaps most at stake…?
