In preparation for the NECE Conference in Thessaloniki in October 2015, the NECE Initiative hosted the Preparatory Workshop "'Them' and 'Us': Citizenship Education in an Interdependent World" from 8 -10 June 2015 in Thessaloniki (Greece). A number of scholars, multipliers and civil society stakeholders from Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, were invited to discuss citizenship education in interdependent world. The participants discussed the question of how to reimagine and define the role of citizenship education in increasingly divided and polarized societies and the increasingly rigid notions of belonging and identity which are affecting the ability and the readiness for democratically solving conflicts on the international, European and national levels. They discussed how to create workshops at NECE conference 2015 for having a look into the cause and the implications of this phenomenon in three areas of special relevance for citizenship educators:
The impact of Europe’s economic and political division, which has triggered discourses fuelled by fears and dissociation in the core countries of the EU and populist movements in core countries as well as in the southern periphery of the EU.
The perception of a civilizational conflict between the ‘West’ and the ‘Islamic World’ which is leading to dangerous developments on both sides of the Mediterranean.
The repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the challenges for civil society in Eastern Europe and Russia to cope with situations of war and ideological regression and hatred within their societies.
The NECE Workshop provided an open exchange platform for discussing concepts, definitions or projects that tackle multiple aspects of and perspectives on the overall topic, which might be relevant at the NECE Conference in Thessaloniki 2015.
Interner Link: Workshop Programme
Interner Link: List of Participants
Interner Link: Biographies
Date
8 – 10 June 2015
Conference Venue
Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki
Vasilissis Olgas 66
546 42 Thessaloniki (Greece)
Hosts
In co-operation with
Externer Link: Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Women's Affairs (Austria)
Externer Link: ProDemos (the Netherlands)
Externer Link: Civic Education Centre (Czech Republic)
Externer Link: Citizenship Education Centre (Poland)
Externer Link:
University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Supported by
Externer Link: Robert Bosch Stiftung
Externer Link: Goethe Institut Thessaloniki (Greece)
Contact
Externer Link: lab concepts GmbH (Germany)
on behalf of Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb
Phone +49 (0) 30 252 932 56
E-Mail Link: nece@lab-concepts.de
Contact/bpb
Federal agency for Civic Education/bpb
Petra Grüne
Adenauerallee 86
53113 Bonn
Phone +49 (0) 228 99515-289
E-Mail Link: gruene@bpb.bund.de
