Workshops for the Guide

Dear Participants

We invite you "Critical Pedagogy in Textbooks: Developing More Equitable, Inclusive and Pluralistic Content" to invite you to a workshop titled "Textbooks as a tool for critical analysis". This workshop aims to provide educators with methods that will help them critically analyze textbooks and identify criteria that can be used to show that their content is more egalitarian, inclusive and pluralistic.

By attending this workshop, educators will gain valuable insights on how to identify and combat biases, stereotypes and omissions in textbooks. They will also reflect on practical strategies for creating more balanced and diverse educational programs that promote social justice and empower all students. In this process, participants are expected to participate in discussions and engage in practical work. Participants of this workshop will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of a guidance text based on critical pedagogy that will serve as a resource for educators who want to introduce more equitable, inclusive and pluralistic content into their classrooms.

We believe that your expertise and experience will greatly enrich the discussions and contribute to the success of the workshop. Your participation will be extremely valuable to us. If you have any questions or need further information, do not hesitate to contact [email protected].

We thank you for considering this invitation and look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,
Canan Aratemür Çimen & Pervin Oya Taneri

Dear Participants

Critical pedagogy and ecological pedagogy represent different but complementary approaches to education. Both emphasize the importance of education for a more participatory, just and sustainable world; they share commonalities in their emphasis and approach to social justice, sustainability and transformative education. These commonalities show that critical pedagogy and ecological pedagogy share an understanding of education that aims for social and environmental justice, in which human beings and nature are considered together.

Whereas critical pedagogy aims to encourage critical analysis and questioning of existing structures and raise awareness of the systems that shape both our society and the world, ecological pedagogy is concerned with fostering environmental literacy, sustainability and a deep connection with the natural world. 

Adopting an educational approach based on ecological pedagogy, forest schools enable children to establish a deep connection with nature, learn to protect the natural environment, and identify a sustainable lifestyle, all while allowing them to discover this on their own in unstructured natural learning environments and take responsibility for their own learning processes. Through games played in nature and activities to raise their awareness, children have the opportunity to develop independent thinking, problem solving, empathy and communication skills. 

The aim of our workshop, organized in line with these aims and achievements, is to address how we can contribute to the process of children establishing a deep connection with nature, learning to protect their natural environment and taking responsibility for a sustainable future through practical examples and concrete practices. 

In today's fast-paced world, where we often forget the peace and balance offered to us by nature, which is a unique resource and learning environment, you can register for our workshop (registration link), which we hope will strengthen our bond with nature as much as children.

We look forward to your participation.

Hope to see you soon,

Arzu PEKSEV & Yasin SANCAK

Dear Participants

The Village Institutes, which have left their mark on the history of Turkish education as a unique and experimental model, are one of the most important and lasting institutions of the republic's social transformation project. The Village Institutes have left their mark on the history of Turkish education as institutions designed to provide access to education for poor village children and focused on raising them as a "generation of village-based intellectuals" with the capacity to transform the natural and social environment in which they lived. Its transformative impact was not limited to the villages; it functioned as social and cultural centers that developed enlightenment horizons with its approach to education, curriculum, management and functioning style. 

The village institutes provided the conditions and tools for the development of critical consciousness with its teaching and management processes organized in a self-managing and participatory manner, its broad-minded educational curriculum offering critical and questioning skills, and its values such as equality, freedom, justice, and solidarity that underpin the theoretical and practical curricula. It is not within the "education for work" model focused on training a functional workforce required by today's capitalist reproduction process, but within the "school of work and life" approach that aims to overcome the distinction between vocational technical education and general education, combining theory and practice.

With these characteristics, the Village Institutes, one of the most important and lasting institutions of the social transformation project of the Republic, were closed down under the pressure and siege of the circles that opposed them for fear of losing their privileges. The structure of the Village Institutes, a concrete example of the transformative function of education, of which there are now very few living witnesses, should be revisited through the lens of critical pedagogy in order to curb the negative trajectory of education in today's Turkey. This short but influential and radical historical experience poses a wide range of research questions for critical educators.

The main goal of our workshop titled "What lessons can be learned from the Village Institutes for today?" is to evaluate the potential of the Village Institutes in the education system of today's Turkey from the perspective of critical pedagogy in terms of the dialectic/tension between ideological apparatus and social transformation, and the contradictory nature of reproduction. Our workshop aims to critically examine to what extent and how the village institute model can be transferred to the current concrete conditions of our country

Proposal texts should be at least 1000 words. Your proposals should include the concrete work plan and methods of the practice to be exhibited in the workshop. Proposal texts should reflect the participants' innovative and concrete research on village institutes and critical pedagogy. It is important to develop proposals based on an evaluation of the question of how the village institutes can be updated and incorporated into today's education system from a critical pedagogy perspective.

The selection of participants will be based on the applicability, innovation and contribution to critical pedagogy of the proposals. The selected participants will interact with other participants throughout the workshop. At the end of the workshop, the workshop coordinator will write a paper on the practices exhibited and discussed in the workshop and this paper will be included in the Congress book.

We thank you for considering this invitation and look forward to your participation.

Şermin Külahoğlu & Songül Sallan-Gül

Dear Participants

This call aims to create a platform for academic debate and exchange of ideas on how religious education should be handled within a secular education system. A secular education system aims to provide students with comprehensive and objective knowledge, while keeping an equal distance from various beliefs and opinions. In this context, how religious education should be shaped is a vital issue for both educators and society.

This special call aims to bring together experts from different disciplines to identify the aims, scope and methodology of religious teaching in secular education. Our aim is to develop an inclusive, objective and informative approach to various religions and belief systems.

Main Topics for Discussion:

1. Secularism and Religious Education: What should be the basic principles of religious education in a secular education system?
2. Diversity and Inclusion: How should different religions and beliefs be accommodated and how should students be encouraged to respect their own and other beliefs?
3. Pedagogical Approaches: How to choose pedagogical methods and educational materials to be used in religious education?
4. Academic Objectivity: How should religious education define the boundaries between knowledge and belief?

Call for Participation and Cooperation:

Educators, academics, religious scholars, sociologists, anthropologists and experts from other relevant disciplines are invited to participate in this call. Opinions and suggestions from various segments of society are also welcome.

Conclusion:

A secular education system should be based on respect for different beliefs and opinions. This call aims to open a dialog on how religious education can be shaped in accordance with these principles.

Murat Catal

Dear Participants

Schools and universities are important living spaces for children, young people, education workers and, to a different extent, parents; a significant part of everyday life takes place in schools and universities. Schools and universities witness a wide variety of forms of self-expression: languages in the form of writing and speaking, sounds (music), colors (painting), giving form to objects (sculpture), movements of the body in the form of dance and sports, etc. Among these forms of self-expression, schools can be considered one of the most powerful and widespread sites of discourse. Through discourse, many mental, emotional and kinesthetic productions come to life and the components of education can generate the power to exist. In this context, schools can be a space for the self-development, empowerment and liberation of every interacting individual.

Children have rights: to live freely and with dignity; to grow up in an environment of love and understanding; to an education that develops their knowledge and skills and their ability to think and make decisions freely; to health care that protects their physical and mental health; to healthy food and shelter. Important decisions about children's lives cannot be made without consulting them. However, children and young people are not included in decision-making processes with a paternalistic approach. Despite their rights, children cannot escape being the target of the state, markets and the uniformizing practices of various political and social pressure groups.

The capitalist system exploits child labor; condemns children to poverty as well as their parents; does not allocate sufficient resources for poor children to benefit from education and health services, healthy nutrition and shelter; paves the way for children to be subjected to violence by nurturing a sexist, oppressive and militarist culture that causes wars; prevents the right to education in their mother tongue; turns children into the target group of unlimited consumption hunger, directing them to consume unhealthy foods, branded and expensive clothing and other products. In addition, public education is rapidly moving away from secular, scientific education. With a speciesist understanding of education, the possibilities for an ecologically sensitive education are being destroyed.

The removal of the public character of schools with all its components, the limitation of self-governance practices, the deepening and widespread inequalities in education, the centralization of school life, and the centralization of school life almost paralyze a vibrant, dynamic, creative, joyful and productive school life.

Critical pedagogy, which produces critical knowledge of school and university life and discusses the possibilities of implementing free educational practices, aims to create the conditions for a free education at both macro and micro levels. Critical pedagogy questions social and educational inequalities in society, identifies their sources and advocates their elimination through the empowerment and liberation of individuals and communities. The contribution of schools to this process of empowerment and emancipation is important.

"Possibilities of Applying Critical Pedagogy at School" In our workshop, we aim to discuss what can be done and which methods can be used in schools to eliminate inequalities in society, to ensure justice and equality in education, to change the relations between teachers and students in a positive way, especially based on the experiences of educators/participants. We will conduct our workshop based on "dialog" within the framework of the basic principles of critical pedagogy. We aim to develop an implementation guide for educators within the framework of the implementation suggestions that will emerge as a result of the discussions.

Please fill out the participation form to participate in this interactive workshop where experiences will be shared among the participants.

We thank you for considering this invitation and look forward to your participation.

Nejla Kurul & Cennet Engin

Dear Participants

“A Critical Pedagogy Perspective on the Education of Children with Special Needs" In our workshop, we will discuss with educators, academics and families of children with disabilities how children with special education needs can have the same educational rights as their normally developing peers (which is their constitutional right), the problems encountered in special education in general (inclusive education and its aftermath, integration, vocational education) and solutions in terms of critical pedagogy.

Please fill out the participation form to participate in this interactive workshop where experiences will be shared among the participants.

We thank you for considering this invitation and look forward to your participation.

Regards

Besim Toker