Annotation
Course Description
The course deals with major issues of critical pedagogy: social exclusion, oppression and empowerment within the context of minorities living in CR and gender issues in CR.
Special attention will be paid to education ofRoma in CR and central Europe (historical context for understanding the current situation will be included). We will explore both the policy level (with our guest speaker:
Iveta Němečková from Ministry of Education) as well as the practice and initiatives of nongovernmental organizations in the Czech Republic (People in Need Foundation: one of the most influential NGOs in the CR with vast experience with socially excluded people). We will look closer on connection between social exclusion and education.
We will also reflect on how to teach inclusive education when visiting a community schoolin Prague (see
Midterm project).We will look closer on issues of forced labor, migration and human trafficking in connection to
Mongolian and Vietnamese migrants to CR. We will visit the International Organization for Migration in Prague and discuss issued connected to migration to and learn more about the situation of Mongolian migrants in CR. With a
Vietnamese guide we will have the chance to explore the "Vietnamese town" in Prague called SAPA and visit Klub
Hanoi (the most active NGO in CR facilitating integration of Vietnamese in Czech society and schools).
Reflecting on ways of dealing with these issues in education, we will try one of well-known critical pedagogy techniques of empowerment in a drama workshop. (Augusto Boal: Theater of the Oppressed will be facilitated by guest lecturer form Masaryk University).
Lastly, the issue of gender will be dealt in connection to communism in pre-1989 CR and its influence on perception of feminism in the Czech Republic today. We will look closer at the gender imbalance in education.
Critical reflection on readings by renowned critical pedagogues: Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Joe Kincheloe,
Augusto Boal et al. will guide our understanding of the topics.