1st UNESCO/EURED In-Service Teacher Training Course
“Human Rights and Peace Education in Europe” 2004-2006

European Peace Education
EURED-Secretariat
Mag. Ursula Gamauf
ÖSFK/ASPR - Office Vienna
Wiedner Gürtel 10
A-1040 Wien / Austria
Tel/Fax: 0043/ 1/ 796 57 11
eMail: gamauf@aspr.ac.at;
www.aspr.ac.at/eured.htm

With 34 participants – mainly teachers, teacher trainers, representatives of school authorities and NGO members – from 15 European countries and the USA, the UNESCO/EURED course has successfully started. The first seminar of the two year course – under the auspices of UNESCO, and officially recognised as a university course by the University of Klagenfurt/Austria – took place in the historic venue of Gernika, Basque Country/Spain (24 – 30th July 2004). For one week, the intercultural seminar group was facilitated by two international course directors and trained by international and local experts to get a basic knowledge of peace and human rights education in Europe.

The course, conceived and organised by EURED (European Network for European Education as Peace Education,) is a pioneer project. It offers in-service teacher training on peace and human rights education as a comprehensive curriculum in the form of a two year course comprising five seminars, practice assignments, electronic networking and a final paper. Beginning in the historic year of the EU enlargement, it provides additional training for teachers working in formal as well as informal education and teacher trainers from European countries both inside and outside of the European Union. Europe is part of the curriculum as a topic, an aim and a ‘method’ of peace and human rights education. The aim is to promote peace and human rights education as content as well as method, through the choice of issues, the commitment and pedagogical skills of trainers and speakers, and the creativity in learning methods. The combination of theory and practice has been used as a training style, a resources offering approach. Thus, the methodology for the course is that participants, facilitators and experts shape the seminars together, drawing on the resources they all bring to this course and on the case studies and NGOs to be found in the respective countries where the seminars take place. The ongoing e-learning contacts will establish a European network of practitioners in Peace and Human Rights Education.

During the first seminar, excellent international and local trainers presented the audience with different aspects of the main topic - peace and human rights education:
– Betty Reardon (USA; founding director of the Peace Education Programme at the Columbia University Teachers College, and co-founder of the Global Campaign for Peace Education) concentrated in her interactive lecture on the connections between human rights and peace education, using practical methods to underline scientific theories.
– Juan Gutiérrez (Basque country/Spain; facilitator in efforts to resolve the Basque conflict, founder of the Peace Centre Guernika Gogoratuz) gave the participants deeper insights into the Basque conflict, explaining the theoretical background as well as political connections to the politics of the European continent.
– Werner Wintersteiner (Austria; EURED-director, teacher of didactics at the Institute for German Studies at Klagenfurt University and member of various peace initiatives) lectured on the European dimension of peace and human rights education and the chances for Europe as a force for Peace.
– Iratxe Momoito (director of the Gernika Peace Museum) introduced the Museum which is constructed and used as a pedagogical tool itself, based on the extraordinary reconciliation process within the Spanish society as well as between Spain and Germany.
– Maria Oianguren Idigoras (Basque country/Spain; director of the peace centre Gernika Gogoratuz) explained the work of her peace centre and what it contributes to a culture of peace on local, national and international level.
– Nieves Fernándes (Basque country/Spain; coordinator of the peace program in the Artxandape School) presented the teaching-learning strategies of her school which is one of the UNESCO Linguapax network schools.
– Furthermore, the participants were facilitated by the international course directors Mireia Uranga Arakistain (Basque country/Spain; teacher trainer on Peace Education, head of the department of peace education of Gernika Gogoratuz) and Diane Hendrick (UK/Austria; free lance consultant, trainer and researcher in Conflict Transformation).

The EURED curriculum was developed by international scientists and practitioners as a two years EU sponsored project. Thanks to further financial support of international sponsors such as UNESCO as well as the UNESCO National Commissions of Austria, Malta, Spain, Norway and Luxembourg, the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Interkulturelles Zentrum (IZ/Vienna), the Basque Ministry of Education and Culture, the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Gernika Gogoratuz (Peace Research Centre) and the University of Klagenfurt, it was possible to carry out the this first seminar with 34 participants from 15 European countries – Malta, Croatia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro, Georgia, Greece, Austria, Armenia, Italy, Cyprus and Germany – and the USA.

Based on the vision of European peace education, seminar 1 concentrated on providing basic knowledge, values and skills of peace and human rights education, interactively elaborating methods of action research, and providing deeper insights on activities in the main field. As the venue is to be used as a resource for learning, the Basque conflict and the educational responses to the local problems were explored, as well as the region’s history: Gernika was destroyed by Nazi Bombers during World War II, but afterwards went through an extraordinary reconciliation process.
Above all, the importance of the development of European peace education as an ultimate goal was analysed, as well as the unique historic chance for Europe becoming a force for peace.

The EURED project has already influenced important events. For the first time, a special course on peace education was offered in the yearly Basque Country summer university, supported by EURED members acting as trainers, and under the auspices of the Basque Minister of Education. Furthermore, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia/Italy, a network of teachers working for peace education projects was created by one of the UNESCO/EURED course participants. The network is sponsored by the regional Government and provided with the know-how of EURED. In other countries, course participants are working on the creation of special peace education projects using international co-operation, based on the EURED vision and knowledge. “A balance of success”, commented EURED chairman Werner Wintersteiner on EURED’s positive impact on developments in the field of peace and human rights education.