Teacher education for democracy in Sarajevo and San Francisco: Pedagogical tools to connect theory and practice

Abstract

The rise of nationalism that deepens hatred of the ‘other’, long-standing divisions and legacies of oppression threaten democracy around the globe. Despite the urgency of advancing transformative democratic education in the face of these daunting challenges, in real classrooms, most teachers do not take up this endeavour. Teacher education has a vital role to play in preparing teachers to educate democratic civic agents in contentious political contexts. This article presents teaching practices from two teacher educators from very different locations, Sarajevo and San Francisco, who equip pre-service teachers with pedagogical experiences and curricular tools that prepare them for five distinctive roles. These roles empower novices to bring transformative democratic education into their future classrooms.

How Can Service-Learning Shape the Political Perspectives of Pre-Service Teachers? A Program in the Field of Physical Education

“…Thanks to the direct experience provided by the SL program, pre-service teachers could gain awareness about the relevant role of teachers to foster inclusion, regardless of the capacities of the students. In this sense, Pace and Kasumagić–Kafedžić [ 24 ] assert that teacher education is a key stage to foster key competences among future teachers. In fact, according to these authors, pre-service teachers should not only possess civic and democratic competences, but also promote them among their future students.…”

“…Pace and Kasumagić–Kafedžić [ 24 ] assert that teacher education is a key stage to promote pre-service teachers’ skills. They particularly highlight that this stage may strongly influence their capacity for educating civic and democratic citizens, since it may provide pre-service teachers with pedagogical experiences and tools that enable them to embed democratic and transformative approaches to their future teaching practices.…”