Exploration of the specific teaching methodology of faculty members who teach Human Rights Education as an independent academic subject in Greek Pedagogical Departments: A qualitative approach (full text in Greek)

Abstract

It is common knowledge that, through their policies, global organizations strive to promote Human Rights Education (HRE) at all levels of education. To successfully implement this objective on the first educational level, the teachers engaged in this work must have been trained on issues related to human rights (HR) during their university studies. In other words, pedagogical departments (PDs) are required to implement a targeted and flexible framework for training future teachers on HRs so that they will implement and promote HRE to a great extent.

Through semi structured interviews given by faculty members who teach HRE as an independent academic subject in Greek Pedagogical Departments for Teachers and Early Childhood Educators, this research study examines whether the specific teaching methodology used by faculty members follows the three levels of the educational model of the “cognitive pyramid”. The research results showed that faculty members implement this educational model to some extent. However, they put more emphasis on the first, cognitive, level as compared with the level of awareness-raising/responsibility of students and the level of transformation-activation against HR violations. The question that arises, and which is put forward for debate, is whether such a kind of implementation of the specific educational model can lead to the successful implementation of HRE.