Council of Europe training Programme for
education professionals
Programme de formation du Conseil
de l'Europe pour les professionnels de
l'éducation
Report on the Pilot
Educational Resources:
PESTALOZZI CORE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS
AND ATTITUDES FOR ALL TEACHERS
“Emancipatory education”
Branko Bognar - Croatia
Version : 1
Date: 22 March 2011
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General information:

The teacher and author: Branko Bognar, Ph.D., professor at Josip Juraj Strossmayer University
of Osijek, Faculty of philosophy, Department of pedagogy.

Title of educational activities: Emancipatory education.

Dates of piloting, length of session(s):
o March 7, 2011:
Philosophical and anthropological ideas about human “nature”:
Why did Neanderthals become extinct, or what does it mean to be a human being?
(duration of workshop: 180 minutes)
o March, 11, 2011:
Education and society: How to overcome discrimination?
(duration of workshop: 180 minutes)
o March 18, 2011: Human creativity and social changes: Inquiry in public spheres.
(duration of workshop 180 minutes)

Type of training: pre-service.

Title of the course in which the piloting session was incorporated: Methodology of education.

Number of students: from 19 to 32.
Reflection and evaluation:
Workshop 1
Title:
180 minutes
Preparatory activity: Why did Neanderthals become extinct, or what does it mean to be a
human being?
The main purpose of this workshop was raising awareness about what makes us different as human
beings and that we are free and creative beings who do not have a nature; we create our nature that is
our culture. Specific aims were
 Determining similarities and dissimilarities between modern human beings and Neanderthals.
 Finding an answer to the question: “What does it mean to be a human being?”
 Raising awareness about importance of freedom and creativity for our species.
Those aims were realised through the following activities:
 Participants were divided in small groups of four to six members. They were asked to devise
names and symbols for those groups. Each group got a white cardboard folder which they could
use as a portfolio. They wrote down names of groups and drew their symbols on those folders.
Those groups will remain as such during the whole semester.
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 Then I gave them the following instruction: “You have met a group of aliens who are friendly
and would like to get to know more about human beings. How would you introduce us as a
species? Try to present it in the form of a role-play.” They had 20 minutes to prepare
themselves.
Figure 1.
Students prepare role-play
 Students presented their role-plays. This activity was very exciting and amusing for the most of
the students, which you may observe on the video.
 Students were asked to individually write down their answers/assumptions to/about the
question: “Why did Neanderthals become extinct while our species survived?”
 Then they watched a part of the film “Neanderthal”.
 In small groups students had to read and discuss excerpts from philosophical and
anthropological literature and give their answers to the following questions:
o What were the most important distinctions between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons
human beings?
o How could we connect those distinctions with the fact that Neanderthals died out and we
survived?
o How do you understand the philosophical claim that we do not have nature, but our
distinguishing mark is our work or culture which we create?
o What do you think about Hegel’s statement that freedom “does not exist as original and
natural, rather must it be first sought out and won?”
o In what way our freedom and creativity can be hindered?
o What would happen to culture if human beings were not free?
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o What would happen to human beings without freedom and creative development of our
culture?
o How can we avoid extinction of human beings?
Figure 2.
Students read and discuss excerpts from philosophical and anthropological literature
 Students needed to represent the main distinctions between Neanderthals and human beings in
the form of comic strips.
 At the end students sitting in a circle discussed the main issues which were connected with the
main question of workshop: What does it mean to be a human being?
Generally, all aims of the workshop were achieved. On the basis of video records, photos and students
comments it is obvious that they enjoyed and actively participated in almost all activities. Although
they got enough information and incentives to grasp that the main feature of human beings is their
work or culture which they create, not their biological “nature”, some of them were not able to
understand it completely. The final conversation which was organized in the circle was an opportunity
for me to emphasise and explain the main point of the lesson. This also means that active and
independent students’ learning could contribute to understanding of some concepts but often it is
important that a teacher discusses and explains it to students.
At the end of workshop students could complete an evaluation sheet which was prepared by Maja
Bungić. She is a student who does not belong to this group. She was my critical friend and took care of
evaluation and videotaping of workshops. She analysed students evaluation sheets and concluded that
half of the students emphasised that they enjoyed participating in the workshop and 37,5% liked
watching the film about Neanderthals. Some of them also pointed out in a positive sense a better
understanding of differences between humans and Neanderthals, cooperative learning, creativity and
dynamics of teaching. Here are some examples of students’ positive feedbacks:
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1. What I liked in classes today was that we cooperated and watched a movie
2. I really liked the topic, I like to know a lot about common culture.
3. I liked: communication, activities, cooperation, creativity.
4. I really liked the lecture, it was interesting (a movie) and creative.
5. Just praises for today’s work, very dynamic.
One third of all the students who completed the evaluation sheet gave negative feedbacks. Most of
them resented lack of time for finishing all the planned activities:
1. I don’t like that not everyone’s interested.
2. I didn’t like the task where we had to role play extra-terrestrials. I don’t find it suitable for our
age, and many didn’t take it seriously
3. Many things to do, and not enough time, we didn’t lose time.
This was the first class at the beginning of semester and we had the problem of overlapping classes
in the timetable. Some students were not able to participate in this workshop until the end since
they had some other class. Therefore, just 16 (or 61,5%) students participated completely in all
activities and completed the evaluation of the workshop.
To the question about how this workshop could be improved students gave the following suggestions:
1. Classes should be as it was today, just work on a discipline a bit.
2. More realistic activities/time distribution, sometimes less is more.
3. For future classes: let the classes in future be creative as today, cooperation between colleagues.
4. Less drawing, more practical work.
5. For future: The same way of work.
Workshop 2
Title:
180 minutes
How to overcome discrimination?
General aim of this workshop was finding a way for overcoming discrimination in a school institution
and a specific aim was recognising various types of discrimination on the basis of gender, age, religion.
Those original aims were extended with additional aim: importance of society in education, that is, how
different socio-cultural conditions influence education.
Those aims were realised through the following activities:
 Students were to answer the question: “What is the role of society in education of children?” on
the basis of watching the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PyUfG9u-P4) and reading
the text (http://www.dogsinthenews.com/stories/060925b.php) about a feral child Oxana
Malaya. Students concluded that without social influence none of us would be able to develop
as human being. This means that in addition to our biological preconditions we need to grow up
in social environment.
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 The next task was inquiring possible differences in education which are determined by cultural
and social diversities. Students had to read the text about life in pre Neolithic and Neolithic
societies and devise how those differences could make effect on education of children. Then
they needed to devise and describe education in three different societies: a) society is more
important than an individual, b) an individual is more important than society, c) society is
community of free individuals. Students actively contributed to the achievement of teaching
aims and after that to the representation of their works. I rounded off the lesson with the most
important conclusions about education in society which is based on democratic values.
Figure 3.
Discussion about cultural preconditions of education
 The second part of the lesson was devoted to emancipatory education. At the beginning I asked
students to say some associations they had with the term “emancipation.” Then they, divided in
small groups of four to six members, had to deal with the same task. They needed to draw a
mind map about discrimination. However, one group was privileged while other groups had
some difficulties in realisation of task: three groups got the worksheet “What is
discrimination?” and three groups worked without any guidelines. Three groups drew mind
maps using left hand if they were normally right-handed and vice versa. Three groups could use
felt-tip pens while others were not allowed to use them. I informed the students that their work
would be graded at the end. The main criteria for assessment were accuracy of information,
tidiness and colourfulness of drawings. After finishing their mind-maps the group
representatives presented their works and the student – critical friend, who did not participate in
the workshop, graded each of them. She praised and criticised works taking into account only
the given criteria regardless of the different conditions they were in. Although some students
had been aware of the hidden purpose of this activity they openly expressed their emotions,
particularly disapproval with such way of grading which was unfair to the most of them. At the
end of this activity we had a discussion about the following questions:
o How did you feel while you were working on your exercise?
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o Are there similar possibilities for discrimination in schools in real life?
o Name a few similar real life experiences in which you felt some kind of discrimination.
Almost all students expressed mostly negative feelings even those who were not discriminated.
They did not feel well since other students were jealous and did not acknowledge their success.
Several students told their stories from the real life when they felt discriminated. Each of them
got applause for their ingenious examples.
 In the final activity students, divided in groups, were to take the role of a head teacher and
decide who should get the job on the basis of instructions which mostly consisted of
discriminatory prejudices. Representatives of each group had to take the role of a head teacher
and explain his/her election. Other students were asked to challenge those explanations, and try
to find different treatment on which discrimination was grounded. This activity was very
interesting for students and they vigorously discussed each decision about employment of a
particular teacher. In the end, some of them shared their experiences about discriminatory
practice in some schools which they attended.
 Planned web-forum discussion was omitted since I estimated that it could be too much for them
and some students were absent what could result in confusion. If we had had more time; it could
have been excellent addition to this activity. So, at the end, a teacher could invite students to
study different legislative solutions which are employed in a particular country regarding
teacher employment. Except that, students could conduct interviews with teachers and headteachers about this problem and try to find out how this problem is treated in other European
countries. They could suggest changes in laws which will reduce possibilities of discrimination.
All of these findings they can represent and discuss on the web forum which could be available
to them.
Critical friend – Maja Bungić asked students to complete evaluation sheets in which they were
supposed to respond to the following:

Today I have learned:
Students say that, in regard to the content of the lesson / workshop, they have learned the most about
the harmfulness of discrimination (95%), then about the emancipatory education, the importance of
individual liberty and the difference between farming and hunting communities. One student said she
learned how to be creative.

I like the most:
When asked what they liked the most, students state their answers in the following order: activity
"Discrimination" (42%), practical work and discussion on employment (16%), mentalmaps, group
work, the way teacher works, creativity, a relaxed atmosphere.

I do not like:
Students did not like the feeling of discrimination in the activities about discrimination (25%), the term
of instruction (20%) and drawing (16% or 3 students), while 37% of students left this section empty.

In my practice I will use:
In their future work as pedagogues, students will make use of: the way the teacher teaches (37%),
examples of practical tasks, methods that can prevent discrimination, criteria for the selection of
teachers and mentioned forms of discrimination.

I would suggest to professor:
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Suggestions for improving the teaching process have shown that students are satisfied with teaching,
and suggest that the professor continues with teaching as well and continue to lead the classes (26%),
suggest more audio-visual resources in teaching, more discussions and workshops. 47 % or 9 students
did not complete this part of evaluation.
Workshop 3
180 minutes
The last workshop partly consisted of activities which were planned to be obtained in two lessons. Due
to the short time for realization of educational program I decided to connect 3 rd and 4th workshop and
create new one with aim to study how we can make significant changes in practice by connecting with
other people and by engaging our creative potentials. This aim was realised through the following
activities:
 Icebreaker: Discover creative dancer in yourself. Students divided in six groups were invited
to improvise funny and unusual dance to the music which one of them chose. At the end, each
group had a minute to present their creative dance choreographies. Four of six groups
performed their creative dance and two refused to participate in this activity. Therefore, this
activity was not accepted by almost one third of students, what they stated in evaluation sheets.
However, it seems that students who participated in this activity enjoyed.
 Face from the cover page. This activity was not planned, but it represented substitution for the
planned activity Festival of creative potentials. Each student should draw a cover page and
write a short article about themselves. They particularly needed to mention why each of them
was chosen as the person of year emphasising their real and possible creative abilities and
deeds. At the end of this activity each of them had to represent her/his cover page to the other
members of the group.
Image 4.
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Face from the cover page
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 Fairy tale: Flying ship. Students divided in groups of six members should read the text,
determine and discuss the point of the folk tale “Flying ship”. After that each group had to draw
a flying ship, describe their individual strengths and devise a fairy tale about unusual task they
could be able to do as a group by using their individual abilities. Representatives of groups
represented their flying ships and fairy tales which they created. This activity was warmly
accepted by almost all participants. They enjoyed reading fairy tales Flying ship, drawing their
flying ships and writing their imaginary stories.
 After representing students’ drawings of flying ships and reading their fairy tales I gave them a
mini-lecture about the main features of public sphere and education for active and responsible
citizenship. I connected this with recent students’ demonstrations in which many of them
participated. They recognised themselves at photos which were included in the presentation
about public spheres. Some of them told their experiences and in that way contributed to the
liveliness and actuality of topic Education and public spheres.
 At the end students had to choose a topic and plan inquiry about public spheres and their
educational influences. They chose to research the following public spheres:
o Students’ movement for free education in Croatia
o Students’ movement against state final exam at the end of secondary school,
o Centre for peace, non-violence and human rights in Osijek (http://www.centar-zamir.hr/index.php?page=home&lang=en)
o Association for informal education,
o Association of parents who have children with Dawn’s syndrome
In their projects students could find out in which way particular community of practice,
organisation, association or movement satisfy the main features of public sphere. They could
represent some activities, projects, and participants as well as impact which a particular public
sphere had/has on local or global society. It was suggested to them to determine problems and
controversies of public spheres. They had to present their project after two weeks. Students
could present their projects in different and creative ways. They could make videos, photo
exhibitions, posters, invite guests, organise role-plays, video conferences etc.
The main problem in this workshop was that some students attended classes for the first time
and they probably were not able to completely grasp the meaning of this workshop since it
relied on previous two classes. Several students were not accustomed to active learning and
they resisted taking apart in some activities or they were slightly restrained during participation
in workshops.
At the end they could evaluate this workshop and the weakest aspects of workshop were
satisfying their educational needs in this area (3,83 of 5) and relevance for their practice (3,84
of 5). The best estimated were their opportunities to be creative (4,65), the effective facilitating
of workshop (4,61), the cooperation with other students (4,55), and the level of interactivity
(4,52).
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I had enough opportunities to be creative.
The facilitator was effective.
The cooperation with other students was right for me.
The level of interactivity was appropriate for this workshop.
I was able to take responsibility for my learning.
The level of difficulty of the content was right for me.
The workshop covered the problem of the topic which…
The pace of activities was right for me.
The workshop objectives were achieved.
The workshop activities were interesting.
The workshop objectives were clearly stated.
I was encouraged to express my critical thinking.
The supporting resource materials supplied (or referred…
The workshop is relevant for my future practice.
The workshop satisfied my educational needs in this area.
1,00
Image 5.
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
Results of evaluation of third workshop
The most of them (26 of 32) emphasized some aspects of the workshop they gained the most
benefit from. Most commended the activity Flaying ship (10), possibility to be creative (8) and
to cooperate with each other (6). They also mentioned as positive dance (2), example with
students’ protest (2), relaxed atmosphere (2). Five of them liked all activities. Some of their
positive comments are:
1. I liked creativity and the group work, which enables everyone to realise their potentials through
cooperation and encouragement of others
2. Activities were interesting, suitable, and well distributed. I like this way of work.
3. Creativity, cooperation, dynamism, music, materials.
4. I like the fact that the music was relaxed and comfortable. There was no pressure so I was able
to express myself.
5. What I liked in particular was that we presented our stories, drew ships, and the introductory
activity where we danced.
Students were also asked to express what they did not like in the workshop. It was done by one
third of them (11 of 32 students). All of them made remarks on the first activity – creative dance:
1. Some activities, like dance, do not meet everyone’s abilities important to let everyone choose
on one’s own accord how to present something
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2. Starting with a dance as a motivation, that didn’t motivate me for further work and I felt
embarrassed a bit
3. Dance – it was a great idea, but it didn’t go well with students.
Generally, all workshops and almost all activates were accepted well. All planned aims were
obtained and students were active and creative in this process. They could express their
experiences and opinions and cooperate with other students. The main problem was irregular
attendance of classes by some students. Those workshops were organised on Friday morning that
could be the main reason for absence of some students. Except that, some students were not
accustomed to such way of learning which required their activity, cooperation and creativity. Some
of them expected more traditional teaching methods.
I intend to publish or present videos of those workshops which could vividly describe the whole
process.
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