Empowering Youth as Democratic Citizens in the Community and the Classroom
Presented by: Romina Kasman, Organization of American States; Marva Ribeiro and Paula Mark, Trinidad and Tobago
Presented at: 5th International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education
Date of Session: March 16, 2012
Session Description: One of the main challenges of education for democratic citizenship is the development of spaces both inside and outside the schools that allow young people to strengthen and practice citizenship competencies. The development of these spaces provides young people not only with the opportunity to channel their voice but also to strengthen their social ties and increase their integration into the community. The purpose of this address is to highlight the importance of working in the formal and non-formal education sectors in order to ensure that young people have opportunities to learn citizenship competencies inside the classroom and in the community. During this presentation, experiences and lessons learned will be shared from two of the projects that the Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices www.educadem.oas.org (Office of Education and Culture, Organization of American States). The professional development course for teachers that is overviewed was supported by this research report on teacher issues related to democratic citizenship education in the Caribbean Sub-Region. The course offered was piloted and then evaluated as reported here.