Democratic culture and peace pedagogy in teacher education: Practice examples from virtual classrooms

The publication “Democratic culture and peace pedagogy in teacher education: Practice examples from
virtual classrooms” is composed of sessions developed for the online course which was implemented
through the Peace Education Hub of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, within the project ‘Preparing Future Teachers. Educating for Democracy and Human Rights’ (2019-2022).


The main goal of the online course and selected modules was to support prospective teachers ofdifferent subjects to develop competences that are critical for developing and nurturing democratic culture in their classrooms, in their schools and in their communities. The following modules were developed in the course: Identity and Symbols, Prejudices and Stereotypes, Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Learning, Teaching Controversial Issues, Children’s Rights and Inclusive Education.

The pedagogies used in the preparation and the implementation of those modules were based on the principles of democratic, peaceful, participatory, inclusive, reflective and active learning that informed the decisions made in the process of planning and teaching.

The course also integrated the teaching practice component that included active participation of the students in the preparation and planning of the model lessons that were implemented in schools in Sarajevo, with the support of the teacher mentors. The participants in the course were 15 students from three departments: Department of English, Department of History and Department of Pedagogy.