EFTRE news:
EFTRE Online Workshop – April 2022
Following discussions within the Executive Committee of EFTRE as to how best to respond to the conflict in Ukraine, two decisions were made. The first was to issue a statement on the EFTRE website highlighting the importance of education in developing inter-religious and intercultural understanding, and affirming that “Peacebuilding, in a context of human rights and social responsibility, is an integral part of all our educational encounters and activities”.
The second decision was to prepare an online Workshop in order to flesh out these ideals in a context that might be helpful to religious educators at all levels. It was agreed to find examples of effective practice from different parts of Europe and to offer these for consideration and discussion.
The Workshop took place on 1st April 2022, and participants joined from a range of countries including Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK (England and Northern Ireland). After a welcome and introduction by Lesley Prior, the EFTRE Chair, those taking part were given an opportunity to share their own experiences of dealing with issues around war and conflict.
A powerful reflection via images and words – Passport Photos for Sheltering Ukrainians – was presented by Hugo Verkest, from Belgium, followed by the sharing of a wide range of sources and resources collected by Bianca Kappelhoff and her colleagues in Germany. Lesley Prior made a brief presentation on Quaker Peace Education resources produced in England, and Norman Richardson, based on his experience in Northern Ireland, introduced a PowerPoint presentation entitled Difficult Conversations? – Approaching Controversial Issues in the Religious Education Classroom.
These presentations and links to the resources are now available via this website. We hope that they will be useful both at the present time and in the future. Please bring them to the attention of colleagues, pupils and students.
EFTRE would welcome any other experiences and teaching ideas that you would like to share on these important issues as we continue to encourage and support peacebuilding through Religious Education and related subjects.
The resources collected in Germany referred to above can be found in the following websites:
https://relichat.org/2022/02/28/144-relichat-sehnsucht-nach-frieden-was-geht-die-ukraine-mich-an/https://material.rpi-virtuell.de/themenseite/frieden-und-friedenserziehung/https://my.relilab.org/material/ukraine-praxishilfen-fuer-schule-und-gemeinde/https://www.gpenreformation.net/networkactivities/peace-education-period/information-and-materials/
British Quaker Peace Education resources can be found at:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/QuakerPeaceEducation; and https://quaker.org.uk/resources/free-resources/teaching-resources-2.