Toward a Critical Hermeneutical Approach in Human Rights Education: Transformative Possibilities and the Challenges of Implementation

Abstract

The present paper examines the implementation of a particular human rights education approach—known as “critical hermeneutical” approach—in the context of two Greek-Cypriot classrooms. The study investigates whether and how an intervention grounded in this approach offers transformative possibilities to students and what kind of challenges it may pose for teachers who implement it. The implications for teacher training and teacher education are discussed.

Notes

¹In addition to the opening of checkpoints by the Turkish-Cypriot side in 2003, a year later the government of the Republic of Cyprus announced measures in support of Turkish-Cypriots; these concerned the movement of people, goods, and services via the demarcation line, and aimed at facilitating trade and the development of contacts and economic relations between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots.

²Turkey invaded in Cyprus on 20 July 1974, in response to a coup d’ etat by Greek military Junta 5 days earlier. The country has been divided since then, forcing 200,000 Greek Cypriots (one-third of the totalpopulation) to be displaced from their homeland and move to the south; also, 45,000 Turkish Cypriots (one-fourth of the total population) were forced to move to the north.

³This perspective on HRE was part of a broader educational policy known as “I don’t forget”—a policy first introduced in the early 1980s with the aim of preserving—and later constructing anew—memories of the occupied north for the younger generations, but also encouraging a militant spirit for reclaiming these territories. Importantly, the policy of “I don’t forget” did not include references to Turkish-Cypriots and prorapprochement perspectives but generally adopted a Hellenocypriocentric perspective, which emphasized the cultural Greekness of the occupied territories and the sufferings of the Greek-Cypriot community caused by Turkey (Charalambous, Charalambous, & Zembylas, 2014).

⁴The new curriculum has been the result of an ongoing educational reform since 2008, after a governmental decision to reform curriculum programs and the educational system in general. The philosophical basis of the reform is described in a manifesto for a “democratic and humanistic education” in Cyprus (Educational Reform Committee, 2004).

⁵Cyprus is part of several Council of Europe’s activities (e.g., the teaching of controversial issues in education); however, there is no real push for HRE in schools (Zembylas et al., 2015).

⁶Pseudonyms are used for the two teacher participants as well as all other names that appear in the paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michalinos Zembylas

Michalinos Zembylas is associate professor of education at the Open University of Cyprus. He is also visiting professor and research fellow at the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, University of the Free State, South Africa. His research interests are in the areas of educational philosophy and curriculum theory, and his work focuses on exploring the role of emotion and affect in curriculum and pedagogy.

Stalo Lesta

Stalo Lesta works as an independent researcher and consultant in not-for-profit organizations (NGOs) in Cyprus. Her research interests are in the areas of gender studies, human rights education, and not-for-profit consulting and management.

Constadina Charalambous

Constadina Charalambous is an assistant professor of language education and literacy at the European University of Cyprus. Her research interests include interactional sociolinguistics, peace education, and language learning in contexts of conflict.

Panayiota Charalambous

Panayiota Charalambous works as an adjunct lecturer at the Open University of Cyprus. Her research interests include literature education, literacy as social practice, nationalism in education, and intercultural and peace pedagogies in divided societies.