Reconciliation pedagogies and critical ambivalence in teacher professional development: insights from a case study in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on ethnographic data from a project on peace education and reconciliation pedagogies in the conflict-affected context of Cyprus. Following a primary school teacher over the period of eight months in peace education workshops and in her classroom before and after the workshops, we trace critical moments that seem to have an impact on teacher’s thoughts and emotions in relation to conflict and reconciliation. Analysing extracts of interaction both from the workshops as well as from her classroom, we show her struggle to cope with reconciliatory ideas and the dominant conflict ethos, pointing to possibilities for change but also resistances and limitations. Despite the detailed focus on one individual, we use data from the whole project to contextualize her practices and we use her case to highlight important elements to consider when designing reconciliation activities. Using the concept of critical ambivalence, we highlight teachers’ ambivalent emotions during the process (namely, both positive and negative ones) as a first step in deconstructing hegemonic nationalist discourses, and we argue for the value of creating spaces for these ambivalent emotions to be acknowledged and discussed through a critical lens.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher professional development
• peace education
• ambivalence
• reconciliation pedagogies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The project also involved analysis of existing educational policies; a survey; 40 semi-structured interviews with teachers on the new policy (see Zembylas, Charalambous and Charalambous 2016).

2. Elsewhere we have mapped the teachers’ difficulties, and Petroula’s accounts in interview and workshop interaction show that she shared most of the concerns and difficulties voiced by Greek-Cypriot teachers in our larger-scale study (Zembylas et al, 2011).

3. for extended discussion on managing discomfort pedagogically see Zembylas, Charalambous and Charalambous 2012.

4. The objective was often seen by teachers as part of a ‘leftist’ agenda – for extended discussion see Charalambous, Charalambous and Zembylas, 2013.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Open University of Cyprus.

Notes on contributors

Constadina Charalambous

Constadina Charalambous is Assistant Professor of Language Education & Literacy at the European University Cyprus. She holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics & Education (King’s College, 2009). Her main research interests evolve around language education, literacy and multilingualism, in relation to larger cultural and socio-political ideologies and especially in relation to peace, conflict and processes of (in)security. She has received funding from Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, Fulbright and European Union and her work is published in international journals and in a co-authored monograph at CUP (2016).

Michalinos Zembylas

Michalinos Zembylas is Professor of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies at the Open University of Cyprus and Honorary Professor, Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.He has written extensively on emotion and affect in relation to social justice pedagogies, intercultural and peace education, human rights education and citizenship education

Panayiota Charalambous

Panayiota Charalambous holds a PhD in Education (KCL), and works as a Greek language teacher in secondary education. In the past she has worked as a researcher in local and international projects and has been involved in research on literacy education in conflict affected societies. She has also taught in the postgraduate MA programme of the Open University of Cyprus and has co-authored the book Peace Education in a Conflict-Troubled Society: An Ethnographic Journey, Cambridge University Press, 2016.