Education For Citizenship In The Caribbean

Abstract

This study aims to describe teacher training and curricular policy for the primary and secondary levels in relation to education for citizen ship in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic and make practical recommendations for improvements in the quality of design and implementation of these initiatives in the three countries. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE CONCLUSIONS: At the start of the twenty-first century, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti share a context in which the processes of democratization have encountered obstacles connected with their colonial heritage, the hegemony of the European nations and the influence and direct interference from United States geo political, economic and cultural power. These democracies have developed from long and violent political dictatorships, which established authoritarian and restrictive institu tional mechanisms for the day-to-day administration of public affairs. Public policies on education for citizenship should therefore take account of the contradictions faced by the democratizing processes and of the complex cultural impact on the development of social identities brought about by the phenomenon of mass migration. These issues and the tensions arising from social and economic inequalities are inadequately addressed in the three countries’ curricular and teacher training policies. There are legal bases integrating education for citizenship as part of the State’s educational responsibilities in all three countries. Education for citizenship is intended as a specific subject for the primary and secondary school levels. Educational proposals are required that can provide the popula tion with greater understanding of community life, skills for con fronting traditional ideological indoctrination, and for learning to live together while recognizing differences, and for helping to educate the imagination for a broader view of human affairs and our responsibilities with regard to them. The actors involved in teacher training in the three countries consider it a key tool for the democratic development of soci eties. Their main criticisms indicate that there is a need to improve the contents and the approaches to teacher training so that they can respond to the current challenges of these soci eties from an interdisciplinary standpoint consistent with the stat ed educational goals. THIS STUDY MAKES THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS: To promote processes for improved design of pre-and in-service teacher training curricula by including pedagogical contents and approaches for reinforcing education for citizenship. To develop national and regional activities directed at teacher trainers and primary and secondary education teachers that will foster the exchange of experiences and viewpoints on education for citizenship. To support the production and distribution of materials and teaching guides that can foster teacher retraining and the devel opment of more effective teaching practice in the three countries under study. To develop special refresher courses for the actors involved in teacher training so they can incorporate an interdisciplinary approach to education for citizenship based both on the chal lenges posed by national and international contexts and on the needs of the stakeholders. To involve teachers in the production and diffusion of participa tory pedagogical strategies that will provide consistent support for the established objectives of education for citizenship, foster ing attitudes and capacities for peaceful human coexistence and environmental sustainability.