2006 volume 3 number 1

On the topic "Education and War"

Elisabeth Zwick

This text gives a short overview of the article on the topic "Education and War" (bildungsforschung, issue 2006 volume 3 number 1).

Pax iusta: Reflections on the theoretical foundations and realization of a pedagogy of peace

Elisabeth Zwick

Despite the importance of peace-pedagogy in regard to present developments, its theoretical foundation is generally still under discussion. Since this discussion is closely associated with the constitutional element of 'peace', a historical overview of the concept of peace is presented along with an analysis of the systematization of peace. In conclusion, recommendations are made for the methodical reflection and theoretical justification of peace-pedagogy in continuing research efforts.

Humanitarian Intervention and Human Rights Education

Josef Bordat

To ensure the protection of the human rights, the role of world community, confronted with a new kind of military violence and terrorism, is discussed under the concepts reaction and prevention, for on the one hand there is the attempt to protect human rights by humanitarian interventionism, that leads to so called “human rights wars” (Beck), on the other hand the UNO shows increasing efforts in preventative means like “human rights education”. These two aspects shall be discussed in the article by analyzing particularly the report The Responsibility To Protect (2001) by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) as well as the latest activities and plans of the United Nations concerning human rights education.

The interaction between faulty educational systems and increase in violence – the example of the fate of child soldiers

Johannes Leidinger

An entry to educational institutions does not exist practically for broad parts of the population: This article emphazises that by using the example of the fate of child soldiers especially in the so called third world. The inadequate international endeavours to enhance the equal opportunities are illustrated. Furthermore, positive concepts are presented, e.g. to peace-pedagogy measures and for reintegration of child soldiers.

School policy in occupied Poland 1939-1945

Georg Hansen

School policy in occupied Poland during the Second World War was a part of a new colonization politic. The goal of the war was the German take over and assimilation of until then Polish territories. The population was murdered, deported, and over time subdued and assimilated. A school policy of extreme ethnic selection was intended to help achieve this wartime goal. This racist politic defined access to formalized education, and resulted in the partial or complete denial of access for sections of the population identified as ethnic. In conclusion, education was drastically limited to almost all young people.

Monotheism in conflict: the recent debate of faith and violence.

Manfred Görg

Currently, according to “Abrahamic” religions, there is a reason for the alienation between cultures. The “Mosaic Decision” of Assmans, a new perspective of religious history, has also lead to a critical view of monotheism. However, biblical literature shows that environmental considerations have been taken here and counter developments have appeared. And these do not come without a righteous and almighty God, showing the reality of a God who in unlimited and unfathomable ways loves every part of creation.

Media-spin on the “oracular reasoning” of the Iraq conflict (2003): an issue of journalist education?

Una Dirks

This paper focuses on actors of the press and their educational resources on behalf of which they were coping with the official war reasons having been disseminated in the wake of the Iraq war. The data sample consists of expert interviews with German journalists. The data are ‘measured’ against a normative guideline that draws on the educational concept of Kant in connection with the approach of interpretive explanations originating from Weber. Besides some typical factors in newsworthiness, the direct or limited adoption of the reasons in favour of war primarily seems to correlate with the editors’ basic policy lines. First and foremost due to corresponding structures of opportunities, the interviewed journalists were (not) able to enact their educational resources.

Journalism and peace - the tasks of conflict reporting

Nadine Bilke

Journalism defines frames of perception, and therefore implies a special responsibility when reporting conflict, crisis and war. The concept of democracy requires a journalism that enables every citizen to form their own political opinion. Only an impartial and constructive conflict reporting can stand up to the values of human rights and peace. The challenges and opportunities of such journalism ethics are discussed and outlined as a concept for peace journalism. This concept has to be adapted on different levels of society: Central to journalism ethics is the inclusion of the audience.

Strategic ecological behaviour as a concept to encourage ecological competence in the context of school and further education

Michael Bilharz & Cornelia Gräsel

This paper presents the two-stage strategy concept BEST. It should enable the systemisation and weighting of alternatives for ecological behaviour on a theoretical level. This is the precondition for strategic ecological behaviour. Based on this concept specific ecological competences are deduced which are proposed as (checkable) learning targets of environmental education.

Class size: an important factor of effective teaching?

Grit im Brahm

The school effectiveness research in German generally assumes class size to be a rather unimportant factor with regard to students’ performance. However, studies e.g. from the U.S. disprove this assumption. Trying to explain this contradictory state of the art this article follows the hypothesis that class size will only then have an effect on academic achievement, if teaching process is adapted to the small class context. Hence, this article presents the results of an explorative study in primary schools that show that the teaching process in small and large classes does not differ essentially.

Feminisation of the teaching sector as a cohort phenomenon: teaching sector development in Baden-Württemberg general education schools

Thomas Eckert

The growing proportion of female teachers has been identified as a potential problem over the last few years, and many proposals have been put forward to counteract this tendency. The current study views this feminisation as a historical phenomenon, and attempts to defend its plausibility through a cohort-specific approach based on socialization theory using log-linear analysis with an A-P-C design. Such an approach results in other practical consequences than have been previously suggested.