Education as a Building Block of Shared Societies and Values – quality and equity in education

Dženana Husremović

Department of Psychology

University of Sarajevo

Shared Societies And Values Sarajevo Forum, 24-25.06.2015

BiH – (post)conflict societyDeeply divided with (mainly) superficial

attempts to authentically reconnect Large group identity (Volkan, 2006) as

spiritus movens for BiH large ethnical groups◦Subjective experience of people linked by

persistent sense of sameness, while they share common characteristics with “other” or “foreign” group

New generations with no memory for “good, old, times” educated to embrace large group identity

BiH – (post)conflict societyCultural amplifiers and markers

for differentiation (Husremović, Powell, Šišić, Dolić, 2007) ◦Religion◦Language ◦Culture (prominent people, places,

economy, science, art,...) ◦The people◦State

"Obrazovanje u BiH:Čemu učimo djecu, analiza sadržaja udžbenika", Fond Otvoreno društvo 2007 http://www.erisee.org/downloads/2013/2/bh/Analysis%20of%20teaching%20books%20for%20national%20subjects%202007%20BH.pdf

Education in BiH Fragmented, yet centralizedThe perfect place and time to

potentiate minimal differences between groups and strengthen large group identity

No need for cooperation among political and professional stakeholders in consensus building because this is the goal

Public focus on education outcomes important for large group identity

Education in BiHNo valid data on academic

outcomes leading us to speculate about quality

Equity – equal chances for everybody?

Results of the research on BiH data shows that academic success is largely dependent on socioeconomic status of the family

Where do we live?

Two examples from geography texbooks (6th and 9th grade – elementary school)Can you guess which one is for whom?

Od "zemljice Bosne" pa do daytonske Bosne i Hercegovine malo je mira i sreće bilo u ovim zemljama.(From ancient times till today’s Dayton Bosnia there has been a little peace and happiness) Moj zemljopis 8, A. Markotić i M. Markotić, Znanje, Mostar, 2005

Područja na kojima se dodiruju različite kulturne i civilizacijske sredine najčešće su područja nepovjerenja i sukoba. (The areas in which different cultures and civilizations meet are often places of distrust and conflicts).

Geografija 4, udžbenik za IV razred gimnazije, Madžar i Kichl, Školska naklada Mostar i Školska knjiga Zagreb, Mostar, 2001

Glorification of war

Current research – values as outcomes in education (in progress)

Universal values are promoted “universal” within large group, but “not so” universal for other groups

1. Group identity

2. Univesal values

3. Particularization

4. Introjection – part of individual

identity

Mechanism for particularizationRelativisation (hate speech as

patriotism)Insinuation Reduction (language as national

marker instead of communication tool)Mystification - creating mythological

base for group identity InductionImputationIgnorance

Are there and what are the solutions for BiH education?Researches on values and education

outcomes Out-of-box policies based on the

empirical findings Focusing on common denominators

strong enough to overcome large group identities (like employability, mobility and related education outcomes)

Inside work with the help of experienced professionals in social and political science

Instead of conclusion...Current system of education is part of

social traumaQuality is still out of focus due to other

“important matters”Need for strengthening large group

identity doesn’t allow equity in educationBut…lessons learned from other nations

with problems: it takes time, lot of effort and some very

persistent people to heal and recover society from large-scale traumatic event, especialy if the mourning process is as complicated as in BiH