Talking About the Ideas of Hate in the Classroom
Kostis Papaioannou,
director of “SIMEIO: for the Study and Confrontation of the Right-Wing Extremists”, Greece
Aspasia Kalisora
teacher, member of “SIMEIO: for the Study and Confrontation of the Right-Wing Extremists”, Greece
WORKSHOP
Athens 2025 International Conference "Theatre/Drama & Inclusive Education"
March, 21-23, 2025
Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)
Language: Greek
Limited number of participants
Workshop Description
In an era where human rights are being challenged in many aspects of social life, and children of all ages are increasingly exposed to toxic language and violence of all kinds almost daily, what is our role as educators? How can we talk about racism, stereotypes, sexism and hate speech more broadly in the classroom? What are the characteristics of hate speech? What ideas are conveyed through hate speech? Which social groups are targeted? Where do we encounter it and how can we combat it? What role should teachers and the wider broader school community play in addressing the rise of reactionary ideologies? How can we empower children to think critically, and challenge ideas that perpetuate racism in any form? How can we raise awareness and and motivate them to stand up for justice? What pedagogical tools can we employ, and how can we extend conversations to the wider school community?
These are some of the questions that will be discussed and explored in the workshop "Talking about the Ideas of Hate in the Classroom". The focus will be on the role of the "bystander", whether individual or collective. We will emphasize the significant influence that bystanders can have on incidents of racist violence. Participants will examine historical photos and we recognise people who resisted through their own 'small but significant” actions. In addition, and starting from moments of our everyday school life, we discuss in groups and create together a collage of awareness-raising - activation of the school community on basic concepts that fall under reactive ideas and actions, such as those of racism and sexism, activating a wide range of pedagogical tools. The goal of the workshop is to identify the different aspects of reactionary to explore the roots and expressions of intolerance and, using a variety of pedagogical tools, to empower the educational community to deal with them in the classroom and in the school community, designing and implementing actions with children that promote democracy, equality, acceptance of difference and self-determination, thus strengthening the whole open, inclusive school with the values of solidarity, equality, democracy and respect.
The workshop is aimed at all primary and secondary teachers. It includes basic concepts related to reactionary phenomena, introduces a variety of pedagogical tools, and utilizes experiential and participatory methodologies. Participants will engage in activities suitable for the educational environment with an emphasis on adapting experiential learning to different educational level needs.
Kostis Papaioannou holds a degree in History and a postgraduate degree in Political science. He teaches at the Greek-French School of Agia Paraskevi in Athens. He has been involved in adult education, lifelong learning and intercultural education. He has served as president of the National Commission for Human Rights and as general secretary for Human Rights. He also presided over the Greek Section of Amnesty International. He was a key figure in the establishment of the Racist Violence Recording Network, participated in the coordination of the Observatory in the Golden Dawn trial and currently directs “SIMEIO: for the Study and Confrontation of the Right-Wing Extremists”. He is the author of several educational books and textbooks, including: "Wild History for Big Kids: From Fascism to Democracy Against the New Far Right" (Polis) & "The Clean Hands of Golden Dawn: Applications of Nazi Purity" (Metaixmio). He is a frequent contributor to electronic and print media.
Aspasia Kalisora works as a teacher in a Greek public school. She has completed her postgraduate studies at the MSc "Culture and Human Development" of the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the University of Crete. Together with George Moschos (former Children's Ombudsman), they wrote the guide book entitled: "The Children's Assembly. The first steps of exercising democracy", which was published with the support of PROTA.12. Member of the pedagogical group "SKASIARCHIO. Experimental palpations for a community school", participating as a member of the coordinators and trainers of training programmes and implementation of the Freinet Pedagogy in Public Education. As a member of the organisation “SIMEIO: for the Study and Confrontation of the Right-Wing Extremists”, she is involved in the design and implementation of several educational projects.
| Action Category | - Seminars - Workshops
- Conferences
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| Year | |
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| Facilitators | - Παπαϊωάννου Κωστής
- Καλησώρα Ασπασία
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