Search Results

From the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, most federal states (Länder) delegated Islamic religious education in German public schools to the Turkish state through the Turkish Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Since the turn of the 21st century, the training of Teachers for Islamic Education and imams has been on the political agenda in Germany. Teachers' academic training for Islamic Education was supported by all political actors in Germany and is now provided in seven universities despite many hurdles to overcome. However, it seems that the training of imams is a more complicated issue. The function of imam has been subject to significant changes in the context of migration and the expectations of state authorities towards imams evolve over time. This paper aims at highlighting challenges and difficulties these trainings are facing.

Research Framework: This article is part of a participatory research in child protection, resulting in the collaboration of university and peer researchers in a process of inquiry, political consultation and collective mobilization. Objectives: It questions the reciprocal links of influence between research, interventions and collective action in childhood protection in France. Methodology: This article is based on data from the research journal and an analysis of the research process. Results: In this article, we argue that the participative research contribute to developing new forms of knowledge, by establishing new relationship between theory and practice, and new models of interactions between researchers, decision makers and users. We also underline the risk that this innovative analytical device will lose its critical purpose in its relationship with institutions seeking to incorporate criticism while reducing its scope. Conclusions: However, this work shows that research devices are modelled by support systems in a context where the participation of users becomes the cornerstone of legitimizing the utility of social work. In return, research can contribute to influencing support systems by developing new processes of knowledge co-production and recognition of places and roles of researchers, decision makers, children and young people concerned, making possible the emergence collective actions. Contribution: In the line of research interventions and research "with", this article contributes to reflection on the links between research and public action.

AbstractThe democratic potential of ICT such as Internet is often linked with access to information, transparency and open discussion, all of which are necessary conditions for democracy. But limiting democracy to these conditions overemphasizes direct democracy, as if the potential of technology was always realized and people were active citizens. This concept of democracy ignores processes of political management and societal logics that are not democratic, like globalization and market liberalization, that influence the development of ICT. Democracy and ICT must rather be considered at the same time. To do this, we identify four flaws of liberal democracy and suggest two profitable ways of using ICT: in promoting the democratization of both the State and civil society.

In the context of developing nationhood that sub-Saharan Africa experienced from the era of independence to the 1980s, the cooperative movement started under the direct control of the state, and officially recognized economic functions “devolved” to producers' organizations were strictly limited. In tandem with this, community organizations that took over the running of social programs sought to correct government failures. With political and economic liberalization and the disengagement of the state, producers' organizations were confronted with a harsh new economic environment that was much more competitive and unstable. They had, however, to meet the challenges posed by the transfer of many economic functions and, at the same time, deal with increasing social demands stemming from deteriorating conditions in a number of countries. The current forms of organizations are not based on pre-defined models but depend essentially on the interaction between the mechanisms intrinsic to these organizations and the changes at work in their economic, institutional and political environment.

AbstractAll democratic theorists confront the fundamental problem of finding a morally justifiable way of making binding collective decisions in the face of continuing moral disagreement. A deliberative theory of democracy provides the most defensible approach to this problem because it leaves open the possibility that the moral values expressed by a wide range of theories may be justifiable. The fundamental principle of our deliberative theory is that citizens owe one another justifications for the laws they collectively impose on one another. Citizens or their accountable representatives offer reasons to one another in an ongoing process of mutual justification. The principles that guide this process are morally and politically provisional, and thus allow for the persistence of moral disagreement about laws, policies, and institutions, and at the same time for the possibility of moral agreement about those that are mutually justifiable.

AbstractBased on the example of Toronto, this article seeks to understand why many activists use the language of local democracy in their struggle against neoliberalism. Recent urban reforms have often been legitimated as “necessary” for global competitiveness. Yet, these reforms have been perceived by residents as a direct threat to their quality of life. While this antagonism has long been analysed as the opposition between “use value” and “exchange value”, the return to power of a centre-left regime in Toronto is better characterized by a synthesis between these two poles, which exemplifies the process of normalizing neoliberalism.

In Canada, the limited level of knowledge on media education content that is conveyed by academic curricula hinders its critical evaluation. This article presents the ways in which media education is introduced in the Quebec Education Program (QEP) at the preschool and elementary level. More specifically, it highlights the connections at work between media education, childhood and citizenship in the program. Our method tracks and extracts a set of statements related to information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the media, then conducts their automated classification into four principal categories: speech, verbs used that reflect the actions undertaken by categories of actors (school, pupils, teachers), learning objectives and suggestions. A subsequent classification allows for the emergence of verbs and learning objectives associated to the notion of citizenship. The latter are then subject to speech analysis. Our analysis intends to demonstrate the message conveyed by the QEP on media and ICTs. It highlights the roles, tasks and responsibilities of its various actors in relation to the acquisition of knowledge and skill development. In addition, it features the actions taken by these actors to operationalize the academic goals of the program. Our conclusion indicates a low subject implementation of the statements associated to media education and citizenship, relevant content, although thematically limited, along with the conception of students as capable of a reflection and critical thinking process.

Keywords: éducation aux médias, curriculum, citoyenneté, Programme de formation de l'école québécoise, media education, curriculum, citizenship, Quebec Education Program