Kathy Bickmore, guest lecture, ‘Teaching (in) Conflict’, 30 October 2023

This talk will examine the ways transnational and locally-personally-experienced social conflicts may be handled in schools — how school-based educators teach the conflicts, and teach ‘in’ the conflicts, surrounding young learners — and the implications for just and inclusive peace-building across diverse diversities, in and beyond Canada, as illustrated by some of my research projects and puzzles over the last 25 years.  Some propositions I hope to demonstrate and to discuss with participants are: Education for sustainable, just peace is CONFLICT education.  Surfacing ‘hidden’ systemic & direct conflicts, in & across diverse axes of difference, can offer opportunities for multi-dimensional learning & engagement: whereas, avoiding conflicts denies differences.  Sustainable just peace does not mean avoiding conflicts, which is impossible: it means building and rebuilding structures, processes, and relationships for handling conflicts nonviolently and with fairness.  Omnipresent transnational politics, cultures & social structures inevitably shape young people’s experiences and their repertoire of options for learning and handling conflicts.  Existing public schools can (although they often do not) create ‘safer’ and more inclusive spaces to build capabilities, relationships, and inclinations toward transformative —inclusive, equitable and ecologically sound, participatory democratic— peace, transnational as well as local, relevant to youths’ lived experiences and concerns in our connected world.

Dr. Bickmore is a is a Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. An active member and recent director of the Comparative International and Development Education specialization and centre, Professor Bickmore is an internationally renowned scholar in comparative education, peace, and citizenship education. She teaches comparative democratic citizenship and conflict/peacebuilding education, and critical curriculum and pedagogy studies.

This September, Dr. Bickmore hosted a special conference on Constructive Conflict Pedagogies at Harvard University, where she spent the 2022-2023 academic year as the William Lyon Mackenzie King Chair (a Visiting Professorship) at the Weatherhead Center for Global Affairs.

Her talk, Teaching (in) Conflict, is an exciting opportunity to hear about her research trajectory over 25 years. 

Facilitated by Maria Vamvalis.