‘Exploring Europe and Ourselves:
Geographies and Identities at Work’
Coordinated by:
Department of Education Sciences,
 European University-Cyprus
In collaboration with: POST-Research Institute
Funded by: UNDP-ACT

Project summary:

The project aims to train Cypriot teachers and educators across the divide to use European geography as a way to explore European and Cypriot identities as hybrid, multiple, changing and inclusive.  The first output of this proposed project will be focused on building a knowledge base on how Geography and social studies textbooks across the divide construe the concept of Europe, what are their similarities and differences in doing so, what are their geographical and pedagogical limitations.  Secondly, a needs assessment analysis of teachers teaching geography in primary and secondary schools in Cyprus, their problems, concerns and issues will provide the necessary baseline upon which the following phases of the project will be designed and developed.

The third phase of the project will cover the training of teachers teaching geography or interested in geography teaching from across the divide in Cyprus, so as to help them approach the concept of Europe in more flexible ways, ways which will allow them locate Cyprus within Europe while recognising its multicultural historical past, by defining Europe not merely in geographical, but also in cultural, historical, economic and political terms.  The proposed action will bring together Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot educators in order to provide them, through training, advanced skills and resources to teach European geography and to help them challenge constructions of ‘Fortress Europe’ in their teaching.

The Department of Education Sciences at Cyprus College will provide international experts in Geography (from higher education institutions, the Geographical Association (UK), EuroGeo (The European Standing Conference for Geography Teachers’ Associations) and Herodot (The Thematic Network for Geography Teaching)) who will be responsible for the training of the teachers in both seminar and workshop style.  The training will last for two days; the first day will involve papers (including papers presenting the findings of the first phase of the project on textbooks); the second day will involve three 1-and-a-half-hour rotating workshops.

All teachers will be informed about this training mainly through their Trade Unions. Applications will be received and processed, so that equal numbers of applicants from the two communities is selected.  People from various ethnic and professional backgrounds will benefit from the project: teachers, researchers, government officers, academics, people with a special interest in the teaching and learning of geography.  An estimated number of 200 people are expected to participate in the 1^st day of the Conference and 90 for the Workshops on the 2^nd day.  The beneficiaries were chosen because they are the ones directly involved with the teaching and learning of geography (teachers, researchers, educators) and with policy-making, curriculum/textbook development and teacher education (governmental officers, teachers, inspectors, teacher trainers, academics), thus ensuring a more widespread influence.  The activities were selected to address both theoretical and practical needs in the study of Europe.

The fourth phase of the project involves the development of teaching materials on Europe; these materials will comprise of the teaching materials used by the workshop animators, revised to accommodate the feedback that will emerge from the teachers while they are trained in their use during the seminar and workshops.  The publication will thus include the papers presented during the seminar, as well as the teaching materials employed during the workshops to provide a useful pedagogical resource to teachers when teaching about Europe in their schools and other educational settings across the divide in Cyprus.