On 27 December 2017, over 40 teachers and managers from different localities of the country, as well as the representatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and of the General Departments of Education participated at the final Conference of the project “Peace education through promoting culture of good neighborhood in primary schools”.

The event takes place within the above-mentioned project, implemented throughout the Republic of Moldova, including the Transnistrian region and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, with the financial support of the international network for peace building – GPPAC (The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts) www.gppac.net. The objectives of the activity include: the interim evaluation of the piloting of the optional discipline “The Culture of Good Neighborhood” in the fourth grade with the title “My Country- my pride”; analytic scrutiny of curricular contents of this subject; facilitating an exchange of experience on the piloting of discipline in the 4th grade, but also launching it’s extensive promotion process on the whole of the republic.

The curriculum of this subject is structured on the following modules: Geographical Environment; History; Traditional and contemporary culture; The neighbor’s language; Axiology and Conflictology and proposes the development of a coherent set of specific competences, such as: forming a responsible and respectful attitude towards the locality, the native country as a fundamental element of the patriotic education; enhancing the social competence and responsibility of young people for the well-being of their country, necessary components of civic sense; developing skills for dialogue and negotiation, dispute resolution and conflict situations, in accordance with democratic principles and principles of peace culture; showing a lasting interest in the history, culture, life and problems of the country; forming a constructive attitude towards the development and optimization of the situation in the country; active involvement in forming a personal position and the ability to generate new constructive ideas.

Among immediate successes recognized by children and teachers include: acquiring new and interesting theoretical themes, even if some are more voluminous; memorizing some original poems; detailed analysis of the proverbs proposed in different languages of the cohabitating ethnic groups in the Republic of Moldova; working with different dictionaries; varied analysis of new words; composition of some texts, using certain terms from different areas of life; practicing interactive tasks of comparison, logical analysis, interpretation, but also representation of children’s vision through drawings, symbols, emblems, etc.

We continue to expect a sustainable impact of the project activities, shown by peaceful and civilized behavior of children, teachers and parents in their communities, but also by using functional knowledge for constructive and peace building interaction and good understanding in any other contexts. The mission of all participants will be to promote peace education in a extended way, encouraging the culture of good neighborhood of all inhabitants, regardless of the language they speak, their ethnicity, religious confession or other preferred values.

Project Coordinator: Viorica Goraş-Postică, dr.hab.prof.univ. interim.,
tel. 069366848, vpostica@prodidactica.md