Challenging Divisions Through Teacher Education and History Teaching - The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Oct 15, 2026

Teacher education and history teaching in Bosnia and Herzegovina are treated as a high-stakes, post-conflict task involving social and moral responsibilities. The paper analyzes education policies and long-term divisions over the past twenty years, highlighting segregation, politicisation, and fragmentation. It examines educators’ roles in peace education, anti-discrimination, and intercultural understanding, addressing exclusion, injustice, prejudice, privilege, and violence across the curriculum. Particular attention is given to how historical and cultural knowledge is constructed and represented, often ethnocentrically.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher education, divisions, and education policies

Educators’ role in peace and intercultural understanding

Constructing historical and cultural knowledge

University-based critical thinking and intercultural values

Classroom discussion of stereotypes and prejudice

DOI: [https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1889](https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1889) Challenging Divisions Through Teacher Education and History Teaching: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina Larisa Kasumagić-Kafedžić*1 and Lejla Mulalić2 • Educating teachers to teach language, culture and history in a post-conflict country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is still deeply divided and fragmented, implies enormous social and moral responsibilities. These endeavours represent continuous challenges where the processes of healing the wounds in such vulnerable situations, so deep and irreparable, are discussed and contextualised within the long-term social recovery in which the education of children and young people takes on a primary transformative role. The present paper examines the education policies and divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past twenty years, which reflect the segregation, politicisation and fragmentation in the post-war society. It also focuses on the role of educators in teaching for peace, antidiscrimination and intercultural understanding by addressing the issues of social exclusion, injustice, prejudice, privilege and violence across the curriculum. It problematises the construction and representation of historical and cultural knowledge, which is usually ethnocentric in orientation. Special emphasis is placed on the role of universities, i.e., university teachers and teacher educators, in promoting critical thinking and universal humanistic values among students in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general, and those studying at the English Department, University of Sarajevo, in particular. Drawing on the theories and resources of critical and intercultural pedagogy and peace education, the paper explores the possibilities of discussing stereotypes and prejudice with first-year BA students at the English Department within their Introduction to British Studies course, and with MA student teachers within their Interculturalism in Language Education course, which deals with peacebuilding and intercultural sensitivity in teaching English from a cultural perspective. Keywords: ethnocentric education, stereotypes and prejudice, history teaching, teacher education, education for peace 1 *Corresponding Author. University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; [larisa.kasumagic@ff.unsa.ba](larisa.kasumagic@ff.unsa.ba). 2 University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 82 challenging divisions through teacher education and history teaching Problematiziranje razdeljenosti skozi izobraževanjeučiteljev in poučevanje zgodovine: primer Bosne in Hercegovine Larisa Kasumagić-Kafedžić in Lejla Mulalić • Izobraževanje učiteljev za poučevanje jezika, kulture in zgodovine v postkonfliktni državi, kot je Bosna in Hercegovina, ki je še vedno globoko razdeljena in razdrobljena, pomeni ogromno družbeno in moralno odgovornost. Ta prizadevanja predstavljajo stalne izzive, pri katerih se o procesih celjenja tako globokih in nepopravljivih ran v tako ranljivihrazmerah razpravlja in jih umešča v kontekst dolgoročne družbene obnove, v kateri vzgoja in izobraževanje otrok in mladih prevzema primarno transformativno vlogo. Ta članek raziskuje vzgojno-izobraževalnepolitike in razdeljenosti v Bosni in Hercegovini v zadnjih dvajsetih letih, ki odražajo segregacijo, politizacijo in razdrobljenost v povojni družbi. Osredinja se tudi na vlogo učiteljev pri poučevanju za mir, nediskriminacijo in medkulturno razumevanje z obravnavo vprašanj družbene izključenosti, nepravičnosti, predsodkov, privilegijev in nasilja pri vsehpredmetih. Problematizira oblikovanje in predstavljanje zgodovinskegain kulturnega znanja, ki je običajno etnocentrično usmerjeno. Poseben poudarek je na vlogi univerz, tj. visokošolskih učiteljev, tudi tistih, ki poučujejo na pedagoških programih, pri spodbujanju kritičnega mišljenjain univerzalnih humanističnih vrednot med študenti v Bosni in Her

FAQs

What does the paper focus on regarding teacher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

It examines how teacher education can teach language, culture, and history in a deeply divided post-conflict society, emphasizing the social and moral responsibilities involved.

How does the paper describe education policies over the past twenty years?

It highlights segregation, politicisation, and fragmentation reflected in competing curricular approaches and school systems, fostering ethnonational worldviews among youth.

What role do universities and teacher educators play in the proposed approach?

The paper emphasizes promoting critical thinking and universal humanistic values among students, including through relevant courses for English Department students and future teachers.

Oct 15, 2026

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