Abstract
Increasing polarisation in the Netherlands, mostly caused by a lack of adversarial debate, impairs the formation of informed judgements and hinders constructive participation in social debate (University of Amsterdam, 2024). Reading and analysing literature can support students in developing skills that lead to balanced judgment (SLO, 2024). This citizenship formation, the strengthening of literary competence and insight into the individual thought process, is a major goal of doctoral research on the integration of critical thinking skills in the literature teaching of the subject Dutch. The design of a professional didactic model of conscious critical thinking seems an appropriate tool to achieve these goals. In the workshop, the participants experience how critical thinking functions in a lesson series based on the novella Nargis (Forugh Karimi, 2023), in which the fate of an Afghan family that has fled to the Netherlands is the main theme. By expressing a primary reaction, an introduction to critical thinking, thinking about the connection between the literary text and social reality, as well as analysis of the novella’s content and narrative method, the translation from intuitive reaction to reasoned judgment could take place. In this way, literature education can draw attention to the adversarial process and thus contribute to the development of citizenship skills. The concluding discussion in the workshop focuses on the teacher’s position in this mode of citizenship education. There is a fine line between promoting open discussion and consciously or unconsciously influencing students’ views: where does freedom of thought end and manipulation begin?
Presenters
Gepco De JongPhD and Teacher Dutch Language and Literature, Tilburg University and Sint Odulphuslyceum, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Learner Diversity and Identities
KEYWORDS
CRITICAL THINKING, LITERATURE, CITIZENSHIP, SECONDARY EDUCATION
