Teaching events in 2020
Conferences and workshops
On 2nd and 3rd of December 2020, Centre for Ethics held the yearly, already 13th values-based education conference “Discussing equity in education”. For the first time, the conference was held entirely online and people could stream it from home prompting large interest and views. The conference focused on equity as one of the main values in education on which decisions are based on. The presentations were about how equity is enforced on various level in Estonian education and how we can support gender-aware pedagogy, inclusive education and mentally safe classrooms. The presentations were given by Kristi Paron (Senior Advisor at Children's and Youth Rights Department), Maie Kitsing (The Ministry of Education and Research), Tiiu Tammemäe (Tallinn University), Mari-Liis Sepper (Foundation Praxis Centre for Policy Studies), Merilin Mandel (Instagram account @jesslapsed creator), Marie Runnel (Innove Rajaleidja centre), Viire Sepp (Estonian Talent Center), Iiri Saar (Tartu Descartes School), Ada Urm (Eesti Koolipsühholoogide Ühing) ja Anna-Kaisa Oidermaa (Peaasi.ee). The Ministry of Education and Research, and British Council in Estonia supported the conference. See the presentations.
From 11th to 13th of March 2020, Centre for Ethics and the University of Tartu Department of Philosophy held an international conference "Disagreements: from Theory to Practice". The invited speakers were Daniel Cohnitz (Germany), Gurpreet Rattan (Canada), Folke Tersman and Olle Risberg (Sweden) and Margit Sutrop (Estonia). The theoretical aspects of disagreements in fields such as ontology, logic, epistemology, and ethics have already received extensive treatment in the philosophical literature. There are a plethora of views debated at an increased level of sophistication at a very high level of abstraction (e.g. conciliationist vs steadfast views in the epistemology of disagreement). What is much less discussed are the practical consequences of these theoretical models of disagreement. The conference “Disagreements: from Theory to Practice” aimed to bridge the gap between theory and practice and inquire into the implications of theoretical positions for real-life disagreements.
Presentations and colloquia
On 9th of December 2020, the Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu had a web-based presentation called „The good and the bad in leading a classroom“. The presentation was held to introduce the centre’s new book for teachers „Homeroom teacher's handbook. A values education guide for teachers and headmasters“. At the presentation, some authors (Prof. Margit Sutrop, Prof. Halliki Harro-Loit, teachers Meedi Neeme and Lemme Randma, critical friend Helen Hirsnik) helped the listeners to give sense to the multi-faceted job of a homeroom teacher and to see their roles and choices from values education perspective.
Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu held a web-based colloquia “Being a parent – between chaos and order”. The discussion that took place on 17th of September 2020 was about the dilemmas parents face, what kind of values lead their actions and how they explain their choices to themselves and to others. The participants of the discussion were esteemed parents: Father of the Year 2019 Arvi Karotam, Mother of the Year 2019 Mare Tupits, IT-entrepreneur Taavi Kotrka, journalist Urmas Vaino, and communications specialist Leene Korp.