In previous years (for example in Dublin, Hamburg and Geneva), this opening session introduced international scholars to the discourse on social justice and intercultural education in the respective host country of ECER. For Armenia, this opening will we held as a joint session with a focus on social justice and sustainability education. We therefore invite educational scientists, pedagogical actors and initiatives from Armenia with the aim of presenting the specifics of the Armenian discourse, including particular research foci, controversies, areas of intense discussion and their assumed potential for future developments. 

1.) Philippa Mullins: Human Rights and Social Justice Education at the American University of Armenia (AUA)

Philippa Mullins will give a practical introduction to the human rights and social justice MA programme at AUA, touching on student motivations and interests, strengths of the programme, and challenges in its contextualisation.

Philippa Mullins, PhD | Assistant Professor | American University of Armenia 

2.) Garabet Kazanjian: Environmental studies at the American University of Armenia with a multidisciplinary and project-based approach.

Garabet Kazanjian will give a very short overview on a number of courses he teaches, course projects and events students have taken part in. He’ll describe how we can attract young minds of different academic and social backgrounds to tackle and find solutions on important issues related to sustainability. 

Garabet Kazanjian, PhD | Aquatic Ecology Researcher, Assistant Professor | American University of Armenia Acopian Center for the Environment

3.) Hasmik Kyureghyan: An Overview of Armenia’s education system with a focus on social justice. 

Hasmik Kyureghyan will give an overview of the education system in Armenia emphasizing the current situation of social justice in education, its challenges and developments, referring to available research evidence.

Hasmik Kyureghyan, EdD candidate at UCL, IoE|A co-founding director at Paradigma Educational Foundation

Half an hour remains for a joint discussion with the plenum after the presentation of the three invited papers. Elsa Lee will chair the discussion, highlighting similarities and differences between the Armenian and European discourses on social justice and Sustainability Education.