During the conference, de Guzman presented the findings of three studies that elaborated on the role of social studies teachers in teaching democratic principles and civic engagement. The studies involved are the following:

a)     Social studies teachers’ ability to integrate social problems and issues and civic engagement in students’ learning;

b)     Teaches’ knowledge of 21^st-century democracy holds the key for their delivery of promoting civic engagement in classroom settings; and

c)     Teachers’ abilities to exercise practical-evaluative teaching methods and to contain their risk-taking behavior may help enrich school curricula’s integration of civic engagement by students.

All these three smaller studies form part of the UST-led Local Antenna Team’s project, headed by de Guzman, who is joined by RCSSED Director Belinda D.V. de Castro, PhD and RCSSED Research Associate Joel L. Adamos, EdD. The Philippine study is part of a multi-country research project handled by Fondazione Gravissimus Educationis, the education-oriented of the Pontifical Council for Catholic Education formed in October 2015.

UST is the local antenna university (or local implementor) of Gravissimus Educationis’ project titled Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and pluri-religious contexts.

UST-RCSSED as the Philippine antenna not only produced three studies. The Center also staged international webinars and a certificate program for various public school teachers of social studies nationwide. The Center also launched a project , titled ADVOCATUS: Championing Democracy through Education, for parties to see details about the Gravissimus Educationis-funded project in the Philippines.

Fondazione Gravissimus Educationis’ three-day conference was held at Libera Università Maria Santissima Assunta. Foundation Secretary-General Msgr. Guy-Réal Thivierge spearheaded the organizing of the event. 

In an interview with Fausta Speranza published in the Vatican News website, de Guzman emphasized his and the team’s belief in “the power of education because we believe that schooling will lead to democracy.” De Guzman added that teachers have a unique role to play in helping Filipino learners look at the problems surrounding them and the Filipino society.

The conference brought together experts from 14 universities representing 13 countries. It provided a venue to localize democracy issues to different contexts and view these from angles such as academic, economic, and spiritual.

The 13 other partner Catholic universities include the Universidade Católica de Moçambique, (Mozambique), the Université Catholique d’Afrique de l’Ouest (Cote d’Ivoire); the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile); Universidad Anahuac (Mexico); the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Peru); the Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); The Catholic University of America (USA); Christ University (India); the Ukrainian Catholic University (Ukraine); the Instituto Universitario de Investigación Ortega y Gasset (Spain); the Libera Università Maria Santissima Assunta (Italy); the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy); and Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (Lebanon).

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Headlining the roster of speakers is the event’s keynote speaker, Professor Judith L. Pace, EdD of the University of San Francisco School of Education. Joining the Panel of Reactors for Professor’s Pace’s speech are Ateneo de Manila University’s Associate Professor Enrique Niño Leviste, PhD and University of Nottingham’s Vicente Chua Reyes, Jr., PhD.

Philippine Department of Education Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado M. San Antonio, PhD will likewise deliver a talk on “The Future of Teaching Controversial Public Issues: The DepEd Response.”

Democracy program mentors Associate Professor Mark Charles Baildon, PhD (National Institute of Education – Singapore) and Associate Professor Theresa Alviar-Martin, PhD (Kennesaw University) will likewise share their insights in the webinar, which will feature a showcase of instructional plans and sharing of testimonies from the participants of the Certificate Program.

The event will be punctuated by the launch of the Democracy website, which puts together the outputs of the years-long research project funded by the Fondazione Gravissimum Educationis.

Register here:

Program Flow:

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