Under the patronage of the Minister of Education in Lebanon Mr. Marwan Hamadeh, and in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Faculty of Education of the Lebanese University, UNESCO Beirut organized on 22-25 May 2017 a “National Workshop on Mainstreaming Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) in the National Teacher Preparation Program in Lebanon”. The workshop aims to introduce Education practitioners to educational approaches that are needed to ensure that education systems contribute to promoting GCED, fostering a positive sense of identity and belonging, and building young people’s resilience to violent extremism messaging. The workshop also aims to propose ways to integrate GCED and PVE into the national teacher education curriculum. More than 60 professors from different departments and fields of expertise from the Faculty of Education of the Lebanese University participated in the workshop.

The workshop was launched on May 22, where speakers have highlighted the urgency of such an initiative and the important role of education in building peace, promoting values, and preventing violent extremism.

The four-day workshop was divided into two parts: a one - day national seminar to a larger group of audience, and three days of in-depth courses for selected faculty. During the workshop, participants were introduced to the rationale and basic concepts of the UN Sustainable Development Goals#4 on Education (SDGs), GCED and PVEE as well as their practices and current trends. The participants engaged in group activities and reflected on the GCED and PVE coverage in the current curriculum, the subjects that could be integrated, as well as teaching methods and resources that can be utilized. Both education for students and preparation for teachers were discussed during the workshop.

The workshop was concluded with a series of recommendations that mostly insisted on the need to clarify the definition and meaning of GCED and PVE concepts in Arabic language, the necessity to involve students of the Faculty of Education in research around these concepts and their relation with the Arab local context, and the imperative to establish a strong cooperation between all Education institutions and organizations (universities, ministry, UNESCO) to put a common action plan to integrate GCED and PVE in the National Teacher Preparation Program in Lebanon.