Page 167 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 167
m. cestnik ■ experiences in teaching rhetoric as an elective course ...
no longer being organised and no meetings are being held with the other
teachers and the two experts Igor Ž. Žagar and Janja Žmavc.
The obstacles have already been mentioned; however it is important
to address which benefits of this elective course did I notice and why I find
it essential and useful in primary school.
Why is a rhetoric course essential?
As already discussed, the following objectives were listed in the nine-
grade primary schooling curricula, such as:
– In the Slovenian language syllabus: “They evaluate texts and justify
their opinion /.../ they evaluate the interesting aspects, truthfulness,
clarity and usefulness of the text and justify their opinion /.../ they
evaluate the interesting aspects, vividness and clarity of the text, pro-
pose corrections/improvements and justify their opinion” (Pozna-
novič Jezeršek et al., 2018, pp. 7–8).
– In the History syllabus: “/.../ the pupil justifies the importance of
Enlightenment ideas on the formation of the United States /.../ jus-
tifies characteristics and changes” (Kunaver et al., 2011, p. 34).
– In the Geography syllabus: “/.../ the pupil justifies the development
and importance of traffic, draws logical conclusions, looks for find-
ings and justifies them.” (Kolnik et al., 2011, p. 15, 20).
All the randomly selected examples above show that modern curric-
ula require pupils to express their opinions and justify them. But where do
pupils learn to justify? Who trained the teachers for such an approach? I
believe it is up to the enthusiasm and personal professional development
of the teacher to gain this knowledge. I am aware that the National Ed-
ucation Institute Slovenia organises seminars that focus on the develop-
ment of the teachers’ communication competences and partly touch on
rhetoric and argumentation, but the approach is not comprehensive and
systematic. Furthermore, the same Institute published a book written by
Alenka Kompare and Tanja Rupnik Vec titled Kako spodbujati razvoj
mišljenja: Od temeljnih miselnih procesov do argumentiranja (‘How to en-
courage the development of thinking: From basic thinking processes to
argumentation’, 2016). Primary school teachers certainly need this kind of
material, which is useful, but this is not a comprehensive approach or a set
of actions that would systematically be suitable for all primary schools. I
therefore believe that only the rhetoric teacher can convey the knowledge
of argumentation to other teachers as he or she can help them unify their
knowledge and, together as a team, they can all progress and thus help pu-
pils develop more complex thinking processes.
165
no longer being organised and no meetings are being held with the other
teachers and the two experts Igor Ž. Žagar and Janja Žmavc.
The obstacles have already been mentioned; however it is important
to address which benefits of this elective course did I notice and why I find
it essential and useful in primary school.
Why is a rhetoric course essential?
As already discussed, the following objectives were listed in the nine-
grade primary schooling curricula, such as:
– In the Slovenian language syllabus: “They evaluate texts and justify
their opinion /.../ they evaluate the interesting aspects, truthfulness,
clarity and usefulness of the text and justify their opinion /.../ they
evaluate the interesting aspects, vividness and clarity of the text, pro-
pose corrections/improvements and justify their opinion” (Pozna-
novič Jezeršek et al., 2018, pp. 7–8).
– In the History syllabus: “/.../ the pupil justifies the importance of
Enlightenment ideas on the formation of the United States /.../ jus-
tifies characteristics and changes” (Kunaver et al., 2011, p. 34).
– In the Geography syllabus: “/.../ the pupil justifies the development
and importance of traffic, draws logical conclusions, looks for find-
ings and justifies them.” (Kolnik et al., 2011, p. 15, 20).
All the randomly selected examples above show that modern curric-
ula require pupils to express their opinions and justify them. But where do
pupils learn to justify? Who trained the teachers for such an approach? I
believe it is up to the enthusiasm and personal professional development
of the teacher to gain this knowledge. I am aware that the National Ed-
ucation Institute Slovenia organises seminars that focus on the develop-
ment of the teachers’ communication competences and partly touch on
rhetoric and argumentation, but the approach is not comprehensive and
systematic. Furthermore, the same Institute published a book written by
Alenka Kompare and Tanja Rupnik Vec titled Kako spodbujati razvoj
mišljenja: Od temeljnih miselnih procesov do argumentiranja (‘How to en-
courage the development of thinking: From basic thinking processes to
argumentation’, 2016). Primary school teachers certainly need this kind of
material, which is useful, but this is not a comprehensive approach or a set
of actions that would systematically be suitable for all primary schools. I
therefore believe that only the rhetoric teacher can convey the knowledge
of argumentation to other teachers as he or she can help them unify their
knowledge and, together as a team, they can all progress and thus help pu-
pils develop more complex thinking processes.
165
