Exploring Challenges and Possibilities in Pre-Service Teacher Education
Twenty years after the war (1992-1995) in Bosnia and Herzegovina the country is still very fragile, dysfunctional and continues to face numerous political and socio-economic challenges. Ethnically fragmented and exclusivist approaches to education in Bosnia and Herzegovina are anathema to the development of critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to open young minds, reduce intolerance and question the ethnic status quo narrative (Perry, 2015). This paper will try to present a good example of academic and social successes achieved with students who are attending an English language teacher education program at the University of Sarajevo in the context of challenging teaching and learning environments. The paper will explore the possibilities and challenges for using a critical pedagogy framework and intercultural approach to foreign language education in pre-service teacher education courses that emphasizes reflection, critical thinking, empathy, multiperspectivity along with other aspects of intercultural communicative competences which are integrated in this course.