David Berman's Research Reveals Difficulties in Teaching and Education in War-torn Sarajevo

PITTSBURGH-David Berman, associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education, is available to discuss the difficulties encountered in educating children in war-torn areas-specifically, in Sarajevo. He has conducted research and worked in Sarajevo since 1995, and has written two books about schooling during the siege of Sarajevo.

One, "The War Schools of Dobrinja: Reading, Writing, and Resistance during the Siege of Sarajevo" (Caddo Gap Press, 2007), is a case study of the war schools of the Dobrinja community, which was completely cut off from the city by enemy forces in the first months of the Bosnian war. "The Heroes of Treca Gimnazija: A War School in Sarajevo, 1992-1995" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), recounts the experiences of an academic preparatory school on the front lines that was destroyed by shelling in the early days of the siege of Sarajevo in 1992.

Berman is codirector of the Kosovo Civic Education Project, one part of the Balkan Educational Partnerships Program, and has been working on curriculum development and teacher training with his Kosovar colleagues in the Ministry of Education, the University of Prishtina, and the public schools. He also is social studies educator and coordinator of Pitt's Social Studies Education program in teacher education.

For a list of Pitt faculty experts, visit www.umc.pitt.edu/m/experts.html.

###

2/22/08/tmw