Vocational schools and training institutions are often confronted with learners facing social integration difficulties, from different origins, usually with low educational level and a weak cultural background. In a context of high unemployment, it happens that frictions arise due to prejudices and to an absence of positive perspectives. When such problems emerge and difficulties escalate, a critical minority, but in rising numbers, is attracted by radicalisation and extremist ideologies with social, political or religious roots. They also loose their critical thinking by participating to conspiracy theory. The Radicalisation Awareness Network of the European Commission states that „the best prevention is to stop people from getting involved in violent extremist or terrorist activities.... The people best placed to tackle the phenomenon of radicalisation are people in direct contact with targeted individuals or vulnerable groups of population.“ Teachers and trainers – called „first-liners“ above - need therefore new skills and competences to be better prepared to deal with tensions between learners and educators, between learners and groups of learners and to detect, at an early stage, indicators of radicalisation. They need to be able to counteract the conspiracy theory that is spreading. However, many of them have had their vocational education years ago, and many of them are not necessarily prepared to the changes in our society and which conceptual aspects of radicalisation pose a threat. Not all of them have an easy access to continuous training opportunities on such topics. Therefore, the overall objective is to equip teachers and trainers with skills and competences: • to convey to their learners how to live and work successfully in a pluralistic society • to deal with tensions between learners and between groups of learners • to detect indicators of radicalisation among their learners • to identify who is at risk which is the best way of helping those who need support • to apply interventions in a preventive stage • to builds skills and motivation to take action against injustice • to create a better learning climate, better learning results and • to reduce racism and xenophobia in the classroom. In order to reach these objectives, the specific objectives are • to develop Guidelines and a Toolbox for teaching in groups with potential tensions and conflicts factors (social levels, cultures, religions...). It will give background information how to handle such groups with tensions, and to provide materials for their daily practice where frictions appear and where the learning climate has deteriorated. • to develop a Toolbox with different modules: social learning, ethics of participation, social language, social and emotional intelligence, conflict solving strategies, etc. • to present all materials as Open Educational Resources on a multilingual web platform that will allow interaction between trainers and with learners. Guidelines and Toolbox will be elaborated after country analysis of the needs and of the existing available resources. At the end of the project, the guidelines, toolbox, both integrated on a web platform providing free access for all, will have been tested in real situation and adaptation will have been included. The platform is built so that new content can be easily added by each one, and to facilitate exchanges inside the VET community. VET teachers and trainers, as well as educators are the directed target of the project results. The final beneficiaries will be the young and young adult learners facing social integration difficulties and at risk of radicalisation. The partnership involves 8 countries, meaning all products will be available in 9 languages (FR, IT, ES, DE, SL, SK, RO, PT, EN) English being used as interface.
Education and training welcome learners from different backgrounds facing social integration difficulties, with a low level of education and limited employment prospects. Tensions in society interfere with the creation of a favorable learning climate. A growing number of young people are losing their critical attitude by adhering to conspiracy theories and seeking answers in extremist ideologies, most often religious or political. The lack of visibility of positive role models in the media can lead some of them to fall into violent radicalisation. For many experts, teachers and trainers, in direct contact with vulnerable groups and potential targets, are best placed to combat radicalisation. They must be able to conduct their work in a peaceful, non-discriminatory and optimistic environment in order to prevent radicalisation. But they also need to be better prepared to deal with tensions with and between learners. They must be able to detect indicators of radicalisation at an early stage and act appropriately. They must be able to counter conspiracy theories that disrupt the educational process. However, they are not always prepared and all of them do not have easy access to appropriate lifelong learning opportunities. Our aim is to provide teachers and trainers with tools to: - transmit to young people the desire to live and work in a pluralistic society, - create a learning climate favourable to all, - deal with tensions between learners and between groups of learners, - detect indicators of radicalisation, - identify who is at risk and how to help those in need of support, - to reduce racism and xenophobia. The partnership brings together 9 organisations from 9 different countries to cover different radicalisation contexts. They are all active in the education, training and youth sectors. Based on an analysis of needs in each country, we have developed guidelines and a set of resources to intervene with groups of young people facing difficulties, with social, cultural and religious differences generating risks and tensions. These resources include theoretical and practical elements, case studies to prepare for different situations and pedagogical activities to be implemented in the classroom, usually with a view to preventing radicalisation. Guidelines and resources are available in 9 languages (DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, GR, PT, RO, SL). They are organised on the multilingual platform www.allo-tolerance.eu providing open and free access, without registration. The whole was tested in real situation in all participating countries in order to validate the concept, to improve its ergonomics and to propose actions for the future, the platform being designed to easily add new contents and to facilitate exchanges.