Intercultural,global,democratic culture:different terminology is used respectively by the European Union,the OECD and the Council of Europe to refer to similar competencies that Ministers of Education are called on to teach and assess in their school systems to better prepare pupils for living in diverse societies and working in diverse labour markets.Policy developments related to the implementation of the EU Paris declaration are taking place,such as the inclusion of citizenship education in school curricula and teachers’ training.However,practice in the field of teachers training on intercultural learning(ICL)and its assessment is scarce as detected through the Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange organized by Fondazione Intercultura and studies by the European Commission.Moreover,citizenship education does not necessarily address ICL,and though mobility opportunities are often promoted these are not linked with dealing with diversity in the class.Finally, long-term pupils mobility for the development of ICL,is recognized officially only in 3 EU countries.To address these issues,the European Federation for Intercultural Learning-the federation of AFS pupil exchange organisations in Europe- joined forces with the European School Heads Association,OFAJ(Germany/France),InterCultur(Germany)and Fondazione Intercultura(Italy) providing teachers’ training on ICL based on expertise with pupil exchanges,AFS France and Belgium French members of the EFIL who have sound experience with teachers’ training and workshops for pupils on ICL,Lycée Faure(France) and Ecole Internationale le Verseau(Belgium) with experience on pupils’ mobility and interest in ICL.An Advisory Board with relevant stakeholders supports the project partners to have a wider reach(other 3 countries: Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic)and further involve teachers and universities.The objectives of the project INTERCULTURAL TRAINing:Teachers and Pupils on the Move! therefore are:- Develop teacher trainings for the promotion and assessment of intercultural competences within upper secondary education,fostering the understanding of the benefits of teachers’ and pupils’ mobility for ICL and internationalisation of classrooms and schools.- Develop and test an holistic approach for promotion and assessment of intercultural competences within upper secondary education,combining mobility experiences with in-class learning, and building on the expertise of non-formal education organisations.- Encourage policy reform aimed at the inclusion of ICL in teachers’ lifelong learning(LLL)- Encourage policy reforms aimed at the inclusion of ICL in school curricula,also through the recognition of the pupil’s study period abroad in long-term intercultural exchange programmes.Thus,the project targets upper secondary school teachers and pupils,and youth workers dealing with pupil exchanges.The project activities and methodology consist in 4 Intellectual Outputs, one for each of the objectives 1)modules for a 3day teachers’ training on ICL 2)modules on ICL for pupils to be included in school curricula 3)policy and practice recommendation on how to include ICL training in teacher's education and LLL 4)policy and practice recommendations on how to include ICL in secondary schools’ curricula and recognise the period of study abroad.IO1 and IO2 will be drafted parallelly between October 2016 and June 2017 and released for piloting in August 2017 at a 5day training on IO1 and IO2,gathering multipliers from the partner organisations.Between September 2016 and February 2018 multipliers will pilot the teachers training and trained teachers will pilot the ICL modules for pupils.The modules will then be updated on the basis of the feedback.In the meantime IO3 and IO4 will be drafted receiving input from relevant stakeholders and will later be displayed in an interactive online format.Finally,all IOs will be presented at the multiplier event in Belgium at the end of October 2018.Partners will communicate regularly and meet in-person 5 times.In 2 years,the project will involve directly about 4000 participants among teachers,school principals,pupils,youth workers,policy makers in school education,researchers and will reach out indirectly to about 45 000 people.The expected results are 1)increased ICL of pupils and teachers and a sustainable model to further promote the delivery of the project’s outputs through the network of multipliers trained and the EFIL,OFAJ and ESHA network 2)increased awareness and tools on the part of policy makers and key stakeholders in the school education sector of how to include ICL in teachers’ and pupils’ education.The impact will be wide at local,national,European and international level thanks to the involvement of a number of schools,the cooperation with Ministries of Education foreseen in the project,the contacts with European Platforms and policy makers of EFIL and ESHA,the international outreach of EFIL through the AFS network.
Intercultural,global,democratic culture:different terminology is used respectively by the European Union,the OECD and the Council of Europe to refer to similar competencies that Ministers of Education are called on to teach and assess in their school systems to better prepare pupils for living in diverse societies and working in diverse labour markets.Policy developments related to the implementation of the EU Paris declaration are taking place,such as the inclusion of citizenship education in school curricula and teachers’ training.However,practice in the field of teachers training on intercultural learning(ICL)and its assessment is scarce as detected through the Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange organized by Fondazione Intercultura and studies by the European Commission.Moreover,citizenship education does not necessarily address ICL,and though mobility opportunities are often promoted these are not linked with dealing with diversity in the class.Finally, long-term pupils mobility for the development of ICL,is recognised officially only in 3 EU countries (Italy, Austria, Belgium French speaking). Therefore the objectives of the project ‘Intercultura Learning for Pupils and Teachers’ were: - Develop teacher trainings for the promotion and assessment of intercultural competences within upper secondary education,fostering the understanding of the benefits of pupils’ mobility for ICL and internationalisation of classrooms and schools. - Develop and test an holistic approach for promotion of intercultural competences within upper secondary education,combining mobility experiences with in-class learning, and building on the expertise of non-formal education organisations. - Encourage policy reform aimed at the inclusion of ICL in teachers’ lifelong learning(LLL) - Encourage policy reforms aimed at the inclusion of ICL in school curricula,also through the recognition of the pupil’s study period abroad in long-term intercultural exchange programmes. To address these objectives,the European Federation for Intercultural Learning-the federation of AFS pupil exchange organisations in Europe- joined forces with 8 other organisations: the European School Heads Association representing school principals in Europe, the French German Youth Office (Germany/France),InterCultur(Germany)and Fondazione Intercultura(Italy) providing teachers’ training on ICL based on expertise with pupil exchanges, AFS France and Belgium French members of the EFIL who have sound experience with teachers’ training and workshops for pupils on ICL,Lycée Faure(France) and Ecole Internationale le Verseau(Belgium) with experience on pupils’ mobility and interest in ICL. The worldwide network AFS Intercultural Programs and other AFS organisations supported the project partners to have a wider reach (Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain). The main activities of the project have been: - the drafting and piloting of teacher training sessions on intercultural learning for a in-person 3 day training which can be adapted into a 1 or 2 day programme. - the drafting and piloting of a 50 activities based on non-formal education methods to promote intercultural learning in the classroom based on the whole school approach. The collection of activities is called the 'Toolbox' and each activity is referenced to the Competences for democratic culture of the Council of Europe and can be searched by section (whole school approach, cross-curricular, specific subject, international mobility) or by competence. - the drafting of two studies including recommendations to contribute to policy reform: A Brief Overview on Intercultural Learning in Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development for teachers of Upper Secondary Schools, and A Brief Overview on Intercultural Learning in Curricula of Upper Secondary Schools and the Recognition of Long-Term Individual Pupil Mobility. All project outputs can be found at www.intercultural-learning.eu The main results of the project are 212 teachers trained and 3633 pupils reached with the Toolbox activities in 4 countries (Belgium, France, Italy and Germany), and 45.000 people reached overall thanks to the dissemination efforts. The project outputs also contributed largely to support the EU policy developments under the European Education Area. The long term benefit of the project is that it has empowered participating organisations in delivering on a regular basis teacher trainings, and the studies produced can be used for advocacy and support policy reform.