Respect for and tolerance to diversity are fundamental European values. Nevertheless, the recent economic and financial crisis reinforced significantly the negative attitudes towards the „others“ that the increased mobility evoked after the EU Enlargement. Nowadays, the flow of refugees has fueled into the existing hostility towards people with different cultural background. Diversity has become a challenge that people face and deal with on a daily basis. Acknowledging that the educational institutions are the first place where diversities meet and interact on a daily basis and that they are the first pillar of the societal integration and acculturation, the project will address the topic of Diversity Management at school, focusing on the teachers as key actors in the process of transfer of knowledge, values, skills and competences. In contrast to the numerous initiatives providing the teachers will skills and competences of 'how to teach diversity', the current project will focus on one significant gab, identified in the teachers' training: WHY to teach diversity, how to TEACH IN diversity and HOW TO MANAGE diversity. The project addresses three key issues: (1) the challenge of knowledge-based adequate management of the growing diversity in Europe, especially in connection of the current refugee crisis, with the aim of fostering inclusion and societal integration yet at the school level,(2) the identified gap in the professional development of school teachers equipping them with the needed knowledge and understanding (of the fundamental principles and legislative frameworks regulating the human and minority rights protection and shaping the European values and norms) that will enable them to teach intercultural competences and skills to students and to manage successfully intercultural communication, potential intercultural clashes and learning outcomes; and (3) the establishment of an international teachers' network for continuous and real-time self support in managing of diversity. The three specific needs are intertwined and crucial for the development of an inclusive European society, where the educational institutions are the first point of intercultural interaction and acculturation. The project aims to address these needs in a comprehensive but practical manner focusing on the management of diversity through daily application of the human and minority rights. The transnational approach is therefore essential - although all of these are European goals based on the common European values, each country faces particular issues and had specific educational environment and practices. By involving 8 countries in the project implementation, the partnership believes that the project outputs will integrate the common European elements and issues and in the same time will be nationally-adaptable. This will ensure their validity and transferability to other European countries but in the same time, the products will be relevant and directly usable throughout Europe. The key project goals have therefore been defined as:1. Teachers' empowerment through: - Development of solid knowledge and understanding of diversity management (legal frameworks, standards, principles and practices, values and competences) - Enabling the knowledge-based transfer and development of civic competences from teachers to their students- Raising awareness about diversity management mechanisms and development of new skills and approaches to diversity2. Supporting the early societal integration at school level through development of educational staff aware of and knowledgeable about culture-sensitive learning, mechanisms for mitigating intercultural conflicts, facilitating intercultural communication3. Establishment of an international educators' network for real time self-support in addressing diversity challenges and of a mobile application for facilitating the network's interaction4. Development of a training module and open educational resources in diversity management for teachers and 5. Adapting the developed training package for ONLINE training in diversity management for teachers The target group and expected end-users of the project outputs are- teachers and educators from all levels of the preschool and school education - teachers and educators working with refugees and migrants- school management and supportive staff - public officials responsible for school management and policy making at the level of primary and secondary educationTo ensure the achievement of the identified objectives, a wide partnership was formed, including different organisations from 8 European countries. Among the project partners there are research institutions, VET providers, ICT specialists, a school with pedagogical profile, associations of educators and such promoting new technologies and media in education. The project duration will be 24 months but the outputs will ensure the sustainability of its results thereafter.
Acknowledging that the educational institutions are a place where diversities meet and interact on a daily basis and that they are the first pillar of the societal integration and acculturation, the project aimed at the topic of Diversity Management at school, focusing on the teachers as key actors in the process of transfer of knowledge, values, skills and competences. In contrast to the numerous initiatives providing the teachers with skills and competences of 'how to teach diversity', the current project focused on one significant gap, identified in the teachers' training: How to teach diversity, how to teach in diversity and how to manage diversity. The project envisioned following objectives and activities:1) Teachers’ empowerment through:• Development of solid knowledge and understanding of diversity management (training packages, handbooks, methodology); • Enabling the knowledge-based transfer and development of civic competences from teachers to their students (testing and monitoring); • Raising awareness about diversity management mechanisms and development of new skills and approaches to diversity (dissemination activities); 2) Supporting the early societal integration at school level through recruiting educational staff aware of and knowledgeable about culture-sensitive learning, mechanisms for mitigating intercultural conflicts, facilitating intercultural communication; 3) Establishment of an international educators’ network for real time self-support in addressing diversity challenges and of a mobile application for facilitating the network’s interaction; 4) Development of a training module and open educational resources in diversity management for teachers and 5) Adapting the developed training package for online training in diversity management for teachers. There were 10 organizations from 8 European countries in the consortium: the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), Germany - Research Centre; Workers Education and Training College (WETCO), Bulgaria - NGO working in the area of Adult training and VET; Danmar Computers LLC, Poland - a private company that provides vocational trainings in the field of IT (expert on online platforms); Kairos Europe Limited, the United Kingdom - Vocational training centre that develops programmes aimed at intercultural exchanges between European countries; Fryske Academy Mercator, the Netherlands - research institute; MEDEA: Media & Learning IVZW, Belgium - multimedia association; EURAC, Italy - Research Institute with the focus on legal issues; CSP, Italy - research centre working on industrial development; Asociatia Paradigme Educationale, Romania - NGO, excluded from the consortium due to lack of competences and poor English language skills; Liceul Pedagogic “Mircea Scarlat” Alexandria, Romania – Secondary school. Main activities of the project: -6 transnational partnership meetings aimed at coordination of the work of consortium, testing of the products and clarification on the possible content-related issues/approaches to teaching the modules; -Development of the products, their translation and finalization (during the whole project time 2016-2018); - 2 multiplier events: pilot face-to-face trainings (February-March 2017); Final round of the multiplier events: presentation of all products, including testing of several modules from the Training package and the online platform (October-November 2018). Impact attained: 125 people attended face-to-face trainings in 7 partner countries; 100 people attended final MPE in 7 partner countries; 69 people form 12 countries took part in the testing of online course. The responses of participants while evaluating this course were very positive both on the part of the facilitators and participants. The analysis of the course evaluation determined a great deal of interest in this type of training. The modules can be used at any educational level (the course proposes materials for trainers and teachers, along with future teachers, students and pupils), they can be used in a form of standalone training (online training) or as a face-to-face training that shares interactive exercises on how to manage diversity in a classroom. The need in these trainings is also confirmed by the level of requests to conduct the whole training or some modules of interest: e.g. on the 6.12.2018 the ECMI staff conducted a training on religious diversity for IFA, Stuttgart; on the 28.02.2019 the ECMI team was invited to conduct a one-day Teach-D training in frames of a Teacher Training Day for Eckernförde school, Flensburg. In Bulgaria, the Ministry of Education included the Teaching in Diversity training in the obligatory Teachers Qualification Programme for school teachers for 2019-2020.