The project wants to test a new, pluralistic linguistic concept of an approach for social inclusion, on the example of educational innovation. This approach should be the preparation for a comprehensive representation of “Europe in an educational context”, through its implementation as a “graphic novel”. This Europe creates possibilities for social inclusion, cultural pluralism and symbolic multiplicity, through the principle of the artistic allegory. Cultural education is a key competence (cultural awareness and cultural expression) for living together in Europe. In the area of social inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds, educational work with the focus on cultural education, achieves extraordinary successes. The “graphic novel” has proved itself to be a particularly suitable form of cultural expression, which is equally appealing for children, adolescents and young adults. The partner institutions are already researching strategies, and creating concrete models to make this a reality, by involving experts from various areas. The collaboration of artists, educators, teachers, university lecturers and art and design therapists, but also people with experience of working with refugees, will be illuminated strategically, and in a target oriented manner, via the art form of the graphic novel. The objective is “Learning in plurality” in the form of the sensitisation of the majority and minority groups, based on the fact of social heterogeneity, and the promotion of an “aesthetic cultural dialogue” as a cultural competence, via the art form of the graphic novel, which contributes to the sense of European citizenship and social solidarity, taking into account the multiplicity and diversity of the European identity. The project is made up of nine institutions from six different countries. The Vienna Board of Education (Austria) takes on the role of the Applicant Organisation, and two universities, five schools and one educational institution are participating in the project. In addition, the organization ProEd from Austria is acting as an “associated partner”. The project consists of three macro sequences, which are completed with defined milestones, and encompassed by two areas, the “board” and the “panel”. The “board” encompasses the theoretical line and is responsible for the implementation of the output O1 “Compendium” and the milestone “Manual”. The “panels” consist of the “facilitators” (teachers, artists, role models) and are responsible for the realisation of the output O2 “Europe Graphic Novel” and the milestone “Bulletin of Transfer”. Each institution is involved in the evaluation “Social Capital Impact Measurement” (Social research by Dr. Ernst Gehmacher). Primary target groups are learners from the “vulnerable groups” and „early school leaver“, but in the sense of inclusion, also those from the relevant majorities, who question their humanitarian attitudes, via aesthetic work with language and visuality, in the genre of the graphic novel. Secondary target groups are the “facilitators” (teachers, (art) students, artists with access to the graphic novel), who question their teaching attitude via the method “teaching through arts”. The project wants to test a new, pluralistic linguistic concept of an approach for social inclusion, on the example of educational innovation. This approach should be the preparation for a comprehensive representation of “Europe in an educational context”, through its implementation as a “graphic novel”. The focus is on the activation of cultural and creative educational approaches, whose transnational mobilisation, and the distribution of access in the European Union, and reaching the target group, with a particular focus on people with disadvantages, and underrepresented groups regarding their social, plural potential. The output of the project is on the one hand a guideline – the “Compendium of Implementation”, and on the other hand a booklet – a graphic novel, the “Europe Graphic Novel”. The “Compendium” is a guide to the implementation of social inclusion, oriented towards the example of teaching and learning behaviour, for the example of the graphic novel. The aim is to create a „theoretical foundation“ as transfer material, to prepare for teaching sequences from school and further education. The “Europe Graphic Novel” is a tutorial on how to develop a graphic novel, which will be created with pupils in the practical part, and encompasses the points of “Regional Stories” (stories about social inclusion from the regions) and the “European Context” (a joint parable on the topic of “Europe as an allegory of collectives and plurals”). The guideline and the booklet should be the basis for a future projection, for a Europe-wide project “Education PluralEurope2025”.
Soundwords was an Erasmus+ funded project involving six countries and nine institutions, which took place in September 2017 – February 2020. Its aims were to: • promote social inclusion • develop an artistic aesthetic approach via the vehicle of the Graphic Novel • enhance the literacy and artistic skills of students • provide easily used tools for teachers to download The project was led the Board of Education for Vienna. It involved more than 60 colleagues from Austria, Germany, Italy, England, Malta and Spain who represented all phases of ed¬ucation with students ranging from age seven through to college and university level. In excess of 2500 student hours were used. Against an agreed brief, each country worked in their discrete institutions coming together ten times over the two years to exchange information and insights, work on the collective out¬puts, and finalise on-line materials. The output of the project was on the one hand a guideline – the “Compendium of Implementation”, and on the other hand a booklet – a graphic novel, the “Europe Graphic Novel”. The “Compendium” is a guide to the implementation of social inclusion, oriented towards the example of teaching and learning behaviour, for the example of the graphic novel. The “Europe Graphic Novel” is a tutorial on how to develop a graphic novel, which was created with pupils in the practical part. We chose the vehicle of the Graphic Novel in all its creative forms (graphic story telling, children books, comics, multimedia approaches, illustration, cartoons) because: • It aids reading development, especially for reluctant readers • It supports development of self-expression and the creative extension of linguistic development. • It is an ideal vehicle for the development of universal human values. • Young people find the combination of pictures and words easier to understand, develop and utilize their visual literacy • Evidence shows that complex and difficult issues can be successfully transmitted via narrative and graphics • It has the potential to combine digital and analogue techniques • It utilises young people´s love of films, of comics, of artecraft forms and support: development of their creativity. The Graphic Novel format has the potential to be a key learning tool for all the students of all ages and abilities throughout the European Union.