There exists a variety of programmes, projects and initiatives across Europe, designed to encourage local partnership working between formal education in schools and the cultural sector. These co-operations are motors for growth and development of quality and reach of cultural learning across Europe, but for now, are not addressing the challenges of migration and integration in and across Europe as much as necessary to substantially contribute to an improvement in intercultural understanding. Thus, this project wants to qualify and empower existing local co-operations between schools and their cultural partner to add the dimensions diversity, interculturality, European citizenship and cross-border exchange to their agenda – topics that are essential in times where nationalism is increasing and EU-skeptisicm rises. This will result in more transnational exchange projects with young people that adress these issues and provides a lively experience of the often abstractly perceived topic 'Europe'. The professional training modules will be developed in consultation both with practitioners within the sector and those organisations providing training and professional development to the sector. The modules will be internationally planned and realised and thus capable of being relevant across Europe. In order to achieve this, a multinational modular training unit for teachers, artists and arts educators is to be developed and tested in the field. The experiential nature of the multinational training will ensure that participants will be able to extend their understanding of intercultural practice through their direct involvement in activities and experiences and thus extend their understanding of the benefits of international exchange. The professional training modules will be developed in consultation both with practitioners within the cultural sector and those organisations providing training and professional development to this sector. The modules will be tested in three 'pilot trainings' and further developed in practice. As the multinational training modules will be internationally planned and realised, they will be capable of being relevant across Europe. In addition to this, the project will engage the embedding of the content of the training in the regular programmes and courses of training and professional development providers in different European countries and support institutions with leadoff training courses ('standard trainings'). To promote a diverse and intercultural perspective within regional and national programmes fostering local co-operation between schools and cultural partners across Europe, regular strategic exchange and communication with institutions or authorities in charge of these programmes will take place as well. An international final conference in terms of a "Polylogue on Arts Education" will discuss and publish the results of the project as well as strategies for their further implementation.
There are numerous local forms of cooperation between schools and extracurricular (non-formal) cultural education partners throughout Europe. They can increase the reach of Arts Education and thus provide more people - especially young people - throughout Europe with access to Arts Education projects, programmes and services. However, the content of these programmes do not currently address the challenges of cultural diversity and diversity as such within Europe to the extent necessary to contribute significantly to improving intercultural understanding both locally and across national borders throughout Europe. Therefore, the project has enabled existing local cooperation between schools and extracurricular cultural partners throughout Europe to include the urgently needed content dimensions of diversity, interculturality, European awareness and cross-border exchange in their cooperation, in view of increasing nationalism and growing EU scepticism. The participants were encouraged to organise cross-border encounters with young people on their own responsibility, which also address these topics and give young people exciting (first) experiences with the often very abstractly perceived 'Europe'. In the course of the project, a multinational modular further training concept as well as teaching and learning materials were developed and tested in practice, which enables teachers and their cultural educator partners to make their own intercultural learning experiences together and across borders on multinational level. The modules of the in-service training were developed at the European level in three meetings together with 42 representatives of organisations and institutions of extracurricular cultural youth education from 13 countries, which are experienced in and responsible for in-service training issues, and subsequently tested in three rounds, each with 24 teachers and cultural educators from 10 countries in Germany, England and Hungary ('pilot trainings'). Due to the cross-border European and international perspective in planning and implementation, the modules of the multinational further training are also relevant across countries and Europe. In addition to the development of these modules, the sustainable implementation in their regular courses was planned with the participating further education and training institutions in various countries and supported by three initial implementations, each with 24 teachers and cultural educators from 10 countries in Germany, Hungary and Greece ('standard trainings'). A total of 167 teachers took part in the in-service training courses. Cultural educators and trainers from 19 countries took part. Three strategic exchanges with a total of 67 representatives of ministries and subordinate authorities from 19 countries as well as organisations responsible for existing regional or national programmes to promote local cooperation between schools and cultural partners throughout Europe have also promoted an opening of these programmes towards a diversity-aware, transcultural, European perspective. The international final conference "Every duck is different" with appr. 90 participants from 25 countries - including representatives of the European network of ministries for culture and education (ACEnet) - as well as the publication of the project results on the project website www.europe-in-perspective.eu with download possibility in several languages has made possibilities for their sustainable implementation accessible throughout Europe. The training programme and the associated teaching and learning materials can thus be used at any time over several years and adapted to local conditions.