The last few years has seen growing immigration into the countries of the European Union often involving populations with very different cultural norms from mainstream European societies with a resultant growth in social tensions. This has often spilled over into xenophobic reaction, hostility in public debate, and an increase in hate crime. The situation requires an educational as well as a political response but teachers in schools across Europe often lack the confidence and skills to deal with a contested and controversial topic. The project will bring together educators with a passion for building strong, tolerant communities where perceptions are questioned, deeper thinking skills and self awareness are developed, and best practice for teaching about challenging issues is shared and celebrated. Specifically it aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of global learning approaches in exploring and explaining the issue of migration. The project title "In Others' Shoes"- references the common adage that you can only understand someone if you walk a few miles in their shoes. It encapsulates the rationale of the project of developing empathy through knowledge and experience. The project is led by Global Education Derby, a specialist educational charity that works with educators to develop global citizenship, and involves schools in Germany, Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, Estonia and Spain - countries with very different experiences of the current migration crisis but with a common concern about the damage being done to social cohesion. Activities include teacher training based around the Global Teacher Award, joint curriculum work exploring media attitudes, and the development of a new educational resource - the Global Skills Passport - a toolkit that teachers can use to develop and accredit the core skills needed by young people growing up in a rapidly changing and unequal world. The new resource fills an identified gap for a skills-based framework for global citizenship. It will provide teachers with a framework that helps students understand a situation in its full complexity and build the core skills of critical thinking, communication, citizenship, creativity, and leadership. These skills and attributes will help meet the challenge posed by "fake news", and also help students succeed in other areas of 21st century life, including many workplaces. By the end of the project, participating teachers will have benefited from improved skills in dealing with controversial issues, and developing critical thinking and cross cultural understanding . Participating pupils will benefit in a more multi-faceted way. They will have a greater appreciation of the origins of difference, and the independence of thought and media literacy to resist negative peer pressure. They will also improve their communication skills in English. They will enrich their understanding of the common European values as well as appreciating the origins and acceptability of the diversity that also exists within Europe. The 6 participating schools will have more effective strategies and approaches to develop student leadership and an open and reflective ethos for the school using a framework for teaching and learning. The development of an innovative new educational resource as part of the project will support ongoing work by teachers and schools beyond the end of the project, and allow other teachers across Europe to benefit from the work of the core group of teachers. In the longer term, it is intended as a contribution towards improving the level of discussion about the effects of migration in helping or hindering the creation of a more just and sustainable world, and to re-establish the sense of European unity that has been strained by the current migration crisis.
Context/background of the project The original context while the project was being planned was the growing immigration into the countries of the European Union often involving populations with very different cultural norms from mainstream European societies with a resultant growth in social tensions. This had often spilled over into xenophobic reaction, hostility in public debate, and an increase in hate crime. This context remained constant during the implementation of the project. The issue of migration remains high on the political agenda, and an educational response is needed. The project was led by Global Education Derby, a specialist educational charity that works with educators to develop global citizenship, and involved schools in Germany, Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, Estonia and Spain - countries with very different experiences of the migration crisis but with a common concern about the damage being done to social cohesion. All project activities were completed successfully and on schedule. This included TPMs in Germany and Italy, 2 training events in the UK, in-classroom programmes in all participating schools to test ideas and new activities for inclusion as part of a teacher resource pack, and 4 small multiplier events in the UK to help disseminate awareness of the new resource. The educational resource was developed as a website www.inothersshoes.org that is available to support ongoing work by teachers and schools beyond the end of the project. Following its completion it was promoted during Refugee Week (17th - 23rd June 2019). By project end It had logged 1577 unique visits. The new resource provides teachers with a framework that helps students understand migration in its full complexity and build the core skills of critical thinking, communication, citizenship, creativity, and leadership. It includes resources to help teachers monitor their students' progress in developing these skills and a tool for the informal accreditation of their achievement through a Global Skills Passport. Feedback from teachers and teacher trainers that have used the resources has been very positive. They have been used in training events and classroom work. Participating teachers have benefited from improved skills in dealing with controversial issues, and developing critical thinking and cross cultural understanding .12 have gained accreditation through the Global Teacher Award (Level 1) and Philosophy for Children (Level 1) The partner schools say that their pupils have benefited in significant ways. They have a greater appreciation of the origins of difference, and the independence of thought - "our students face diversity with a more positive attitude: they are curious of knowing each other. they don't fear diversity, they are curious and more inclined to tolerance" "we observed that they were more careful and respectful about others' thoughts" "students were highly stimulated in thinking more carefully, listening more to others and letting them finish, learning joy in getting in contact with new cultures and ideas" These comments indicate that the project met its target for pupils to have also enriched their understanding of common European values as well as appreciating the origins and acceptability of the diversity that also exists within Europe. The project had an impact on the wider functioning of the participating schools. This impact was different for the different circumstances of each school. The Estonian partner instituted change in the school curriculum with Philosophy for Children and Global Citizenship now offered as elective subjects. In Turkey where a fixed curriculum prevented this sort of development, the new techniques were applied in club sessions. Similarly in Slovenia. Germany had a focus on staff team development where the participating teachers from the project led information and training sessions for colleagues. The Spanish and Italian partners were Primary Schools and focused on engagement with parents and the wider community through events, social media feeds and contacts with the local press. In the case of Spain these reached 6000 people during the course of the project. The Italian partner credits involvement in the project in changing the whole ethos of the school "Before the project, we thought how to overcome students' learning difficulties depending on their different native language and culture, today we look at them as a resource for other students: becoming an active cross-cultural citizen is now the main goal/competence". Taken together this feedback indicates that all participating schools have achieved the overall project objective for modelling a new way to approach diversity and more effective strategies and approaches to develop an open and reflective ethos for the school. For five of the schools this change has been acknowledged through the achievement of the Global School Award.