While European classrooms are getting more diverse and unite pupils of different backgrounds and with multiple identities (referring to national, social, religious, gender, sexual and even digital identities) this growing diversity challenges the education sector to develop strategies for accepting and embracing difference. Within the educational landscape, the school is a critical institution for transmit ting values and attitudes that honour openness and learning from difference. The educational sector, and in particular schools, can provide a place where young people learn the skills and competences that will help them resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner and learn to live with diversity on a daily basis (see: Van Driel, B., Darmody, M., Kerzil, J., ‘Education policies and practices to foster tolerance, respect for diversity and civic responsibility in children and young people in the EU’, NESET II report, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016, p.15 f.) European school curricula must more effectively incorporate diversity and inclusion strategies in order to meet rising nationalist and populist tendencies in Europe and educate critical and open-minded individuals, using diversity as chance for democratic societies. Besides the adaption of school curricula, specific teacher training and critical reflection and challenging of own stereotypes and discrimination mechanisms is the key to successfully implement diversity education in theory and practice. Within a cross-sectoral team of diversity experts, pedagogues, teachers, diversity trainers and educators and experts for the development of OER, we are trying to meet this need, in developing a holistic model approach, which supports pedagogues in 8 European countries for requirements and challenges of diverse classrooms by offering theoretical and practical ideas and methods to implement diversity and inclusion fostering practices in school. Main aim of the project is the development of a comprehensive diversity educational strategy including: open resource educational materials and therewith promoting use if ICT based materials and digital practices and at the same time training key competencies for diversity education by providing informative handbooks and practical diversity trainings. By doing so teacher’s core competencies are being expanded, meeting recent needs of European societies and educational systems. The special feature of the educational concept will be it's availability in 7 European languages (DE, SI, BG, PO, RO, LT, GR) and the promotion of diversity strategies in 8 European countries, including countries, where access to open educational resources for diversity education is rather rare and teachers therefore less prepared. We are meeting above summarized need needs by developing an innovative diversity education programme for teachers, which supports these by: • Improving availability of open access teaching materials in 7 European languages ((DE, SI, BG, PO, RO, LT, GR • Strengthening diversity skills and competencies of European pedagogues by providing diversity teaching and learning materials, an online diversity handbook an a transnational diversity workshop for pedagogues • Educating pedagogues from 8 countries as diversity multipliers, who will consequently offer diversity workshops in their countries and disseminate project’s results and diversity strategies in the long run • Promoting professional exchange of European teachers and pedagogues through transnational trainings and multilingual forums on the diversity website, where teachers have the chance to exchange good practices, methods and materials for diversity education • long term availability of the developed diversity learning and teaching materials as OER on a modern web platform, that will further be developed in the future and offers a high quality material and method pool
The multilingual platform EduSkills+ Diversity Education is dedicated to different cosmopolitan education strategies and their growing importance in the European and international context. It provides free materials to educational staff and other interested parties in order to help them address and discuss current societal challenges which are linked to diversity. Grand societal challenges, such as intra-European and international migration and globalization, affect educational and social systems. More precisely, these changes entail new opportunities and challenges for educational institutions and youth welfare. In order to respond to the changing societal landscape we live in, besides transferring knowledge to learners, educational staff needs to develop strong social skills and be able to understand complicated contexts in order to foster diversity and a mutual understanding within the community. Therefore, a European team of experts has developed materials available in seven languages: Bulgarian, German, Greek, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian and Slovenian. A comprehensive education package in the field of diversity education is now available online with the aim to meet the European education community’s need for materials aiming at creation of an anti-discriminatory society. This educational package includes a handbook, methods, and templates for the implementation of competence training. It enables multipliers and professionals to understand the basic forms of discrimination, try out interactive techniques, and critically reflect on their own perspectives in this field. The selection of materials is intended to sensitize and show possibilities for action in the sense of Global Education: “Global Education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the world, and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and human rights for all.” - Maastricht Global Education Declaration, 2002 Exchange of experience among the staff of the partner organizations has led to the development of materials using modern didactic tools. Now, pedagogical staff across Europe is provided with ample materials and methods to promote critical and differentiated perspectives on identity and diversity. The main target group of the project 'Understanding Diversity Together' is motivated educational staff which is interested in learning about strategies for cosmopolitan engagement and improving education in the field of diversity. However, the EduSkills+ online platform is open to other interested individuals as well. The developed teaching package comprises three units: a handbook, numerous modules, and templates and materials for the implementation of competence training. Handbook The online handbook for educational staff provides an introduction to the topic of diversity and in-depth knowledge in the following fields: - Cultural, ethnic and religious diversity - Gender and sexual diversity - Social diversity A European approach is applied and combined with useful facts and figures to support the teaching material. The handbook is available as an interactive website text. Methods Creative methods covering the topics from the handbook can be used in training, workshops, or classes. A playful and active approach raises awareness of different levels of diversity and is fun for groups of all ages. All materials include information on: - Age, group size, duration - Number of instructors needed - Working materials and expected costs - Objective of the exercise - Preparation, process, and follow-up - Ready to use, downloadable and printable templates All methods support the development of skills necessary for active participation in democratic processes, critical thinking, and living in diverse societies. The techniques can be used both, online and offline. Competence training A guide and accompanying material enable users to conduct a competence training on diversity issues on their own. - Guide - Agenda - Checklist - Questionnaire for experience reports - Questionnaire for participants’ feedback The materials allow users to deliver diversity-awareness competence training on their own and to convey various aspects of diversity to the target group.