The project activities are based on developing an ‘identity experience’ – a series of structured activities that enable pupils to share their experiences and self-identity, and to think constructively about how these compare with pupils from other countries. To achieve this, we will use a combination of detailed in-country work, 6 transnational project meetings, 3 training opportunities for education professionals, 3 pupil exchange opportunities. We will follow a series of three linked themes: Sharing our identities Thinking about differences and prejudice Living peacefully together We wish to stress the importance of cultural heritage throughout - how different aspects of cultural background influence our identities. We will also make it a priority to work with pupils who have additional needs and/or of disadvantage, tackling another form of discrimination. Digital skills are now central to teaching and education policy in particularly developed countries are preparing pupils for the Digital Economy. Digital Competency/Literacy Frameworks are in place for strategic development of digital competency across schools. By providing a “living history of culture and heritage” we will initiate and develop a platform to record and celebrate our diverse culture, heritage and traditions using multi media. In this way it will become more accessible and engaging for children. By interviewing different generations of people we will harness a rich historical view on our cultures, from various viewpoints that will remain for future generations to compare their own lives with. We will give children an identity and a base from which to explore other cultures from their homes. It is also hoped this access will encourage our young “global citizens” to explore other countries where possible throughout their lives.
The project Across countries, we were aware that the impact of cultural heritage upon economy, environment and society is large (Horizon 2020; “Getting cultural heritage to work for Europe”). The aim of this project was to support students and teachers in developing skills in order to research their own culture and become proud of their heritage. We were also eager to develop their ability to engage with the heritage of other cultures and the confidence to discuss culture differences confidently and openly. We also hoped to provide students and teachers with a range of tools in which to measure attitudes to different cultures and map their development through different activities and projects. The project we designed had four goals that we aimed to attain. 1. Supporting the students on the project to engage in critical thinking about their previous ideas regarding stereotypes and prejudices about other countries, whilst also reflecting upon their relationship with their own culture. 2. Developing a teacher training programme that would empower teachers to open up classrooms to cultural conversations that were not merely celebratory: allowing students to reflect on which aspects of cultures (their own and others) they enjoy and which they merely tolerate. 3. Using this rich intercultural dialogue to set up a series of “tried and tested” lessons to teach culture within the classroom. These lessons would be generated and tested out by different partners, who would feed back on their value in an honest professional exchange about best practice for cultural teaching and learning. 4. Bringing students and teachers together using digital means (including a Model United Nations format) to enable them to practice and share the skills they had learned in the sharing of and negotiating with different cultures and use these varying perspectives to engage in innovative solutions to global problems. Our hope was that, through engaging with this project, we would observe an observable growth in the knowledge, skills and attitudes outlined by the Oxfam guide for Global Citizenship. Below you can see a breakdown of how these knowledge, skills and attitudes related specifically to our project: Knowledge Diversity - participant can describe the impact of prejudice and stand up for equity Equality – participants can describe the value of different countries to the collective, that each are diverse but equal Skills Critical thinking – Participants can identify stereotypes and ask honest questions Self-Awareness – Participants are aware of how their culture allows them to see the world from one perspective Attitudes Identity and self-esteem - Participants can explain their identity and is open to those of others Respect for human rights – Challenges prejudice and believes in integration These definitions have been taken from the Oxfam Education for Global Citizenship Document. For a full reference, please go to https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620105/edu-global-citizenship-schools-guide-091115-en.pdf?sequence=11&isAllowed=y Whilst the definitions above references the intended outcomes for students, we also aimed to see teachers develop both in their ability to start conversations with students and in creating a classroom that looks thoroughly at culture. The Oxfam guide breaks down the themes described by age, and the hope was that teachers would work at the higher levels of the same themes, where they would develop in their own practice of critical reflection and engage in a rich and multi-cultural professional dialogue which would enable their teaching and learning techniques to become richer and more thoughtful for future years. The progression shown by students, teachers and schools on the My Place, Your Place, Our Place project have demonstrated that it is possible to engage students in thinking critically about their cultural development but that we must revise the way that we teach and learn in order to do this. This may come from giving schools more time to teach this subject discreetly or in reflecting on the value of what we currently provide for students. In supporting teachers, we need to continue developing and sharing tools that allow for controversial conversations and first-hand experiences, whilst also offering time to collaborate critically with other cultures and reflect on their own practice. In this way, we can begin to allow students to build their own cultural relationships and connections through a series of first hand experiences, including student exchanges with new, unfamiliar practices, people and languages, a practice that will introduce them to a world that is only growing more globalized.