At a time when the European Union is experiencing a difficult period, it is even more important to foster social cohesion between different nations in Europe and, above all, in our schools, where different nationalities come together. Through this thought our project "Spectrum - United by Diversity" emerged. Our main goal is to bring groups together, which, currently, are splitted up by cultural, linguistic and economical differences, by working together and consequently opening their minds to see the positive aspects of diversity. We are four schools situated in Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, which have a diverse student community. The German school has about 80% of German pupils with a migration background. Furthermore, it has six classes for pupils from other countries who have to start learning German before joining the regular classes. Many of them are fluent in more than one language but can not speak German when they arrive. The Dutch and the Portuguese School have a similar situation. The Spanish school has less pupils from other countries, but a higher rate of pupils with learning difficulties. We chose to work with other European partners, two of which are Anglo-Saxon and the other two Mediterranean, who are in the same or similar situation in order to exchange different experiences and methods to reach our main goal. We plan six meetings, in total, with our school partners in a two year time span. In the first and the last meeting only teachers will be involved, where the possibilities of eTwinning are going to be presented, agreements on procedures and details will be taken and the final evaluation will be carried out. During the exchanges the students take part in four workshops: Theater, Sports, Global Issues and Debating. We have chosen these topics because we believe to reach our goals by offering two creative (Theater and Sports) workshops, in which they have the chance to express their creativity, reduce fears and gain confidence, and two formal (Debating and Global Issues) workshops, in which they become aware of the existence of different positions and attitudes, and the importance to afford compromise and the will to agree on a solution that everybody can support. In the Theater Workshop students learn different ways of expressing their emotions and feelings, recognizing that others have similar ones. By designing self-potraits, sketches on the topic "stereotypes" or acting solely with body language, they develop understanding and tolerance on an emotional level, in order to fight prejudices. For the students in the Sports Workshop we aim at self-consciousness, self- confidence as well as the benefits of teamwork. Everybody will have the opportunity to learn a new type of sport (Korfball, skiing, relay race, traditional dances,...). With Global Issues we want to raise awareness for global problems (how we see ourselves and others, locally produced healthy food -visiting local farms-, ecological, ethical and health related consequences of meat consumption) and how to solve them together, by discovering that there are always multiple perspectives to an issue. In Debating we want to practice skills needed in democratic systems to raise awareness for democratic values. In simutlated committees, students discuss topics like multiculturalism or eating habits and their consequences for the environment. The students must then come to an agreement and present a solution. All of the presented workshops are planned to be an integral part of our school curriculum. With our project we aim to reach a successful integration and the consciousness that mutual acceptance of different socializations and cultural backgrounds are equally a starting point of the common life and learning. In addition its an important chance for our students to experience the European idea directly by working together and finding solutions in consensus.
With this project, we wanted to integrate students from different backgrounds (without migration background, with migration background, politically and/or economically oriented refugees) into our school community: We are four schools in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain with a diverse student body. The German school has about 80% German pupils with an immigrant background. In addition, there are six classes for pupils from other countries who first have to learn German before they are admitted to the regular classes. Many of them speak more than one language but cannot speak German when they arrive. The situation is similar in the Dutch and Portuguese schools. The Spanish school has fewer pupils from other countries but a higher percentage of pupils with learning difficulties. We have chosen to work with other European partners, two of which are from the Anglo-Saxon region and two from the Mediterranean region, who are in the same or similar situation, to share different experiences and methods in order to achieve our main goal. This project aims to integrate the above groups into our school community and to show how we can benefit from our common diversity. To achieve this, a common ground and a tolerant environment were created, promoted, and ensured. The project promotes and challenges the ability to be tolerant by developing an understanding of the unfamiliar and a change of perspective. During the two-year programme, students participated in four workshops (WS): Theatre, Sports, Global Issues, and Debating. We chose these topics because we believe that we achieve our goals by offering two creative workshops (Theatre and Sports) where they can express their creativity, reduce fears and gain confidence, and two formal workshops (Debating and Global Issues) where they become aware of and learn about the existence of different positions and attitudes. At the German school, two additional workshops were offered, Gardening and International Cooking, to address the particular language barriers and integration hurdles for the new students in our international preparatory classes. In the formal WS, topics such as migration, integration, and discrimination were dealt with. In this context, group research on the internet (e.g. the Europeana platform) based on the division of labour, the Placemat method, and Snowballing were increasingly used as a more efficient and social form of idea generation. The learning platforms "Stories that move" and "Europeana" were also used. The development of critical thinking and analytical skills, the sharpening of research skills, the ability to convince with arguments were important key competences of all foreign language and social science school subjects. In addition, especially in the formal WS, the competence area of assessment and evaluation was promoted through regular reflection and application of the newly acquired knowledge. In the course of the project, the pupils were able to formulate an argument/thesis, to recognise the difference between arguments and examples. They were also able to structure their argumentation better and better. In addition, the pupils were able to internalise further rules of discourse, such as letting each other finish, listening actively, and arguing objectively. Especially in sport WS, visual stimuli were used as learning aids. In this way, trust could be built up, the ability to work in a team could be strengthened, movement and perception skills could be expanded, the diversity of sport (also from other cultures) could be learned, and people could dare to do something and take responsibility for it. These skills were picked up again in the regular sports lessons. Due to the corona pandemic and the accompanying measures, the planned projects could not be fully implemented. Part of the lessons took place at a distance. Within the framework of the distance lessons, the competences in dealing with digital media as well as the exchange about it were increasingly used and consolidated. The fact that we had a regular digital exchange with our partner countries in advance gave us an advantage for digital work. Online meetings were held on the topics of "integration", "discrimination" and "tolerance". Finally, through an evaluation, we were able to see that many students were partially better integrated into our school communities.