REBELAH is a strategic partnership involving 6 organizations in 4 countries: Storytelling Centre (NL), University of Groningen (NL), Elan Interculturel (FR), Kepes (HU), Ibn Battuta Foundation (SP) and La Xixa Teatre as project coordinator (SP). The implementation of the REBELAH project took place between 2020 and 2022. CONTEXT AND NEEDS Exclusionary narratives that surge throughout Europe are entering the learning environments, negatively affecting religious and ethnic minority learners. In a training group with 15 adults: in Spain, 3 participants would feel uncomfortable with a Muslim or a Roma peer; in France 2 and 3 respectively, in the Netherlands, 1 each; and in Hungary more than half the group would be uncomfortable with either a Muslim or a Roma peer. In such a context, cultural heritage is an essential tool for both trainers and learners to recover Europe’s plural past in favour of inclusive and safe learning spaces. OBJECTIVES In the context of adult trainings, we achieved the following objectives: - Foster inclusion, diversity and non-discrimination, particularly in regards to religious minorities - Promote the social and educational value of European cultural heritage and its potential to generate interreligious co-existence - Extend and develop competences of adult trainers to foster inclusion through their teaching practice, particularly in multicultural learner contexts. PARTICIPANTS REBELAH’s main target group are adult trainers. Secondary target groups are adult learners, activists, community leaders and local minorities. Policy makers, heritage and adult trainer organizations can also benefit from project results. During project implementation, we involved a total of 1194 participants in different project activities from the different target groups, and had an online outreach of 163,324 people. ACTIVITIES The project main activities were: - Continuous management, assessment and dissemination of project progress, quality and impact, including 4 transnational partner meetings - Development of 2 multimedia outputs to promote inclusive learning environments - One joint staff training - 8 local pilots to co-construct project outputs - An international final conference METHODOLOGY Partner experience in adult education shows that the Critical Incident Methodology, Forum Theatre, Process Work, Storytelling, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy are methods which allow for a profound transformation of the learning environment, and are useful in building trainer and learner skills on how to comprehensively address conflicts, discriminatory behaviours and cultural shocks. We brought these embodied methodologies into the field of cultural heritage, to generate an innovative approach to inclusive adult learning environments, particularly for minority learners. RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONG-TERM BENEFITS We developed two outputs jointly with the target groups, produced in English, Hungarian, Spanish, French and Dutch, and made available (Creative Commons) through the project website, the Erasmus+ Results Platform, EPALE and other platforms for open resource platforms: • Output 1: “Fostering inclusive learning environments through cultural heritage: Tool-kit for adult trainers.” The toolkit is composed of an interactive map with multi-format narratives about cultural heritage elements, infosheets, and an activity handbook with related teambuilders. Concretely: o the REBELAH heritage map is an overview of 24 heritage elements from Spain, the Netherlands, France and Hungary, which are presented following a logic of: a) collective appropriation; b) critical understanding of history; c) questioning of expert roles in heritage; d) understanding of European culture as both contextual and relational within global interactions. o The REBELAH activity handbook ia a collection of 17 activities for icebreaking, teambuilding, and intercultural empowerment for adult trainers to use in the classroom, including a set of introductory readings to contextualise the activities, and the summary of four piloting experiences using the activities with a diversity of groups of adult learners in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Hungary. • Output 2: “Inclusion, religion and heritage in secular adult learning: a train the trainer handbook.” The handbook contents include a theoretical introduction on the educational value of cultural heritage, readings, activities and teaching tips to foster more inclusive learning environments through a deeper understanding of European cultural heritage, and its importance to unveil power dynamics within the teaching practice. The handbook is composed of 13 modules divided in 4 sections on different topics of relevance. Each module has an introduction and a train-the-trainer activity. Each module works as a “learning journey/path of self-discovery” where trainers can gain awareness about their heritage, their identity, how this impacts their teaching practice, and how to make their teaching practice more inclusive. Additionally, over 488 participants were trained in REBELAH methods, and over 80 organizations were involved in project implementation. In terms of impact, - adult trainers experienced and acquired new methodologies to promote inclusive learning environments - minority learners acquired tools to reappropriate their experience in relation to their territories of residence - involved organizations were able to incorporate innovative trainings and methods, and expand their networks to promote inclusion, religious diversity and European cultural heritage The partnership is still working together, developing new projects to build on REBELAH results, such as the publication of handbooks in the Groningen University Press, or follow-up through joint cooperation projects. We developed strategic guiding tools such as a dissemination and stakeholder plan, and an evaluation framework which served to assess the progress, quality and impact of all project activities and results.
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