As teachers we have the responsibility to educate our future generation, but what does the future behold for our pupils? The world is rapidly changing, jobs are changing, borders are fading, religious, economical and environmental conflicts will lead to an increase in refugees and changes in cultural diversity in populations. To ensure our pupils are prepared for an increasing international and cultural diverse world we have to make sure they are equipped with skills to successfully navigate and participate in the society they live in. In our societies we see the development of a stronger and more negative attitude towards immigrants and other cultures. Therefore, the issues of racism, prejudice, discrimination and violence are very important to address in our schools. We want to explore what is needed to help young people move beyond the ‘polite exchange’ so that they can engage with each other in meaningful research and discussion of social, cultural ,religious economical and political issues and promote EU/global citizenship. Together we want to share experiences and develop assignments that help integrating education in social inclusion in modern day and future society in the schools curricula and promote life skills for social inclusion and the development of intercultural competence and international citizenship. Skills and competences include skills related to (intercultural) communication, research, decision-making, critical thinking, empathy and coping with stress. By conducting this project we will achieve the following objectives and concrete results. Objectives: 1: Awareness of pupils, students and staff, regarding prejudices 2: Gaining of knowledge about other cultures, religions and habits 3: Gaining of knowledge of international (views on) social/economic/religious/political issues within the EU; like migrants, refugees, climate etc. enhancing civic engagement. 4: Increase the sense of being a EU/global citizen. 2: Development of life skills for social inclusion (skills related to communication, decision-making, critical thinking, empathy and coping with stress) 3: Development of intercultural competence, being able to communicate, research and work together on a intercultural level 4: Development of educational material and assignments that help integrate the development of skills for social inclusion and intercultural competence (global citizenship) in the schools' curricula. Results: - Developed assignments, materials and lesson plans that help integrating of these topics in secondary education. Other schools will be able to use these in their own schools. - Pupils portfolio with results of activities and assignments, including assessment tool for pupil to use before, and after assignments and exchanges to reflect on their (changes in) knowledge, skills and attitudes - A teachers portfolio that helps assess the impact of the project and assignments. The project will start with a training session for teachers and coordinators where we share our experience and good practices related to the theme's and skills we want to address within this project. A course and guideline for social inclusion and intercultural competence will be developed. We will design assignments, a pupils portfolio to be used for gathering results from activities, assignments and reflections on knowledge, skills and attitudes, asessment tools and a teacher portfolio. Employees of the Anne Frank House will be present during the teacher training and together the partners will decide on the materials and workshops from the Anne Frank House that will be used in the project. This will not only benefit (the partners in) this project but can also lead to the expansion of existing, and creation of new educational materials for the Anne Frank House. All schools in this project will host a short term exchange of pupils. Each LTTA will include active assignments that will focus on the civic issues in that country. Portugal: aggression and violance Sweden: intergration and empathy the Netherlands: social inclusion - past and present Belgium: immigration and EU Poland: human rights We will learn about these civic issues within the EU and reflect from our own perspective and the perspective of other EU countries. Within the programme of the LTTA there will be cultural activities, through these activities participants increase their knowledge on cultures, religions and habits in the EU. This stimulates the development of skills and competence and the sense of EU/global citizenship. In the periods between the exchanges teachers develop assignments and work with their pupils on intercultural competence social inclusion and EU/global citizenship with the use of eTwinning. Teachers exchange assignments and good practices during teacher meetings that will be planned during the LTTA. This way a database with activities and assignments is developed and the course for social inclusion and intercultural competence completed.
As teachers we have the responsibility to educate our future generation, but what does the future behold for our students? The world is rapidly changing, jobs are changing, borders are fading, religious, economical and environmental conflicts will lead to an increase in refugees and changes in cultural diversity in populations. To ensure our students are prepared for an increasing international and cultural diverse world we have to make sure they are equipped with skills to successfully navigate and participate in the society they live in. In our societies we see the development of a stronger and more negative attitude towards immigrants and other cultures. Therefore, the issues of racism, prejudice, discrimination and violence are very important to address in our schools. We wanted to explore what is needed to help young people move beyond the ‘polite exchange’ so that they can engage with each other in meaningful research and discussion of social, cultural ,religious economical and political issues and promote EU/global citizenship. Together we wanted to share experiences and develop assignments that help integrate education in social inclusion in modern day and future society in the schools curricula. Also to promote life skills for social inclusion and the development of intercultural competence and international citizenship. Skills and competences include skills related to (intercultural) communication, research, decision-making, critical thinking, empathy and coping with stress. By conducting this project we have achieved the following objectives and results. Objectives: 1: Awareness of pupils, students and staff, regarding prejudices 2: Gaining of knowledge about other cultures, religions and habits 3: Gaining of knowledge of international (views on) social/economic/religious/political issues within the EU; like migrants, refugees, climate etc. enhancing civic engagement. 4: Increased the sense of being a EU/global citizen. 2: Development of life skills for social inclusion (skills related to communication, decision-making, critical thinking, empathy and coping with stress) 3: Development of intercultural competence, being able to communicate, and work together on a intercultural level 4: Development of educational material and assignments that help integrate the development of skills for social inclusion and intercultural competence (global citizenship) in the schools' curricula. Results: - Developed assignments, materials and lesson plans that help the integration of these topics in secondary education. Other schools will be able to use these in their own schools, taken the form of a teachers portfolio. - Pupils portfolio with results of activities and assignments, Because of the COVID-19 travel restrictions the kick-off meeting with the projectgroup became a virtual one. During these days the concrete outline of the project was defined and good practices were exchanged. All schools in this project hosted a short term exchange of pupils. Each LTTA included active assignments that focused on the civic issues in that country. Portugal: aggression and violance Sweden: intergration and empathy The Netherlands: social inclusion - past and present Belgium: immigration and EU Poland: human rights We've learned about these civic issues within the EU and reflected from our own perspective and the perspective of other EU countries. Within the program of the LTTA's there were cultural activities, through these activities participants increased their knowledge on cultures, religions and habits in the EU. This stimulated the development of skills and competences and the sense of EU/global citizenship. There was also a big focus on experiencing the life within the host families. This was an important part in learning about each other values, cultures and habits, but also to talk about different point of views around the different themes within this project. In the periods between the exchanges teachers developed assignments and worked with their pupils on intercultural competences, social inclusion and EU/global citizenship. It was supposed to be done with eTwinning, but eTwinning had a platform transition during our project which made it more difficult to work with eTwinning. Therefore Teams became the main platform for collaboration. Teachers exchanged assignments and good practices during teacher meetings which were planned during the LTTA and during digital meetings. This way a database with activities and assignments is developed . At the end of the project a final meeting was held in the Netherlands with the project coordinators to prepare the final report. This was in compensation of the missed physical Kick-off meeting, but was found to be really valuable. The developed materials are freely available at the websites of the participating schools of this project and on de Erasmus+ Results Platform.