A safe space is a space which, either technically or emotionally, is meant to provide equal opportunities, representation and communication outlets for marginalised groups or persons in an environment of respect and understanding that eliminate oppressive behaviours, recognises struggle and cultivates dialogue. Historically safe spaces have been places for marginalised individuals and groups to come together and communicate regarding their experience with marginalisation, learn, and engage in social and political matters against repression. The European Commision has highlighted in the last decade, through campaigning and recording realities in documentarist manners, the crucial role that safe spaces play in the psychological empowerment of refugees and people in traumatic journeys under systemic exclusion due to gender, sexuality, race or their socio-economic status. Creating a safe space for the SAFE consortium means listening, sharing and evolving. As such a safe space is not bound to be geographically demarcated as it can extend to the online communities or even one’s self. In SAFE we will strive to highlight this triangular relationship between safety and space meaning extending from the actual space, to the online space and the mentality in one’s own sense of creating and seeking safeties. The aim of this project is to strive for social inclusion and change by improving and extending the supply of high quality learning opportunities for adults, through the creation of a comprehensive guide for creating and maintaining safe spaces for learning, including an extent research on safe space mentality in the life systems of people, meaning family, community and international identity. The project also aims to increase learning demand and take-up through effective outreach, guidance and motivation strategies that will be facilitated by the creation of a storytelling boardgame that will aim to not only recognise the safe and unsafe elements of a learning environment but also provide solutions, highlight struggle and work towards resolving conflicts through understanding. Specifically the Boardgame will be created alongside the target groups,which will consist of the broad adult education community including adult educators and adult education providers along with adult learners from a variety of marginalised and systemically excluded groups, through the implementation of 2 piloting phases (1st: designing the Safe boardgame | 2nd: playing the Safe Boardgame) target groups . Finally the partners will create an awareness raising policy paper discussing policies on race, gender and civic identity in Europe, and how policy could aid society in moving towards acceptance, recognition of struggle and the creation of safe spaces for all. Specifically the project will evolve through the implementation of three (3) Intellectual Outputs, and their respective actions, along with six (6) multiplier events that will be organized as webinars. Below we present namely the outputs and events: Intellectual Outputs IO1- Safe Spaces for Learning Guide: How to create and maintain a safe space for adult learning --IO1. A.1: Safe Spaces in everyday life: Coping with struggle and oppression in everyday life systems --IO1. A.2.: Good Practices on Safe Spaces for Learning: A visual library of existing safe spaces for adult education IO2: The S.A.F.E. Boardgame: Recognise Bias and Create a Safe Space --IO2. A.1.: 1st Piloting Phase: Designing the SAFE Board Game --IO2. A.2.: 2nd Piloting Phase: Playing the SAFE Board Game IO3: Policy Paper: Sustaining Safe Space Mentalities: Discussing policies on race, gender and civic identity in Europe. Multiplier Events: The multiplier events will result in extent commentary publications on the themes of the discussions that took place. E1. Dialogue and Reflection in creating Online Safe Spaces for Learning (Greece) E2. The role of European actions in Creating Impactful Safe Spaces (Belgium- European Level) E3. Cultivating S.A.F.E. Mentalities in the Community (Italy) E4. Working with diverse groups of learners and the Necessity of creating Safe Spaces (Austria) E5. Discussing theories on Space, Safety and Relevant Concepts (Serbia) E6. Raising Awareness for Transcending Safe Learning Spaces into the Workplace (Portugal)
This project would change the way adult education and society percieve dealing with learning challenges that emerge from unsafeties and inequality in a way that would take into account everyone equally and collaboratively. The consortium wanted to achieve diferente objectives by implementing this project: - support and extend the competencies of educators and trainers in tackling challenges connected with discrimination, bias, hate speech and unsafe space realities in learning; - Improve the level of key cometences and skills of learners in dealing with challenging environments and establishing safe spaces mentalities as part of their learning communities as well as their personal life systems, empowering them to overcome struggle and battle oppression; - Promote the emergence and raise awarness of a European lifelong learning area designed to complement policy reforms and support the modernisation of education and training systems through concrete policy recommendations and the dissemination of good practices. Beyond the mere production of the project intellectual outputs, the consortium was also willing to create an effective and efficient strategic partnership.
The EU-funded project SAFE (Safe spAces For lEarning) aims at fostering social inclusion by enhancing learning opportunities for adults through the creation of comprehensive guides ans innovative tools. Specifically, it focuses on developing safe spaces that go beyond physical boundaries to encompass online communities and individual mindsets. The concept of safe space is understood as a place (physical or online) that provides equal opportunities, representation and communication outlets for marginalised groups or persons in an environment of respect and undestanding that eliminate oppressive behaviours, recognises struggle and cultivates dialogue. The European Commission highlighted in the last decade the crucial role that safe spaces play in the psychological empowermnent of people struggling with exclusion (due to gender, sexuality, race or socio-economic status). In the context of adult education, and for the consortium, creating a safe space for learning means listening, sharing, evolving and, above all, empowering adult learners and achieving outreach for the establishment of actual diverse communities. Besides that, this project would also, in a larger spectrum, promote civic engagement and participation.