CONTEXT: -“The phenomena of school aggression (harassment, victimization, clicking, exclusion from the community) - in the opinion of many - cover community conflicts that are a natural part of the life of institutions. Their frequency depends primarily on the institutional community, & in particular those responsible for its organization & management, being aware of the problem in a timely manner (which is an essential condition for prevention), perceiving problems (if they have already appeared), & whether they are accurately diagnosed & have adequate means to deal with them. The preparedness & information of teachers, staff & professionals are therefore perhaps the most important key elements in preventing, detecting & treating school bullying.” Stieber-Klemm Bettina, https://ofi.oh.gov.hu/sites/default/files/attachments/iskolai_agresszio_es_bantalmazas_kutatas_zarotanulmanya.pdf -Nevertheless, in Georg Koenne’s article, “Warum an Schulen Mobbing betrieben wird (Why bullying is practiced in schools)” he states that “educators are not primarily trained for this. Their main task is to impart knowledge.” ABMS' MAIN OBJECTIVE: Our partners all serve underrepresented populations & have come together to use art & culture to disrupt bullying in youth-at-risk by increasing the skills & competences of artists, educators, youth workers, educational leaders & support staff that serve youth-at-risk. PRIORITY 1: SOCIAL INCLUSION: The intention of ABMS is to use dance (as well as to a lesser extent other genres) to disrupt bullying in vulnerable populations as a method for increasing social inclusion. Nevertheless, ABMS is not intended to directly disrupt bullying routines, beliefs, & behaviours directly in youth-at-risk; instead direct recipients of ABMS are adults that serve vulnerable youth. PRIORITY 2: SUPPORTING ARTISTS, EDUCATORS, YOUTH WORKERS, EDUCATIONAL LEADERS, & SUPPORT STAFF through the provision of LTT activities that use movement as well as additional skills & competences from our partners' experiences in theatre, literature, visual arts, cultural heritage, & even gastronomy! PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Recruiting preference will be given to persons who are or work with populations that represent: -rural & remote populations -inner-cities -low-income -minority language groups -minority ethnic groups & religions -LGBTQ2 -newcomers, refugees -people of diverse abilities (including mental health) -young women & girls Among other things, PARTICIPANTS will learn -To implement new tasks & exercises to create learning environments for youth-at-risk that disrupt bullying through a positive lens -To encourage youth to develop empathy for others’ perspectives & experiences through art -To encourage youth to explore how the arts connect our experiences to the experiences of others & how in the exploration of movement, we can demonstrate positive social behaviours that encourage compassion, empathy, & understanding through body language, tone of voice, & facial expressions -To encourage youth to understand how cross-cultural sharing can be effective in problem solving -To consider ethical considerations & cultural appropriation related to the arts -To make collaborative dance experiences that build community & nurture relationships with others -To implement cultural safety practices in their learning & teaching environments NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 365 (a mix of blended mobility adults learners & individuals with formal relationships to our partners) DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES: Each of our partners will host a 5-day adult training activity in their home communities—except for our lead partner, Município de Vila do Porto, who will host both the opening & closing training activities of which the closing event will culminate in an island-wide dance festival that will share results by live-streaming to our partners venues. This is our strategy for instigating new methods of cultural collaboration & consumption in light of COVID--to promote greener cultural practices. ABMS LTT activities feature -exercise and task development amongst participants -targeted discussions about pressing community issues -presentation & practice of Good Practices by our partners & training participants -community field-trips to learn from local additional experts -practicums with local youth-at-risk to ensure training participants’ skill & competency before they return home -lecturers from communities leaders LEGACY: ABMS will create a final public policy paper that we will use to instigate growth in the education & cultural sectors to more closely link arts education with bullying by lobbying for the augmentation of course curriculums to give them more “teeth.” By linking bullying with education more directly, we will give educators curricular stimulus to address behaviours that fester into bullying to ensuring we produce meaningful, long-lasting change in the education system & in the lives of bullying victims.
Our partners all serve underrepresented populations & came together to use art & culture to disrupt bullying in youth-at-risk by increasing the skills & competences of artists, educators, youth workers, educational leaders & support staff that serve youth-at-risk. We had 2 main activities that support our BIG GOAL OF EXCHANGING GOOD PRACTICES: 1. 7 LTTs hosted across our partner organizations 2. Publishing of a policy paper to support LTT participants (both staff from our organization and blended mobility adult workers) to advocate for social change after our series of LTTs ended and to use as a learning resource in their communities to support grassroots development outside of policy change. WHO WE WANTED TO SUPPORT: We wanted to support people from equity deserving groups because these are the priorities of our partner organizations, and those our consortium saw were most in need: -rural & remote populations -inner-cities -low-income -minority language groups -minority ethnic groups & religions -LGBTQIA2S+ -newcomers, refugees -people of diverse abilities (including mental health) -young women & girls And, we did it! See below in "Follow-Up" for participant demographics.
WHY WE APPLIED -Our partners are all creators of education programming for VULNERABLE POPULATIONS, & they were seeing bullying prevalent in their youth programming. -Individuals associated with our organizations detailed that they felt ill-prepared to handle bullying. NEEDS WE ADDRESSED 1. LTTs: ABMS provided 7 informal learning, teaching, & training events (LTTs) to hundreds of international youth workers, educators, artists, & support staff (EU-based & beyond individuals) that work with a myriad of vulnerable youth around the world 2. INTERNATIONAL SCOPE: While our 6 partner countries were from Europe, our program engagement had international reach as many blended mobility adult learners paid for their own costs to attend our LTTs, so our activities became effective anti-bullying trainings not just at the EU level, but internationally—beyond our expectations at the time of application! 3. POLICY PAPER: To ensure the legacy of the knowledge of our project, ABMS concluded with a policy paper, so that participants had a concrete tool to use to disrupt bullying after the project close. Participants could use this paper as a learning resource, but also to lobby their networks & policy makers to help make curricular improvements.