INTEGRATION AND MULTICULTURALITY - COURSE DESCRIPTION

Introduction

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This course is aimed at teachers and school staff from pre-school level to primary, secondary, vocational, adult and special needs education, staff of non-government organizations, government and policy makers and company staff as well as students and all those who are interested to improve their intercultural competences and learn interactive methods to support integration of learners from different cultures into a collaborating team. The course will address the concepts of identity and group dynamics and will cover several interactive techniques from Problem based learning to the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. Participants are expected to have at least B1 level of English proficiency.

Methodology

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Methodology is based on theoretical lessons and presentations of examples of good practice as well as discussions and experience comparisons. Key methods used are based in active involvement of the participants and creating a homogeneous group willing to get together around a project and focusing on solving problems as well as experimenting with strategies for eliminating the risk of conflicts. Apart from that, participants will be introduced to the Theatre of the Oppressed method to address conflict. Participants will learn about the learner centered, emancipatory approaches to multicultural education through workshops, simulations and action learning. Some other tools used will consist of project work, role play, laboratory practice, reflection and evaluation.

Objectives

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• Facilitating understanding of identity and conflict and analysis of diversity of its forms.

• Learning techniques and approaches for diverting the focus from identifying differences to achieving a common goal.

• Improving understanding of sensations, feelings and thoughts through individual and collective perceptions.

• Facilitating juxtaposition of individual perceptions to form a deeper collective perception.

• Acquisition of games, exercises and techniques for strengthening the capacity for dialogue, tolerance and collaboration.

• Developing communication, collaboration, presentation, problem solving, negotiation, critical and creative thinking skills.

• Learning versatile techniques and exercises from the arsenal of The Theatre of The Oppressed for understanding identity and addressing conflicts.

• Promoting Boal’s methodology as a tool for dealing with conflicts in schools and our surroundings.

• Improving the use of English (official language of the course).

• Promoting intercultural awareness.

• Sharing experiences of drama and theatre methodologies as well as diverse conflict resolution strategies in education in different countries in order to help each of us to be more effective in our work.

• Developing a virtual collaboration platform for preparation, dissemination and networking in order to develop future partnerships and projects.

• Strengthening the European collaboration among people working in multicultural contexts faced with inclusion issues but unified by similar drama-pedagogical approaches.

• Providing insights into different education systems.

Preparation

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After registration participants will receive pre-course questionnaire which will be used by the trainer to learn about participants’ teaching backgrounds and to assess their exact needs. Before the beginning of the course a basic reading list will be suggested to participants to prepare for the training. Participants will also be asked to publish a presentation about themselves, their professional context and their culture. The presentation will be available on the virtual collaboration platform. It will be used during the first meeting, but it will also be available online to the other participants so that they can have a preliminary knowledge of the group they are going to be part of. Participants will receive information about the country they are going to visit in order to prepare them for their cultural experience.

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Follow up

After the course participants will be asked to share what they have learned with the rest of the staff in their schools. Since they will all join the virtual collaboration platform they will be able to further discuss and deepen the understanding of the themes of this course and therefore keep on learning. Moreover, they will be encouraged to share materials showing how they are using what they have learned in their everyday work in terms of ideas, photos, videos, lesson plans, assessment and self-assessment forms, etc. creating an open educational resource available to everyone else from the group. Thanks to the virtual collaboration platform they will all be networked which will provide greater opportunities to develop future partnerships and projects. Further books and articles to deepen the topic and contacts with some other practitioners all over Europe and in the world will be suggested by the trainer. The methods shared and explored and the bibliography given will allow the participants to complete and improve their educational path.

Certificate

Each participant will get a course attendance certificate and the Europass Mobility Document.

Paperwork

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We also provide all the support with paperwork you might need for your Erasmus+ project documentation such as mobility agreement and regsitration letter.