Comenius 2.1CC-WISE

„Cross Cultural Walk in the Streetsof

Europe“

Report on the results of the local teacher training workshop:

„Principles, and practical application of intercultural aspects in secondary school education“

Wolfsberg, Austria, April 4, 2006 methods

Aims of the workshop

• to raise awareness of the notion of culture and intercultural communication in the context of the intercultural education

• to promote a European dimension of education

• to reflect on the new approaches towards the intercultural learning process and the new role of the teachers

• to foster a debate on the national (Austrian) educational responses to intercultural learning and diversity that go beyond the notion of “migration pedagogy”

• to present good practice cases of school partnerships and student exchange

Participants

• Representatives of the Regional Schoolboard in Wolfsberg

• 15 representatives of the regional, institutionalized teacher

working group in the region of Carinthia (teachers, head teachers, schools inspector, educational decision-makers in the region of Lavanttal (Lavant-Valley in Carinthia)

• Halina Klimkiewicz Reinprecht, intercultural trainer, Comenius 2.1.project

The topics addressed included:

1. Comenius 2.1 project CC-WISE „Cross Cultural Walk in the Streets of Europe“Feedback to the CC-Wise Teachers Manual

2. Dimensions of intercultural education: practical application of intercultural learning Good practice example of an intercultural approach in planning a curriculum in geography and economic science

3. Cultural awareness training Example of one module of teacher training (+handout)

4. Teacher training model (proposal)

5. Conclusions and recommendations for practical implementation of teacher training in the region of Carinthia

Feedback to the CC-Wise teacher`s manual

• The manaul offers intellectually challenging material, variety of interesting topics, valuable information about the partner countries. Of particular value: the intercultural perspective of the information

• A variety of useful issues related to teaching• Of particular value for the practical implementation: the

description of activities • The manual is a good source of advice but it would

require a supervised practical support for teachers over a longer period of time

2. Practical application of intercultural principle in teaching geography and economic science

(secondary school, age 15-16 ) Theoretical „underlining“ of the curricular principle

• United Europe – making pupils aware of the multicultural conditions on the one hand and the principles of intercultural communication and the chances of economic cooperation on the other hand

• The diversity of Europe should be made tangible along the phenomena relevant to the topic, such as landscape, culture, peoples, traditions and economies. Focused information about selected regions and countries accompanied by the structured evaluation of the information from the intercultural perspectives (aim: depoliticizing culture)

• Making pupils aware that some of the present and future problems of economic development in their regions can only be solved transregionally. (Aim: supporting opennes and readiness to perceive local and regional problems within the European context)

• Thinking beyond Eurocentrism - as a European: think global, act local

Two curricular principles

• Learning about Europe

• Thinking for Europe

„United in diversity“

Let pupils work out the concept of Europe based on:

• Changed concept of space and dimensions of structuring European space according to: natural, cultural, political, economic resources (aim: abandoning the concept of „borders“ along the national resp. language borders)

• The main consequences of the integration process (aim: making pupils better realise the new conditions of cooperation and competition, as well as the relevance for their own personbal development and professional chances)

Comparing regional development paths

Ethnographic research as a re/source of intercultural education

• Good practice examples illustrating changes in space, economy and society in Austria after joining the EU

• Good practice examples of cross-border cooperation and the impact on the regional and local development

What are the priorities of your country within the European context?

Austria - regional space - society - economy

• Change of Austria`s geopolitical position

• Various meanings of the political „borders“ in Austria since the beginning of the 20 th century: the implications on migration, development of economy and transport

• New perspectives of cross-border regional cooperation as a result of the European integration process

„European Didactics“

6 targets for „Learning for Europe“

1. Knowledge/Information (cognitive dimension)2. Make pupils aware of the European dimension of phenomena3. Make pupils aware of prejudices and stereotypes (your own and

those of the „others“) and learn how to deal with them didactically – i.e. more consciously in contact and in cooperation with others (affective dimension)

4. Through the conscious choice of topics and the intercultural perspective of phenomena, link teaching to issues of direct concern to young people

5. Present chances, problems and solutions in transnational terms 6. Think positively about the peaceful Europe as a societal and

personal challenge (in concrete terms this means that international education can be seen upon as the instrument of the future to attain a new quality of life)

Topics to be included in the intercultural curriculum in geography

• Transregional problems require transregional solutions • Multicultural Europe vs. national states• Regional disparities within the most European societies

and not only between the countries: (center-periphery)• Cultural diversity • Migrations and its implications for societies and economy • The awareness of “differences“ has to be accompanied

by an understanding for the dimension of power distance and inequality between individuals in multicultural societies (social Europe)

Topics related to: „borders in our minds“

• Ethnic minorities • Prejudices• Perceiving cultural similarities and cultural

distance (synchronic and diachronic perspective)

• Europe under the process of transformation • Social Europe - fight against poverty • Perceiving „borders“ - imaginary and real ones.

The recent historic changes of borders in Europe

3. „Cultural awareness training for teachers“(few selected examples)

Why developing cultural awareness and intercultural skills?

• The societies of today are increasingly multicultural• Cross-border cooperations increase in all fields • The cultural background of both the communicators and

the addressee influences the communication

Intercultural competence is a necessary social competence

Barriers of communication

„We are culturally so close …

…but so distant in mentality“

Intercultural communication - a few thesis

• Experience with other cultures alone is no guarantee for a better understanding

• Experience with other cultures with no or little cultural awareness can easily lead to even reinforcing stereotypes and prejudices

• Culture is only one of the factors producing the feeling of „otherness“; other factors such as age, sex, belonging to a particular social group, institution or peer group are also influence the communication (social learning)

Intercultural communication - a few thesis

• Individuals are increasingly formed by multicultural identities. Therefore intercultural contact is frequently not contact between representatives of various national cultures but much more the contact between the individuals with various mixed cultural backgrounds (hybrid identities)

• Self-reflexivity is the first step towards developing intercultural competence

How is cultural identity formed?Some issues

•In the process of socialisation (parents, friends, school, media)

•„Social and cultural capital“ (the relevance of Bourdieu`s theory)

•We do not question our identity until we get in contact with „others“

•To understand what cultural differences of the cultural groups and the cultural spaces are based on, intercultural competence is needed.

Intercultural competence is …

Knowledge =

knowledge about the cultural values and attidues and their relativity. Knowledge about culture as an orientation system (cultural grammar) is a basis which can allow a balanced, respectful and affective communication between persons with different cultural orientations

Intercultural competence is..

Awareness =

a self- and social competence which allows to recognize own pattern of behaviour and thus better cope with ambiguity of situations in general, and in intercultural contact in particular

Skills =

better manage and form cultural encounters with others through more knowledge of the differences, commonalities and foreign language competence skills

Iceberg model of culture

Visible and invisible culture

Concept of world and life orientations

Norms and conventions, Internalized rules of behaviours Values, attitudes

eg. - Attitude towards human being, nature, concept of time

eg. - egality vs. hierarchy- materialism vs. idealism - rationality vs. emotion

eg. - problem solving strategies- working style- management style

„Cultural grammar“

National stereotypes

…creative use of stereotypes…?

A-Teacher training workshop- participants`feedback

The need was identified to develop a web-based service for teachers, head teachers which will bring together sources of advice and practical support for teachers, school heads and decision makers in the area of intercultural edeucation.

A-Teacher training workshop - conclusions (1)

Issues of discussion and particular consideration within the Austrian educational context - summary and conclusions of internal evaluation of CC-Wise teachers manual, the discussion of the issues during the workshop

1. The current policy implemented in Austria tended to view intercultural education as a “remedy” to cope with the language problem of non-German speaking pupils, immigrant children. In this regard we also have to become more aware of the political dimension of intercultural education, the role of governments, and policy making.

• In this context, awareness and methodological training should aim at deepening an understanding also for other aspects of intercultural education than “integration measures to deal with the “language deficit of the migrants” or targeting inequalities as symptoms on the surface.

A-Teacher training workshop - conclusions (2)

4. Intercultural skills are social competences - teachers should be helped to understand their own patterns of perception and interpretation, influenced by their cultural backgrounds.

5. Intercultural education needs to go beyond the mere celebrating of multicultural folklore and pseudo-harmonisation or just targeting inequalities as symptoms on the surface. The causes and roots of racism, ethnic discrimination, exclusion, and segregation have to be highlighted and methodical ways to cope with them need to be combated.

6. While reflecting on an appropriate model of teachers training, we need to reflect on the critical impetus on the current debate on interculturality, because self-reflexivity is the first step towards the development of intercultural competencies.

Teacher Training Course in Intercultural Education – draft proposal

The training course should enable teachers to deal with intercultural issues in their school practice. During the training course, teachers will themselves be part of an intercultural learning situation and thus bring their own experience to the teaching modules they will develop and test with their pupils.

Module 1.

What is intercultural education?

a. Definitions (multicultural, intercultural, international, diversity)b. focus – recoginzing and respecting the “different” in the sense of a

possible source of synergy and not as a deficite or a problem, finding ways to deal with the difference

c. dimensions of intercultural educationd. aims of ie. - 1. knowledge, 2. skills, 3. behaviour

• aspects of culture• psychological and socio-economic mechanisms of racism, prejudices,

stereotypes, group dynamics• understanding oneself more and more as an individual with one`s own

values and one`s own identity

Module 2.

Migration and the issue of diversity

The curriculum should include the issues of different and shared values, it should reflect the reality of multicultural society and deal with issues of pluralism, present reality from different perspectives.

Module 3.

”We and the others“ - culture and identity - the acknowledgment of the difference

1. Cultural background2. Intercultural encounters3. Cultural „grammar“

- visible culture- implicit culture

- cultural standards

Module 4.

Prejudices, stereotypes, vision of the „others“

1. The function of the stereotypes and prejudices

2. The use of stereotypes, application in teaching

Module 5 a. Methods of teaching and learning

Pedagogical basis of intercultural education

a. What is “interdisciplinary work”?

b. Integrative pedagogy (space for processes and own experiences)

c. Change of the traditional role of teachers and pupils - new demands

d. Democratization of teaching - the learner`s responsibility - learning with reference to life - social relevance - co-operative learning

Module 5 b.

Typology of activities to be used in teaching

e. Project teaching - stages

- Finding an objective: What do we want?

- Planning: How do we do it?

- Implementation: What exactly do we do?

- Presentation: What do we offer?

- Evaluation: What was good, what was poor?

Module 6.

• Extracurricular Activities – the function of networks

• Alternative, “institutionalized” initiatives embedded in the institution “school”

- Youth Academy- Summer Schools- Exchange of students- School Partnerships