Innovative training for managing multicultural schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Innovative training for managing multicultural schools

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

Europe is becoming more and more a multicultural environment, with an increasing number of people moving within EU and coming from extra EU-countries. The project partners strongly believe that migration is a common opportunity and enriches society through cultural diversity, but at the same time it may produces new situations difficult to be managed, especially at school level. In a multicultural society, teachers have to face new challenges, they need to go beyond the text-books to address issues of controversy and holding an intercultural approach. The proliferation of multicultural classes often crashes with a low number of prepared teachers and school staff. The overall objective of the project is to give these teachers and educators an online tool learn the CLIM methodology in a new way to manage multicultural environments and overcome potential shortcomings emerging in classrooms among students or among teachers/students. This project would be the first step to digitalize the CLIM methodology for use of teachers and prepare for the teaching profession in a more flexible approach and experience new teaching methods. The purpose of the project is to create an online version of the CLIM methodology, an educational training module to train teachers and educational staff in general on how to manage multiculturalism within classrooms. This project is also meant to digitalize the training for teachers in Europe using online courses, to create a safe, inclusive, accepting and successful learning environment for all and to teach to students that there are multiple historical perspectives, encouraging critical thinking and preventing prejudice and discrimination. The partnership was properly built according to the idea that the didactic modules needed a multilevel contribution from organizations active in the education and training field, CLIM experts, e-learning experts, the academic world and schools. The coordinator Multikultura and Belgium University have specific expertise regarding Education and social science, and already carry out research activities related to topics that stimulate high-quality education. Ifall and Europe sans frontiers already promote activities to realise integration between cultures and to counteract violence between cultures. They often work with refugees/minorities/immigrants but also in order to integrate cultures at different level. Hominem and Euphoria work in the field of training for teachers, schools and SMEs, especially for whom it concerns the European aspect of education and active EU citizenship, and can rely on a wide network of schools and universities. The partnership is also in line with a geographical purpose of the project as the 6 countries covered are meant to allow far-reaching experimentation of the teaching/learning modules and provide the project with an extensive exploitation and dissemination level. The methodology to be used in carrying out the project for the creation of the online training is the ADDIE model, which is adopted as a standard method by many instructional designers because of its flexibility. This model includes five steps (analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation) that end into the production of an online training. This training is a tool to support teachers all over Europe to manage multicultural classrooms, with a special attention to the situation linked to the migratory crisis. This is an innovative approach as often supportive measures are addressed directly to students and children, without taking into account teachers and students in the same time. The methodology proposed has the advantage of being an instrument for teachers, that through the proposed methodologies are called to integrate students since the implementation of the method itself.The online training is be constituted by two modules: 1) Multicultural sensitization module and 2) How to manage multicultural classrooms effectively, based on the CLIM. The results of the project are 1) creation of a participatory and innovative approach, and method; 2) raise awareness on the importance of training educational staff on how to diversify their teaching approach and make them more flexible and responsive to a dynamically changing multicultural society; 3) produce further research on interdisciplinary examination of cultural mechanisms, cognitive studies, development of teaching materials and adaptation of shared methods; 4) improve teachers/educators’ competences related to teaching in multicultural environments, the knowledge of special needs and cultural differences among EU and not-EU countries; 5) reach a large number of stakeholders (within and outside the organizations) through the dissemination activities.The results of the project remain available because the output and other produced materials are open-source.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 158886 Eur

Project Coordinator

ZWIAZEK STOWARZYSZEN MULTIKULTURA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• HOMINEM CHALLENGE SL
• Sans Frontiers Europe
• UC LIMBURG
• Associazione Euphoria
• Integration För Alla