Promoting tolerance Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting tolerance

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

Promoting tolerance

As a result of so many economic and political factors across the world, our children today are growing up in a world where prejudice and fear of other cultures pervade their life. We want to provide our students with positive experiences of working with people from all heritages and backgrounds, in order to dispel the myths and provide them with an experience which will enable them to come to their own world view, and challenge prejudice. In addition, as citizens of the European Union, our students need to be well educated and well qualified in order to fulfill their potential as active, responsible, and employable citizens of this community. Colton Hills and Helpsen were ideally placed to begin this work as a good practice example. In Colton Hills, German students were be able to work and socialize with predominantly Asian students, together with significant numbers of students from the Caribbean and, especially with the vote for “leaving the European Union- Brexit” for those students at Colton Hills it was necessary to get in contact with Europe and in this case with dominantly “white” students from Germany to get out of their cultural niche.
Helpsen has a student population where there were only few students from ethnic groups, apart from white German. The rural communities of this area have little experience or knowledge of the diverse nationalities represented at Colton Hills, and this brings fear and anxiety. As the borders of Europe have opened within our project we aimed to provide students from both schools with opportunities to challenge these attitudes and stereotypes.
The activities in our project have been implemanted mainly in year 9 because of the high communicative competence which were needed for the deeper understanding of the partners. The project lasted two years, in eboth years the current year 9 at IGS Helpsen and the current year 10 at Colton Hills were given partners for getting to know each other and hopefully staying in contact from then on. In year 2 of the project modules 5 and 7 were added. The partners got to know each other in joint projects and a group of students was visiting each other. There also were different modules which took part in subjects both schools worked together on.
Module 1 was the low-threshold participation of taking part in “English” at both schools. Students participating in the project visits also read the book “The boy with the topknot “ by Satnam Sangera as this book describes life of an Asian boy growing up in Wolverhampton. Lateron they presentetd it to the whole yeargroup.
During Module 2 a group of German students visited Colton Hills and listened to a videomassage from of the author of the book “The boy with a top knot”. They also did some research on how life is as an Asian in Wolverhampton as Satnam Sanhgera describes in his book.
Module 3 was about the different faiths (Sikhism and Lutheran Church). All students of both year groups did some research on the faith of the partner’s religion and furthermore they visited some houses of prayer.
Module 4 was about the question “where do prejudices come from, this took take part in “social studies” and was discussed during a skype conference between both schools. As a result Colton Hills got an award.
Module 5 was about the current world situation and how it is influenced by prejudices , this especially took part in “social studies “ at both schools as well.
Module 6 was a group of English students visiting the IGS Helpsen in order to find out what activities the school has done so far to get the label as “school against racism”. In adddition the students also presented new ideas they had learned in the project what the whole school can do to prevent racism.
Module 7 was a study of political right wing parties , their ideas and what their attitude towards our project would be comparing the party AFD in Germany and the UKIP party in the UK.
As all students in both schools in the same year group had got partners , due to our objective “ understanding people better by getting to know my partner” the partners interviewed each other about their own perspective to the module. Afterwards they introduced the partners in their classrooms.
By different means of dissemination students from both schools got access to and other schools are able to see the project as a role model for combating racism.
Objectives: Our objectives were to enable students from two key members of the European Union to challenge their perception of the world in which they live and to interact with students who live in very different circumstances to consider attitudes and perceptions of the current migration and mobility which has become a feature of their everyday life. We definetly reached this objective. There is an urgent need to provide this European and world view for young people.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 59745 Eur

Project Coordinator

IGS Helpsen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Colton Hills Community School