Beyond Apparent Stereotypes Erasmus Project

Project Title

Beyond Apparent Stereotypes

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

School education plays an important part in the process of socialization, social inclusion and the building of representation of others. Using informal education outside the school walls, such as school trips, is one of the main challenges of the educational system in Europe for the upcoming years. School trips are widely recognized as valuable educational tools increasing knowledge and providing higher levels of thinking strategies. Research has highlighted that students tend to be more attentive when learning “extra muros”, whereas from the educators’ perspective trips are also a significant contribution to the learning experience as they are unique educational experiences for the youngsters. Traveling, with its transformative capacity at societal level, appears to be an adequate tool for preventing and reducing conflicts and deal in a constructive and peacebuilding manner with stereotyped representations. In that perspective educational school trips aiming at intercultural encounters contributing to reconsider negative stereotypes and reduce prejudices appear to be an innovative tool.

The objective of the project was to develop intercultural competences and skills among students at secondary school of grade 10 (age 15) by assessing cultural representations, preparing and realising school trips to a partner country. The age of the participating pupils has been chosen for various reasons; they have acquired sufficient language skills but are still in the ‘impressionable phase’ or their development. The aim was to tackle and surpass the existing stereotypes and to lower prejudice by immersing the students in another cultural context. The project wished to go beyond general cultural representations and provide students with a deeper insight on cultural characteristics, such as lifestyle, cultural heritage and social habits.

The project covers 4 academic partners (education, political sciences and tourism studies) and 4 education practitioners (teachers and principals) from 4 different regions from Europe (Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece and Spain).

Participants were the students of the partner schools. The selected classes were in charge (with the support of their teachers) to prepare the incoming trip. They selected the activities and material they consider representative for their country/city and prepared the visits.Each school had two partners (IN and OUT). Proceeding like this, the project provided each partner school with two intercultural experiences:
– Brussels’s school “visited” Sofia and hosted the pupils from Barcelona.
– Sofia’s school “visited” Athens and hosted pupils from Brussels
– Athens’s school “visited” Barcelona and hosted pupils from Sofia
– Barcelona’s school “visited” Brussels and hosted pupils from Athens

Given the special circumstances caused by the Covid-19 crisis that greatly impacted the project activities the trips were adapted to virtual exchanges. The adaptation of the programs and activities was done with the active engagement of the participants and respected the initial spirit and aim of the project.

The core objective was directly related to the need for a transnational approach, as in addition to the positive and constructive cognitive experience, the intercultural exchanges contributed to the shaping of a sense of place and a European identity through the building of bridges encompassing geographical and cultural boundaries.
BAS developed a structured tool for organizing educational intercultural school trips. Working with several groups from different countries offered the possibility to measure preconceptions about other cultures. Following these groups over time (before, during and after a trip) provided the opportunity to assess changes in attitudes. The project used a combination of an online survey (measuring knowledge, attitudes, satisfaction levels) before and after the school trips, together with experience sampling measurements to measure perceptions and emotions on the spot during the exchanges.

The outcomes of this project were:
1. adjusting stereotypes of the participating students and building bridges and an intergroup contact between pupils from different communities.
2. an innovative methodological tool to collect data on perceptions and cultural representations.
3. scientific Insight in the most relevant variables influencing the effectiveness of educational school trips in curbing stereotypes.
4. a toolbox for organising educational school trips, including guidelines for organising intercultural encounters between pupils of that age.
5. dissemination through a multiplier event and existing networks.
6. after the completion/implementation of the tested intercultural school trips using the toolbox at European level.

The project can be extended to other schools from the region/countries. It provides a validated tool to organise effective educational school trips in adjusting prejudices and stereotypes and fostering European integration.

Project Website

http://bas.ulb.be

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 185018 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES & Country: BE

Project Partners

• 2nd General Lycium of Vrilissia
• VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL
• 127-MO SU “IV.N.DENKOGLU”
• UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
• GO! atheneum Unescoschool Koekelberg
• INSTITUT ESCOLA SANT ADRIÀ DE BESÒS
• International Business School