Das Eigene und das Fremde – die Entwicklung interkultureller Kompetenz Erasmus Project

Project Title

Das Eigene und das Fremde – die Entwicklung interkultureller Kompetenz

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 2016

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

The project “The Self and the Other – the development of intercultural competence” (EF-EIK) was a PROJECT activity of the two schools Oberstufenzentrum “Johanna Just” (Germany) and Is. D’istruz. Superiore Aldini Valeriani – Sirani (Italy) and settled under the horizontal priorities of the EU program Erasmus+.
The students of the two partner schools get an education for social pedagogics. The variety of people they will take care of in their future work, inter alia, also due to the current refugee situation, is already placing high demands on the professionals in the social field related mainly to the design of inclusive education, education processes, and processes of care. These requirements will probably still increase in the future.
The project aimed on the exchange of experience to the above-mentioned theme, it has encouraged to think about students and teachers own norms, values and cultural backgrounds, and has lead to an expansion of knowledge about a pedagogy of diversity, resources and orientation of human needs as well as non-discrimination and non-violent communication.

Overall, 31 resp. 24 students from Germany and Italy, a total of 2 resp. 3 supervising teachers and 2 translators have participated directly in this project. Students of both schools, in each case a total of 15 classes, are trained in different fields of social pedagogics (professional school welfare, technical school of welfare and college of welfare in Germany) or social assistance (Italy). Additionally, students in Germany also have the option to acquire the advanced technical college entrance qualification. While the students of the German school for the most part (about 96%) are also of German nationality many students of the school in Italy do have an immigrant background. They come from more than 40 countries (among others Morocco, Albania, the Philippines, Moldova, Bangladesh). The teachers of both schools have a specialized university education and often also a professional education with practical background. The school in Germany has only little experience in the implementation of EU projects while the school in Italy could refer to former participation in already 7 ERASMUS + projects before the starting of our project.

Performing the project, students and teachers have learned to check their own standards and values and to deal with the so-called “foreign”. The aim was the joint work of adolescents and young adults of different origins on current social issues like “Flight and Migration” and “Arrival and Integration”. The project has started for the students in both years in September. In the first year other students have been involved in the project than in the second one. For this reason there was a repetition of several individual activities. The core activities were an introductory course, a learning experiences week in Potsdam on the topic: “The Self and the Other” and a visit in Bologna to gain a direct experience on the subject Inclusion. In the phases before, between and after the activities students of the two schools have been in contact mainly by email or Skype to work together in small groups on a documentary. The activities were designed to obtain empathy, openness, acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity and therefore, the appropriation of an advanced intercultural competence. This has been achieved by (a) the conscious self-reflection, (b) the increase in experience in respectful interaction with other people, (c) the variety of methods of working with heterogeneous groups, (d) the advanced communication capability among the group members of different nationalities and (e) addressing the possibilities of using experiential education activities in multicultural groups.

Besides, the project was able to give health, socially or economically disadvantaged students an opportunity to travel abroad and experience another culture directly.

To achieve sustainability for the future, a reader describing methods for intercultural work was created. It is freely available in the Internet and can be used by other groups of people. Participation in the project has also create some opportunities for better mobility for the participants in the labor market in Europe. Additionally we have offered opportunities for the teachers in both schools to exchange experiences and work on possible content and methods for social inclusion.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 44220 Eur

Project Coordinator

Oberstufenzentrum “Johanna Just” & Country: DE

Project Partners

• IST. D’ISTRUZ. SUPERIORE ALDINI VALERIANI – SIRANI