Sociocultural Learning of Youth in Mobile Societies Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sociocultural Learning of Youth in Mobile Societies

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 youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Inclusion – equity; Integration of refugees

Project Summary

The massive flow of refugee populations to Europe brings to the foreground the complex and intricate issue of inclusion, and consequently the crucial issue of addressing the growing social phenomena of violent radicalization and racism. In this context, education is one of the main tools of including moving populations and managing the increasing radicalism. SLYMS project concerns mobile populations, especially youth refugees and immigrants, as they are the dominant issue of inclusion nowadays. Our intention is to design and implement a modern, functioning and effective social model of inclusion and participation based on the principles of intercultural education and the logic of the “new commons”.
The main aim of SLYMS is to actively engage the moving people (bottom-up logic), by using not only our scientific and educational knowledge and experience but also the experiences and knowledge of the people on the move. SLYMS attempts to redefine and thus reinvent interculturalism, participation in public life and inclusion via a more holistic educational approach which effectively contributes to the building of various hosting communities of mutual understanding, learning, and inclusion of refugee/migrant populations. Project’s priority is to strongly encourage the cooperation among education and training institutions, local communities, local and regional administrations, social workers and specialists in the field of youth, volunteers and civil society in general to enhance inclusion of moving populations, to build a positive identity and strengthen their sense of belonging to a community.
The proposed socio-cultural model is based on the partners’ rich and lengthy experience on examples of Good Practice, activities about social inclusion and solidarity, and the establishment of resilience of modern cities and society. The SLYMS intercultural approach promotes inter-religious dialogue, common values of freedom, tolerance and respect of human rights; strengthens their sense of initiative notably in the social field; enable young people to connect with, express their opinions to and influence elected policy-makers, public administrations, interest groups, civil society organizations, or individual citizens within any of the political or social processes affecting their lives.
The further development of a training and learning material which incorporates and joints together the values, the cognitive schemes and the demands of different cultures, is really vital because contributes to the opening of the schools’ curricula and our teaching and intercultural practices towards more inclusive, innovative, socially accessible and participatory approaches. Also, providing the teachers with new skills and cultivating to them intercultural sensitivities are at the heart of SLYMS.
Field researchers, education specialists, linguists, teachers, social anthropologists, sociologists and social psychologists, Street work groups, NGOs and community networks, schools and universities realized SLYMS. It was implemented within schools, camps, on the roads through street work, in NGOs educational programs, and municipalities. Displaced populations were contacted in and out of camps, in social apartments and schools. Also, it is worth to mention that volunteers, teachers, people and groups involved in social movements, and students, had the opportunity to get specific training in SLYMS.
Within the SLYMS project:
9 Intellectual Outputs were produced: Literature & Practices Review; Ethnography; Training the Trainers Methodology; Social Events’ Learning Pathways; Case Studies on SLYMS Model; Open Educational Resources e-Platform; Social Events Learning Validation; SLYMS e-portfolio; Policy Reform.
3 Awareness raising workshops were organized, where policy makers and pertinent local audiences were fully informed about SLYMS’s results, developing inter cultural perspectives and community cohesion.
2 International Scientific Conferences were organized, bringing together widely recognized experts and critically engaged them with the project topics.
3 Multilingualism Festivals were organized promoting the idea of pluralism and the continuity as an experience of a society.
3 Training Activities were organized, where teachers, trainers, Youth workers and young volunteers gained pedagogical and methodological experiences enriching their work with new teaching ideas. More specifically, they understood the critical relationships that are essential to the realization of the sociocultural learning model, they were trained on recording and empowering informal learning realization in events of Multilingualism Festivals and in applying recognition methods within the social events informal and non-formal learning.
Dissemination and exploitation activities were organized predominantly focused on acquainting all interested bodies/stakeholders who contribute to strategies implemented at SLYMS model at local/regional/national and European level.

Project Website

http://slyms.uth.gr/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 168133 Eur

Project Coordinator

PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS & Country: EL

Project Partners

• ARSIS KOINONIKI ORGANOSI YPOSTIRIXIS NEON
• C A I – CONVERSAS ASSOCIACAO INTERNACIONAL
• UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
• DIMOS THESSALONIKIS