T Kit 4 Intercultural Learning

Intercultural learning is an important topic for the priorities of both the European Commission and the Council of Europe, and of their partnership in the field of youth. Intercultural learning is an educational approach that can lead to social transformation, so that people from different cultural backgrounds can develop positive relations based on the values and principles of human rights and on seeing cultural differences as positive things. It is a form of political and social education that needs to pay attention not only to intercultural relations, but also to different understandings of culture and diversity, power relations, distribution of resources, political and social context, human rights, discrimination, history and daily interactions among different groups. This T-Kit was developed for the context of youth work and non-formal education with young people, both of which support the personal development, social integration and active citizenship of young people. Educators and youth workers have an important role in addressing intercultural learning in their work with young people. They can stimulate young people’s learning in their daily lives, so that they can question and extend their perception, develop competences to interact positively with people from different cultural backgrounds and embrace the values of diversity, equality and dignity. In today’s Europe, these values and skills are fundamental for young people and for society as a whole in order to continue building peace and mutual understanding.

T-Kits ( = Training kits) are a product of the Partnership Agreement on European Youth Worker Training run by the CoE and the European Communities Commission

Deze T-kit is een handboek met interactieve werkmethoden om activiteiten te doen met jongeren rondom intercultureel leren.

Promote value -based education in general and in learning mobility in the youth field in particular. Learning mobility in the youth field is increasingly recognised and present in European programmes and in the activities and initiatives supported by the European Union, the Council of Europe and other institutions. Providing a meeting place for people from different environments and communities, learning-mobility programmes draw attention to values, trigger reflections on them and stimulate questioning and critical examination. If prepared and facilitated well, these experiences can contribute to preparing and supporting young people and adult learners to be active in society and to be agents of change. This T-Kit has been written by and is for facilitators of learning, to help start their thinking process about an important, but also complex, topic. It aims to promote value-based education in general: to explain it and, with practical examples related to specific values, show how it can be used. It is framed within the current policy framework of the Council of Europe and the European Union, including their youth-mobility programmes. The T-Kit should be understood through a holistic learning and non-formal education approach: the combination of theory, background information, examples and some practical ideas should help to initiate reflection from the relatively new angle of value-based education in learning mobility in the youth field. Value-based learning is not neutral, and neither is the T-Kit – Value-based learning in mobility projects. It is rooted in a set of values that it explores, promotes and encourages action based on them. To support this process, the T-Kit is divided into two parts: one conceptual and one practical. The conceptual part lays the foundation for value-based learning in mobility, while the practical part encompasses concrete activities and “thought provokers”, which address the dilemmas and questions that can arise when implementing activities.

This text has been designed for teachers, head teachers and youth exchange organizers interested in providing an intercultural dimension to secondary school classroom learning. Drawing on the professional intercultural education work of the Council of Europe, the authors emphasize preparation, guidance and assessment of projects and exchanges. Case studies and checklists are included to enable the teacher to work directly from the book, or to use the materials as a supportive resource to curriculum design.

The need for new approaches, methods, and techniques in cross-cultural training and intercultural education are virtually insatiable, especially for experiential activities. The emphasis in this book is on activities that foster the development of intercultural awareness and cross-cultural sensitivity, helping learners understand some of the principal dimensions of intercultural communication, cross-cultural human relations, and cultural diversity. The selections include simulations, case studies, role plays, critical incidents, and individual and group exercises. A number address relatively complex workplace issues; others focus on intercultural dynamics in educational contexts. Some are printed here for the first time; others are culled from less accessible sources. They range from basic introductory activities to those that facilitate the exploration of intercultural issues in significant depth. In an introductory essay, Sheila Ramsey, an experienced scholar and trainer, examines the nature of intercultural training and lays out a conceptual framework for assessing its effectiveness. The rest of the book is made up of activities organized around six facets of intercultural contact: cultural differences for beginners, understanding oneself as a cultural person, the intercultural perspective, working across cultures, cross-cultural "foul-ups," and returning home. Each section opens with an introduction, followed by activities. Each activity includes, at a minimum, objectives, audience, materials required, setting, time required, and procedure for facilitation. Many of the activities include handouts or illustrations. This book will be especially valuable for trainers and educators who want to further ground their work in a solid theoretical base and at he same time augment their resources to expand heir repertoire.

It is easy to say "I have no prejudices", "I'm not racist, so it has nothing to do with me", "I didn't invite those refugees". It is hard to say "I may not be to blame for what happened in the past but I want to take responsibility for making sure it doesn't continue in the future". The Education Pack "all different - all equal" was originally produced in 1995 as an educational resource for the European youth campaign against racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and intolerance. Soon after its publication it became a reference work for those involved in intercultural education and training with young people across Europe and beyond. Translated into many languages, it remains today one of the most successful and most sought after publications of the Council of Europe. The usefulness of the pack stems from the variety and creativity of the methodologies proposed. More than twenty years after the "all different - all equal" campaign, the role plays, simulation exercices, case studies and cooperative group work that it proposes remain an inspiration to many youth workers, trainers, teachers and other people actively involved in intercultural education. European societies continue to suffer from a growth of racist hostility and intolerance towards minorities and foreigners; the necessity for intercultural youth work remains undiminished and the relevance of this pack remains unquestionable. Little bit has been changed in this new edition of the pack, apart from an updating of references. Most changes are visible and usable only in the online version, which offers relevant links with other resources for human rights education which continue the legacy of the campaign: equality in dignity and rights, respect for broader appreciation of diversity.