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Managing Social Relations in Schools
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Anti-discrimination has been one focus of the European policy since 1997 (Treaty of Amsterdam). Despite its long history, diversity has not become a strictly defined concept, but tends to change its scope and priorities according to the different settings, societies and needs. In this context, diversity, especially in education, is not a static phenomenon, but needs to be developed through different ways to address any issue that may lead to discriminatory behaviour and needs to continuously developed, in order to address the needs of each society or setting. Diversity refers to a broad range of characteristics including: gender, age, race, disability, cultural background, sexual orientation, education, religious belief, class, tenure and family responsibilities. Managing Diversity is an initiative which recognises the links between effective people management and increased organisational efficiency and productivity, even when the setting envisaged is a school. At EU level, there has been many papers and initiatives which aim at promoting diversity in education. In particular, COE’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, Living Together as Equals in Dignity (COE, 2008a), shows the focus on intercultural education within the European framework, and brings together competencies for life within a democratic society. However, albeit CE and diversity education are strongly interrelated, cultural diversity in EU programmes is implicitly applied first to the European citizens’ mobility, and not to the migration processes from non-EU countries. Therefore, despite the fact that inclusion has been in the spotlight of the EU priorities, diversity acceptance and inclusive education have not yet been successfully interrelated, as a means to achieve a more democratic society. In the White Paper "Living Together as Equals" the role of primary and secondary education is highlighted, inter alia, as a the cornerstone towards the creation and adoption of shared principles of ethics and democratic citizenship. "In a multicultural Europe, education is not only preparing for the labour market, supporting personal development and providing a broad knowledge base; schools are also important fora for the preparation of young people for life as active citizens." It has therefore been established that the project aims to create a "bridge" between the need for the appropriate culture the teachers should have and the means they have at their disposal to contribute to the creation of active citizens. In specific, the objective of the project is to create a training course for teachers which will enable them to understand the importance of accepting diversity within their classrooms, help them manage a classroom with diverse people/ personalities/ backgrounds/ etc, while at the same time provide the tools to achieve that more effectively. Diversity management is often a term encountered within the business environment; nevertheless, it is believed that in order to achieve the optimal educational results in the classroom, a teacher should be equipped and trained to manage diversity in the school environment. For the successful implementation of the project the 7 partners (three universities, an adult education provider and a governorship in charge of the education provided in the region) will work together to develop the framework and the content of the course to be delivered as a face to face teacher training workshop. The course will address the origins of conflicts and dynamics and it will focus on strategies to prevent discrimination and different kinds of abuse. The activities foreseen, include the preparatory phase, during which the partners will undertake a detailed analysis of the specific factors which determine how diversity is perceived in the participating countries; based on the findings of this analysis, the course will be structured and the specific topics to be addressed will be identified. Following the content development, the partners will also produce a guideline document for the teachers, to assist them in effectively managing diversity within their classroom, as well as a set of tools targeted for the students/ pupils, through which they will be in a better position to understand why diversity exists and how to accept it. The course will also be available as an eLearning self study course, with the intention of increasing the impact of the project. To finalise the results, the partners will undertake a validation phase in their country and a short Intensive Programme will also be delivered; the analysis of the validation phase will guide the partners through the fine-tuning and elaboration of their originally developed material. Finally, all horizontal activities and mechanisms, i.e. project management, quality assurance and evaluation, dissemination and exploitation, will be put in place to ascertain that the project will be monitored and effectively managed throughout the course of the 24 months.
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