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OUT-SIDE-IN: Inclusive Adult Education with Refugees
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

2015 starts with global crises a new record number of refugees and provides European host countries with major challenges: ghettos in the largest "refugee Country" Sweden, followed by populist movements as PEGIDA in Germany and the classic first asylum country Italy, violence rise against asylum seekers in Greece, refugee tents as untenable terminals in transit countries such as Turkey and Slovenia. General policy questions, are followed by the ones of everyday urban life and the new coexistence of majority population and refugees door-to-door. Host societies often show stabilization of prejudices and reservations, which are hardly broken on both sides: as refugees social participation opportunities and ways of communicating are missing, there are hardly any opportunities to meet with locals (contact hypothesis). This seriously hamperes the social integration of refugees (2013 Federal Office for Migration and Refugees), nourishes new waves of "foreigners hostilities" and leaves the majority society unprepared for intercultural coexistence in immigrant societies. Educational institutions can take in a key role in the tension between integration and separation of these two social groups. Although the educational landscape of inclusion debates are running on (European Agency / UNESCO) and the technical staff must rely on teaching intercultural competencies to successfully work with heterogeneous groups, still the target group of refugees remain a left out space. The new term "inclusive adult-education" (2012 Kil) tries to grab this gap and promotes a comprehensive commitment of adult education for inclusion. This means the accessibility of educational opportunities for all people regardless of "(..) ethnicity, (..) social or economic conditions". Especially adult and elderly refugees experience the threat of social exclusion. OUT-SIDE-IN therefore is committed to qualify multipliers for the inclusion of refugees in adult education, offering new opportunities of interacting and channels of communication between these groups aiming to soften prejudices and to promote awareness and respect of multiple perspectives in todays´ immigration societies. For this purpose, Out Side In developed a 5-module program for multipliers qualifying them for inclusive adult education with refugees: A. At the micro level of the class: 1. Background knowledge and self-reflection to the target group Refugees (cognitive, affective Level) 2. Exercise instructions for new anti-discriminative learning together in groups including refugees (behavioral) 3. Guide for group reflections for prejudice reduction and awareness in groups including refugees (cognitive, affective) 4. Inclusive communication skills through innovative creative methods B. Meso level of structural organization of education: 5. Sustainable outreach strategies for the target group of refugees With 9 partners in the 6 mentioned countries, Out-Side-In will provide needs analysis for target groups, develop and test innovative educational material and methods for learner groups with refugees, train and support 150 multipliers for sustainable implementation and publish all project- results for public free access on its website. Out-Side-In provides results that qualify educational staff in inclusive teaching and learning skills by creative methods for moderating groups including refugees, raise awareness for multiple perspectives and understanding between the majority society and refugees, reduces prejudices and offers new arrangements for their relationships, provide opportunities for participation and learning for refugees. Overall Out-Side-In contributes an educational puzzle that contributes its part for reaching more inclusive societies. Out-side in includes 3 target groups a Primary: multpliers for adult education b. Secondary: refugees (minority) c. Secondary: Participants (majority society) in the education of the adult education Out-Side-In works in an international team of experts for refugee work, adult education, creative teaching methods and science. The partners are located in transit and classical receiving countries for refugees and therefore are facing pressing challenges of integration of refugees into the local context. Differentiated common illumination of these international phenomena, sustainable responses with a European perspective can be developed in a fruitful collaborative way. Gaps in European adult education can thus be used to forward social inclusion.
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