Addressing and teaching diversity in the school environment and promoting tolerance is extremely important for transferring knowledge in a successful and right way. It was our crucial goal together with 11 participants during the Diversity in the classroom: teaching tolerance and overcoming prejudices and discrimination which took place in Bologna from the 27th of February to the 5th of March. It was a true pleasure to welcome Dina and Ana from Agrupamento de Escolas de Bom Sucesso, Kati and Cathrin from Leonardo da Vinci Campus Nauen, Miklós from Learning Innovation Ltd, Elena from Instituto de Educación Secundaria La Patacona, Jesús Ángel and María Pilar from IES García Lorca, Katerina from Arnissa High School, Sónia and Maria de Fatima from Agrupamento de Escolas Gabriel Pereira.
The first step of the course was to explore the concept of identity and the key challenges and concerns in acknowledging and promoting cultural diversity focusing on the importance of what really makes us and our students who we are, which is not our country but our whole culture: our identity indeed is being developed on various and interconnected levels.
It is a well known fact that we can not immerse ourselves in the concept of diversity without mentioning the notion of stereotypes. We were discussing the cause of their existence and their impact, how we form stereotypes and where they lead us. ​Moreover, we touched a really sensitive topic: awareness and respect.The glasses through which we perceive the world are a product of our identity and the reality is different depending on which glasses we are wearing. We did a lot of activities and simulations connected with critical thinking in order to understand how our values affect the culture and vice versa.
​The part of the course dedicated to membership helped us  to recognize how it feels to be excluded and how difficult it is to include others into our dynamics. 
​The last, but not least, point of the week was empathy. We dug into feelings and emotions, fostering teachers to put themselves in other people’s shoes. Being aware of our emotions is crucial but it’s important as well to train ourselves and the students to express them.
It is worth mentioning that we were not only studying, but also managed to visit and see cozy Bologna and enjoy Italian traditions, culture, history and of course cuisine.
After all, it was a bright week full of new knowledge, practice, sharing, deep conversations and thoughts, ideas and emotions.
 
More information on this and other courses at this link: https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/course-catalogue.html

Looking forward to seeing you again!