Breaking Down Prejudice: A Week of Inclusive Teaching in Tenerife

Today’s classrooms are more diverse than ever, and helping students navigate that diversity with openness rather than prejudice has become one of the most important jobs a teacher can have. Building empathetic, open-minded learners doesn’t happen by accident — it takes intention, practice and the right tools.

Der Kurs “Diversity in the classroom: teaching tolerance and overcoming prejudices and discrimination” took place in Tenerife von 9 to 15 August 2026. Participants came together from across Europe, including Ilaria and Giorgia from AES in Italy, and Carmela and Greta from YouNet, also in Italy.

The week began with a deceptively simple question: who are we, really? Rather than opening with theory, participants were asked to sketch a self-portrait divided into two halves — one showing what others notice at first glance, the other revealing the values and experiences that stay hidden. Comparing portraits made it immediately clear how much our own identity shapes the way we read the people, and the students, around us.

From there, the group tackled one of the trickiest parts of promoting diversity in real classrooms: recognising it in the first place. A short talk sparked a debate on why asking “where are you local?” often reveals more about a person than “where are you from?” — a reminder that what shapes our students is not a passport, but the many overlapping layers of culture, family and community they carry with them.

No conversation about diversity can skip stereotypes. Participants traced where stereotypes come from and why they are so easy to fall into, then used storytelling to follow the path a stereotype can take — from an offhand generalisation, to a judgement, and eventually to exclusion. Watching that chain unfold made it far easier to spot in everyday school life.

The course also explored awareness and respect through the idea that our identity works like a pair of glasses: no two people see the same classroom in quite the same way. Building on this, participants took part in a hands-on exercise on belonging, experiencing first-hand what exclusion feels like and how much effort it takes to make a group genuinely open to someone new.

The final theme was Einfühlungsvermögen. Teachers practised putting themselves in someone else’s shoes and reflected on how naming and expressing emotions — both their own and their students’ — is a skill that can be taught and trained, not just hoped for.

By the end of the week, participants left with far more than new activities to try in their classrooms: they left with a sharper eye for their own biases, a fuller toolkit for building inclusive spaces, and new connections with colleagues from across Europe working towards the very same goal.

Entdecken Sie mehr über diesen Kurs hier.

Erasmus Learning Academy SL – Calle Villalba Hervás 12 – 38002 – S/C de Tenerife – CIF: B10614600 Tel: +34 744714054

Mail: tenerife@erasmuslearningacademy.eu – Web: www.erasmustrainingcourses.com