Hoy en día, las escuelas y los programas educativos acogen a una gran variedad de personas cuyos orígenes socioculturales son muy diversos. Ayudar a los alumnos a adaptarse a un nuevo entorno cultural, por un lado, y modelar mentes críticas y abiertas que valoren y celebren la diversidad en lugar de rechazarla, por otro, es uno de los mayores retos para los profesores. 
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La nueva edición del curso “Aprendizaje intercultural y diversidad cultural en el aula​” took place in Palermo from 09/02/2025 to 15/02/2025. The participants came from all across Europe, with Sylwia from Przedszkole Niepubliczne Misiolandia in Poland, Gabriele from Karl-Schiller-Berufskolleg in Germany, Tuula from Live-säätiö sr in Finland, Janko and Sandra from Center Gustava Šiliha Maribor in Slovenia, Pilar and Rocío from IES Politecnico de Vigo in Spain, Irini from Palouriotissa A Elementary School in Cyprus, Javier from IES Montes de Toledo also in Spain and last but not least, Maria, Rainier, Daniel and Nick from International school Laren in the Netherlands. 
To kick off with the course, we started acknowledging the importance of reflecting on the meaning of words. The participants altogether tried to build an understanding of what “intercultural learning” means to them and explored the differences between “multicultural”, “cross-cultural” y “intercultural” to become more attentive in describing and interpreting the interaction of different cultures.

During the course delved into the exploration of the relation between culture and education. Participants got involved in some activities to become more aware of how cultures influence teaching y learning styles. The goal of the exercise was to think about the attention and sensitivity that teachers need when specific cultural patterns arise in the classroom.
Moreover, we also talked about the concept of identidad as a first step to go deep into diversity. From a visual activity, our participants thought about their own identity and the relation that identity has with culture.

​Next, participants engaged in different activities about stereotypes, such as storytelling. Altogether we discovered the meaning of the el círculo vicioso de los estereotipos. They were invited to reflect about how stereotypes can convert into prejudices and discrimination, generating a vicious cycle that strengthens stereotypes. As put in an inspirational TED Talk we saw the video – “Show a people as one thing — as only one thing — over and over again, and that is what they become.”
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Last but not least, we worked on the important topic of inclusión. En primer lugar, se ha involucrado a los participantes en actividades de simulación para reconocer y debatir los retos de la comunicación intercultural. The activities can help students question common assumptions while thinking about finding connections among different cultures. Another round of group exercises was performed around the concept of membership and empathy. Los retos de grupo propuestos pueden adaptarse a diferentes asignaturas y actividades de clase, permitiendo a los estudiantes comprender las importancia para cada miembro de la clase aportar contribuciones valiosas y empatizar con las necesidades y diversidades de los demás compañeros de clase. 
Finally, one of the most valuable aspects of this course was the sharing of best practices. It gave participants the opportunity to share their own intercultural experiences and draw inspiration from projects and activities implemented by their colleagues.

Más información sobre este curso aquí.