Intercultural Citizenship Education Alexandria Education Convention 16-18 December 2012 Steven Stegers, EUROCLIO – European Association of History Educators

Intercultural Citizenship EducationAlexandria Education Convention16-18 December 2012 Steven Stegers, EUROCLIO – European Association of History Educators

Intercultural Citizenship Education

What is the context?

•The Anna Lindh Foundation/Network is the biggest civil society platform in the Euro-Med region (>4.000 NGO’s, 43 Countries) •30-40 % of the members work in education (mostly non-formal) and all are committed to the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue.•In 2012 the Anna Lindh Foundation started the development of a Handbook for Intercultural Citizenship Education together with a team of 8 authors. •This is done in parallel with the Citizens for Dialogue Programme focused on the Arab Region.


Who are the coordinators?

•Gemma Aubarell

•Eleonora Insalaco

•Khaled Hammad

•Amy Shaarawy


Who are the authors?

•Léonce Bekemans

•Fadi Daou

•Miquel Essomba

•Emel Kurma

•Tarak Mahdhaoui

•Haifa Sabbagh

•Miguel Silva

•Steven Stegers


What happened before?

•Previous editions of the Education Convention in Cairo and Alexandria.

•1st authors meeting in Cairo,

•2nd authors meeting in Hammamet,


What has been achieved so far?

•Commitment from the Anna Lindh Foundation for this initiative.

•Agreement on the structure of the handbook and the choice of themes.

•Working definition of Intercultural Citizenship Education

•Stocktaking of Policies, Resources, Relevant initiatives.

•Synopsis / Draft of the chapters.


Defining Intercultural Citizenship

•Does the education help learners to better understand the world they live in?

•Does the education show the interconnectedness of countries and communities living in the Euro-Med region?

•Does the education help learners to better understand themselves and the others?

•Does the learning activity positively impact the students’ behavior?


Defining Intercultural Citizenship

•Are learners encouraged to think independently and critically?

•Is there room for learners to disagree with each other and with their educators?

•Do all students have the same opportunity for learning regardless of their cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds?

•Do the education enable students to learn about their own culture, ethnicity and religion?

•Can the education be used in all Euro-Med countries?


About the Handbook

I. Introduction (Purpose, Principles and Key Concepts)

•What is Intercultural Citizenship Education?

•Why does it matter?

II. Pedagogical Approaches: (Emel/Tarak)

III. Learning Components

•Embracing Diversity (Miquel/Fadi)

•Education through and for change (Steven/Miguel)

•Pro-Active Citizenship Building (Léonce/Haifa)

IV. Examples of Practice

•Glossary

•References


About the Handbook

Geographical Focus: Euro-Mediterranean Region on local, national, regional, and global level.

Age group: All

Type of Education: Formal, Informal and Non-Formal Learning


About the Handbook

Process: Developed, tested and implemented by educators from the whole Euro-Med region.

Format: Combination of online and offline elements.

Impact: Potential of the Anna Lindh Network.


Personal Reflections on the Questionnaire

•High quality of the participants (experience, ideas)

•High diversity of professional and cultural background.

•There is a need for Intercultural Citizenship Education.

•A lot (!) is happening already. We should build on these initiatives and focus on implementation.

•Very few - if any - references were made to teaching resources, policy recommendations in Arabic.


Purpose of the next three days.

•To work together on a definition of “Intercultural Citizenship Education” including its unique characteristics.

•To test the assumption that such an education is needed, and discuss how implementation can be further stimulated.

•To involve a wider community of specialists in the development and testing of the material and the planning of the project.


Working Modus

•Participants are encouraged to be active, to speak up and share their experiences/expertise.

•People who are fluent in English and French are encouraged to help out with interpretation.

•The results of the convention will impact the further development of the Handbook for Intercultural Citizenship Education.

•We hope that in the end of the meeting, you are interested to help with the implementation of the project.

Documents

Intercultural Citizenship Education Alexandria Education Convention 16-18 December 2012 Steven Stegers, EUROCLIO – European Association of History Educators