Multicultural Education in the Classroom

P10: University of Szczecin (PL)
P11: Westpomeranian Region (PL)

In Poland, where we have more and more new immigrants, the role of school and education in the sphere of integration is extremely important. Polish citizens should be taught from an early age that diversity is of a high value as it allows us to be more open and tolerant. PP11 and PP10 want to integrate intercultural competences into the educational systems in the West Pomeranian Region in order to:

  • create the understanding and respect towards immigrants,

  • interact and communicate with immigrants in an effective and appropriate manner,

  • establish positive and constructive relations with immigrants.

Prejudice depends largely on a lack of accurate knowledge and experiences of other cultures. However, education might solve this problem. We want to improve the intercultural competences of pupils and teachers by enabling them to take part in workshops run by experts and by preparing special didactic materials for them. During the workshop will develop new solutions, services or product which will help both natives and immigrants to create a friendly positive atmosphere in school.

RELEVANCE FOR THE TERRITORY

The number of foreigners registered with the West Pomeranian Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) is increasing from month to month. At the end of October 2019, there were nearly 30 thousand foreigners. This is four and a half thousand more than in April 2019. As a result, the number of foreign children in Polish schools has also increased significantly. Last school year there were 44,000 children learning in over 7,000 schools, the year before - 30,000 children in almost 6,000 schools.

Polish students are not prepared to welcome children from abroad. This is often caused by the reluctance to leave home, but also by the social psychology - the group drawer we - they. This results in manifestations of aggression, conflicts, hate speech, or the bad atmosphere at school. Teachers are also not prepared to conduct intercultural education.

The recipients of the pilot activities will be the hosts of the target country, children, and teachers - as multipliers of the tool.


INNOVATIVE ELEMENTS

Social innovation means the development and implementation of new ideas (service products, models) in order to meet social needs and create new social relations and forms of cooperation. Therefore, the proposed pilot action has the characteristics of social innovation.

The pilot will be implemented with recipients who are facing an unresolved problem. They will receive support in the form of an external expert who will assess the situation, conduct a workshop and together with the active participation of the local community will create unique innovative services and products that will result in a more sustainable and peaceful environment inside and outside the school. 

DOCUMENTS:

D.T2.2.2 - Pilot Action Concept - P10+P11

D.T2.5.2 - Pilot Action Final Report - P10+P11 

INVOLVED STAKEHOLDERS:

Programme

Priorities

Results

Support