Culture, Creativity, Inclusion

Project Summary

In initiating the project “Culture, Creativity, Inclusion”, the institutions from Italy, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Latvia, schools and NGOs involved in intercultural education, started from the social and educational value of culture; the existence in their regions of similar contexts: multicultural students groups with discriminatory tendencies; their needs in intercultural education as a strategy for social inclusion, for reducing marginalization and to diversify the Curriculum; needs for non-formal education strategies to replace classical teaching based only on the transmission of knowledge, to create a positive working atmosphere, attractive lessons, and ICT resources; a rich national cultural heritage used as a support for intercultural education. Their strategic objectives are the orientation towards innovative, and attractive European didactics.

The aim of the project is to increase interculturality, creativity, and innovation in the practices of partner institutions, to develop skills through culture and creativity.

Project objectives for teachers as the main target group and for partner institutions:

• 1. To offer the acquisition of innovative and motivating strategies for the social inclusion of students, using as support the national and European cultural and artistic elements.
• 2. To provide the acquisition of types of non-formal intercultural education activities, through the exchange of good practices between partners, during LTTAs.
• 3. To offer the possibility to create, through collaboration, efficient digital resources in learning about European cultural diversity and the appreciation of the common European values;
• 4. To offer partner institutions their professional development, promote attractive non-formal teaching, and support schools in their regions with European digital educational resources.

The project's methodology consists of 6 LTTAs that each involves 20 teachers from partner institutions and 6-10 teachers from the host institution, and is based on innovative approaches: theoretical presentations and examples about the educational value of culture; cultural workshops; non-formal approach to a UNESCO monument; cultural theatre and creative workshops starting from works of art and cultural elements in the UNESCO Heritage; examples of involving students in cultural activities and promoting traditional elements: music, food culture, old occupations, handicrafts, folk dance; cultural ICT workshop using the media with a cultural message, to create certain types of videos and the "Digital Photo Story" as a final product.

Students will only be involved in Virtual Exchanges with partner students and in local activities included in LTTA in their schools; they will be presenters of cultural elements, actors in theater and cultural workshops, promoters of their cultural values.

Expected results through LTTAs: the acquisition of information on classroom management for inclusive education, good practices in encouraging the students ’integration; non-formal strategies and valuable multimedia resources for learning interculturality and developing students' creativity; types of cultural and ICT creative workshops; learning experiences to develop intercultural skills; educational practices using as support the national material and immaterial cultural elements of the UNESCO heritage and the traditional elements; ICT creative skills based on the cultural elements; "Digital Photo-Story", the final project product; creating E-twinning Space and the project website as tools for promoting and disseminating results.

Expected results through the students' participation: superior intercultural competencies, respect, and tolerance for other cultures; new motivations to get involved in the group's life: more oriented towards group knowledge, discovering common and different cultural aspects, an improved position towards the group culture.

The project impact on teachers illustrated by their future professional behaviors: the use of a wide range of innovative approaches; integration in their activities of the digital resources acquired through the project, especially of Digital Photo-Story, a valuable product in intercultural teaching, in the process of social inclusion; new professional skills in organizing non-formal activities, using as support the cultural elements and capitalizing on students' creativity; new ICT skills and the interest in their integrating into lessons.

Impact indicators on students: more tolerant behaviors towards students of different ethnicities and living environments; new intercultural competences: more tolerant in the interaction with students of other cultures; more eager to get involved in national cultural projects and Erasmus +.

The project sustainability can be ensured by developing new projects using at a higher level the results obtained, by integrating the results in the didactics and the Curriculum through new optional courses of intercultural education.

Target Group of the Project:

Coordinator:

• IISS Jacopo del Duca - Diego Bianca Amato - Italy

Partners:

ASOCIATIA EDUPURTUS - Romania
• Rigas 80 vidusskola - Latvia
• SEPUGS "Vasil Antevski Dren" - Republic of North Macedonia
• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - Greece
• Özel Antalya Vizyon Koleji Anadolu Lisesi - Turkey