MINELRES: Fwd: EU Inclusive Education in Contexts of Social and Cultural Diversity, Learning to live together

[minelres@lists.microlink.lv]

Original sender: Roma Virtual Network <romale@zahav.net.il>


EU Inclusive Education in Contexts of Social and Cultural Diversity,
Learning to live together

Throughout history, Europe�s enormous cultural diversity has brought it
prosperity but also war and strife. Harnessing its multicultural
character for prosperity and peace is one of the cornerstones of the
European Union. Many current EU activities aim at cooperation across
cultural boundaries and at the active inclusion of its 100 million
citizens that represent cultural minorities.

07/09/2009 - Intercultural dialogue can be learned. Education therefore
has a very important role to play in the promotion of intercultural
dialogue. In order to participate successfully in a multicultural
environment people must learn how to interact across cultures. And for
people to learn, teachers must teach. Thus, teachers and students need
to develop relevant competences such as knowledge about different
cultures, intercultural sensitivity, intercultural communication and
exchange, negotiation and mediation strategies, perspective-taking,
critical thinking, teamwork, active participation, active listening and
assertiveness.

To explore the role of education in social inclusion and to map current
practice to prepare teachers and students for participation in a
multicultural society, on 17-19 September the European Training
Foundation and the Government of Croatia will organize a three-day
seminar in Pula and Brijuni under the working title �Inclusive education
in contexts of social and cultural diversity�.

Set in a region which only recently suffered the consequences of
cultural strife, the seminar is to raise awareness among key educational
actors in participating countries of the importance of education as a
tool for enhancing cohesion in culturally and socially diverse
societies. It will relate national policies to shared European
priorities, policies and strategies in this field.

The core of the conference is scheduled on day two on the island of
Brijuni, with working group sessions and the expected participation of
Croatian prime minister Jadranka Kosor and a key note address by the
country�s minister for science, education and sports, Radovan Fuchs.

The seminar takes place in the framework of a broader range of
activities that the ETF has launched in recent years under its regional
project on ethnic groups and social inclusion in education and training
in the Western Balkan countries.

Participants:

The meeting will bring together experts and representatives from all
countries in the region that enjoy the prospect of full EU membership in
the near future as well as from current EU Member States such as
Austria, Hungary and Italy. Other participants will represent the
European Commission, ERISEE, the Regional Cooperation Council, the South
East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, the Council of
Europe, Minority Rights Group International, the Roma Education Fund,
the Open Society Institute, OECD, UNDP, UNICEF and the World Bank.

The country representatives will come from ministries of education,
universities, other public institutions, community-based organizations
and NGOs that work with teacher education policies and practices.

Croatia will be represented by the Prime Minister�s Office, Ministry of
Education, the Office of National Minorities, other governmental bodies,
members of the Croatian Parliament that represent national minorities,
academics, teachers and school managers.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Article printed from The Gov Monitor: http://thegovmonitor.com 

URL to article:
http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/europe/eu-inclusive-education-in-contexts-
of-social-and-cultural-diversity-learning-to-live-together-3752.html


---------------------------------------------
This message was sent using Endymion MailMan.
http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ http://www.microlink.com/