Our 'Inclusion and Diversity in Education' (INDIE) project unites policy makers in the field of education and inclusion, head teachers and young leaders (pupils of participating schools) from nine European countries and provides the opportunity to exchange ideas and develop best practice guidelines on building and developing diverse and inclusive schools.
Inclusion and diversity is a very topical subject these days. Pupils in schools are increasingly diverse: they come from different ethnic and social backgrounds and speak different languages. This has become a more and more pressing matter as effects in school performance and the learning environment in schools become more visible. Therefore it is necessary to develop new ideas and strategies to develop diverse and inclusive schools.
The aim of this project is to promote social cohesion, raise educational standards and build lasting networks which focus on the common challenges presented by immigration and cultural diversity to school education in the participating countries.
The two participating schools in Malta are St Clare’s College in Pembroke (Girls Secondary School) and St Clare’s College in Gzira (Boys Secondary School)
Intercultural Leadership Skills for young leaders
Every participating country organised a four-day training session for 20 to 60 pupils from selected schools. These pupils, on average 14 years old, are potential future leaders. The training focused on inclusion and diversity, with elements such as project management skills, communication and teamwork skills.
This training session aimed to empower young leaders and teach them to develop their ideas and express them to others, but also to put them into practice through the organisation of a project of their choice in their school on the subject of inclusion and diversity (a performance, film, intercultural fair, etc.).
In Malta the Young Leaders’ Training workshop took place at St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta on 17-21 November 2008. In total 24 students from two schools – St Clare’s College in Pembroke and St Clare’s College in Gzira - took part.
See Spreading Inclusion through Students by Jo Caruana (published in The Sunday Times of Malta on November 30 2008)
Cluster meeting in Birmingham
The two participating schools in Malta are linked to five schools in Italy, five in England and five in Belgium. Their Cluster Meeting took place in Birmingham in March 2009. Two Maltese teachers, Clare Azzopardi (Gzira school) and Steve Mifsud (Pembroke school), joined representatives from schools in other countries to discuss the projects they feel will best put the European Youth Charter on Inclusion and Diversity into practice.
School projects
Between September 2008 and June 2009, the 16 INDIE schools from the Belgium-Italy-England-Malta cluster are each working on two projects that they have created jointly.
Here’s a list of the projects taking place in Malta:
•A healthy mind in a healthy body
•Strengthening the student voice
•The family: culture, tradition and environment
•Student voice "Hear us"
INDIE meeting in Madrid
In April 2009 the INDIE project team met in Madrid with representatives of the partner organisations from the nine participating countries. A representative from the Malta Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport also attended the meeting.
Over the course of two and a half days we mapped out and planned our activities in the run up to the launch of the best practice guidelines (due to take place in the European Parliament in 2010). INDIE activities in all participating countries include a mobile phone video competition, and workshops with performance poet Levi Tafari who visited Malta in March 2009. We also examined academic research into diversity policies in participating countries. This will enable us to issue best practice guidelines on diversity and integration and to help schools to deal better with this.
The Youth Charter
In February 2008 the Inclusion and Diversity in Education conference took place in Brussels, at the European Parliament. International policy makers, head teachers and pupils from all participating countries discussed the subject. Between two and five young leaders from each country met and drew up a European Youth Charter on Inclusion and Diversity in Education together, outlining the challenges and questions they see in this field for policy makers and heads of schools.
This Youth Charter was presented to the policy makers and head teachers, who discussed the issues raised and, in response to the student voice, made a declaration on the management of diverse and inclusive schools. Keynote speeches were presented by Frank Vandenbroucke, Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Work, Education and Training and Odile Quintin, Director General DG Education and Culture, European Commission.
For more information see http://www.britishcouncil.org/indie
Our partners:
Our partners play an important role in the project and their continued involvement is crucial in terms of disseminating the best practice guidelines that we will publish with the participating schools.
•Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (Malta)
•Flemish Ministry of Education and Training (Belgium)
•Dutch Ministry of Education (Netherlands)
•West Midlands/Birmingham Local Authority (England)
•Education Ministry of Baden Württemberg (Germany)
•Ministry of Education (Greece)
•Regional Education Authority and regional Research Institute for Ethnic Minority Issues in Lombardy (Italy)
•Ministry of Education (Portugal)
•Madrid Regional Education Authority (Spain)
•European Commission, Directorate-general Education and Culture & Committee of the Regions.
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