"Diversity in Schools": Project Promoting Intercultural Openness in Schools is Launched
Press Information
Press Release, Mon 20 Feb 2012
The Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) in cooperation with the German Children and Youth Foundation (GCYF) and sponsored by the Mercator Foundation is launching a project promoting intercultural openness in schools based on the practical requirements of teachers in immigrant society. Together with three secondary schools in Berlin, the project "Diversity in Schools" aims to develop transferable approaches and methods which promote a school culture that supports both students’ academic success and their participation in culture and society.
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Berlin secondary schools interested in promoting an open and respectful learning and school culture can apply to participate in the project until 23 March. Over a period of three years, the JMB will develop with the selected schools teacher-training modules for cultural education, history lessons in heterogeneous classes, migration, and stereotypical representations in school textbooks. Moreover, the teachers’ intercultural and diversity skills will be deepened during the training and their media skills expanded.
Throughout the project, the school management and staff will be advised by the GCYF in their school development process and supported in their promotion of intercultural openness in school life. The project aims to create more equal opportunities for children and young people. Diversity in schools is long since normal, which makes it all the more important to appreciate its value and use the opportunities and potential it brings with it. The experiences and results from this project are later to be made available to further schools in Berlin and other federal states.
This project is the first collaboration between the JMB and the GCYF, pooling their respective expertise in the areas of historico-political and intercultural education work and school development and networking. The JMB has 10 years experience in developing innovative education programs and is an important place of learning outside of school. It has received several awards for its educational work, most recently for the mobile education initiative "on.tour." The opening of the academy in fall 2012 will enable the museum to further expand its intercultural education program. Founded in 1994, the GCYF is a non-profit education foundation dedicated to making our country a good environment for young people to grow up and learn in. The Mercator Foundation develops sustainable programs for integration and cultural education and is sponsoring the project throughout the three-year running period with a six-figure sum. Through this project, the commitment of all three partners to promoting intercultural openness in society is realized.
