MedArt produces a methodological guide

As the end of the MedArt project is approaching, it's time to share the results and output.
The MedArt project was formulated to create a space where the different participating organisations could share and exchange their practices and learn from each other. The process consisted of a series of transnational meetings in partner countries and on top of that, a week long exchange of practice with staff in order to share their methodologies. Those methodologies included games, exercises and other non-formal learning approaches based on the current work of each organisation and their (target) groups.

These were the seven partners creating community theatre in different countries and in different contexts while working with people with a wide range of vulnerabilities:

• acta Community Theatre, UK – working with vulnerable young people and adults 

• Asociacon Acunagua, Canary Islands, Spain – working with women prisoners, young people   

• CSC Danilo Dolci, Sicily, Italy – offering a range of opportunities and education to refugees, young people

• Divadlo bez Domova, Slovakia - working with homeless people, disabled people, mentally challenged people, ex-prisoners and others in need.

• Drustvo ProSoc, Slovenia – theater of different excluded and vulnerable groups

• Magyar Vöröskereszt Budapest Fővárosi Szervezet  AHA Színpada (MVKBP), Budapest, Hungary – theatre with homeless, former homeless and vulnerable adults

• Teatr Grodzki, Poland – theatre with disabled, deaf and disadvantaged people in Bielsko-Biala.

The eighth partner, Hogeschool Rotterdam, Netherlands, has been responsible for project evaluation and creating a framework for the methodological guide.

In the course of the two-year Erasmus+ funded project the partners learned that they share a number of common aims: first and foremost, the desire to make positive change in the lives of vulnerable and marginalised people, and secondly, a passionate belief in the power of theatre as an effective tool to enable these positive changes to take place. Moreover, all the partners share a belief in the importance of life-long learning.

However, the way in which each of the organisations worked towards these goals diverged. It was the richness of practice that was gradually discovered along the way, resulting in enhanced practices in the partner organisations. Exercises created to work in one context proved to be easily translatable to another as the language of theatre, and community theatre in particular, is universal. It is this richness and adaptability of the methodologies that the MedArt partnership is now sharing with anyone through the methodological guide that they de
veloped. Here you can find the publication:

(Alternatively, if this doesn't show up properly, here's the link to the guide.)
Hopefully, this guide will help you develop your own rich and effective methodologies that work in your context. Good luck with your journey !

Disclaimer: The EC support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

How to organise stimulating study visits abroad

Recently a blog on the URBACT site gave away the secrets to do just that. From the many European projects that they have run, thematic pole manager Ivan Tosics drew up a blog post to inspire others. Creating opportunities to interact with each other and the hosts, involving all participants, stimulating discussions and initiatives: these are just some of the tips.

Study visits come in all shapes and sizes, with most visits lasting 3 to 5 days and with groups that vary in size from 10 to 15 to 25 people. Many study visits (or study trips or study tours for that matter) amount to a factfinding mission, but it can be so much more than that.

International study visits broaden our horizons, challenge our understanding of ourselves, and help us understand those whose cultures are different from our own. As such they are an invaluable tool in internationalisation. Often visitors prepare themselves by researching the topic of interest in their own country and reviewing their own practice before the actual visit takes place.

Ideally these study visits consist of three components, namely academic, cultural and social exchange. Here are some of the objectives of the majority of study visits: to learn on common themes of interest, to develop mutual understanding, to provide opportunity to reflect and discuss (innovative) practices elsewhere and/or to provide opportunities for networking.
For students' learning the aim is often to compare and to contrast (and sometimes to benchmark). 

A familiar approach to attain these goals is to have site visits to NGOs and other organisations and / or to provide a mixture of expert inputs and discussion.

With the following tips you can take the design and the organisation of a study visit to the next level and provide a positive, enriching and lasting experience.

Here are the 6 "golden nuggets" that are listed in the blog post that was mentioned above:

1. Increase Innovation Potential With Unusual Circumstances

2. Involve Participants In Collective, Playful Actions

3. Organise Dynamic Presentations Of Interesting Practices

4. Ask Partners To Identify Innovative Small Case Practices

5. Make Space For Two-way Knowledge Transfer With The Hosts Of Study Visits

6. Make Room For Micro-consulting: ask international visitors to act as experts, giving advice on questions of interests to the hosts

Especially, this last tip is definitely an interesting one from an international perspective. For it requires visitors to put themselves in the shoes of the hosts and to relate the topics to the contexts they are familiar with at home. This thinking exercise is bound to produce some incredibly creative ideas that can inspire the hosts to regard the issue at hand in another light and harvest multiple perspectives and solutions from a diverse audience. 

Elsewhere on this blog City as Text was mentioned as an innovative method to uncover and discover urban areas off the beaten track in a surprising manner. The CaT pedagogy emphasizes the strength of experiential or active learning by inviting  participants to "read a city as a text" by having a walkabout through urban districts and debriefing sessions to follow up. This CaT method incorporates a number of these golden nuggets turning a study visit into a successful and stimulating experience. 

the importance of an international perspective

 "Whether we like it or not the world is more globalised and we have to adapt to that." And: "seeing how things are done in a different country can really open your mind." Just two quotes taken from an article posted by the Guardian journalist Mary O'Hara in the Social Care section  here .
This week World Social Work day was celebrated around the globe. It also prompted a flurry of posts and articles on the web. This particular article caught my eye: it focused on the benefits of an exchange programme between social work students from Northern Ireland and their counterparts in India. Especially, the stress that was placed on global professional development struck a chord with me.
As a university of applied sciences educating the future workforce it is crucial that students are well prepared for a global society once they enter the labour market.
"Within social work, it is particularly important to try and understand other contexts as the social work project is one with a global vision. When we do not engage with others, we become trapped in our own ways of thinking." Another quote and how true !
Learning how issues and problems in social work can be tackled and resolved by different interventions around the world can open up new perspectives. "The reality is that [in social work] you can no longer work in your own little world," say academics Janet Carter Anand and Chaitali Das from Queens University, Belfast, the driving forces behind the exchange programme. "Social workers need to be comfortable with diversity and also be able to deal with uncertainty."
International exchanges where students observe everyday social work practices in other countries for one or two weeks have distinct benefits. "Once students are taken out of their own environment they begin to examine their assumptions about social work." This is an essential step, it is the start of true critical reflection. Naturally, there are other ways of attaining such a much-needed international outlook, but going on an international exchange is a particularly enriching and effective way: it provides hands-on experience, face-to-face contacts, opportunities for sharing thoughts and surprises, for developing international competences but above all an unforgettable experience."  There is such a lot to be learned from studying and discussing the various responses to different problems (or different degrees of problems in other countries). This practice (not yet fully integrated in the social work curriculum in Belfast) instills an "internationalist" view of social work that is going to be essential in the future, as one of the participants in the programme stated.

Trends in social work

As part of the regular course programme in social educational care work (in Dutch: SPH)students were asked to identify national and international trends in social work and subsequently write articles about these developments. Some examples of this output was harvested by a few lecturers and passed on to interested colleagues.
One group had approached this assignment in an interesting and professional manner. They shared the magazine they had edited in a pdf format on the web, click here to have a look. And on top of that they set up a facebook group.
A fascinating development to see students applying the digital tools freely available on the web of their own accord.

Clipped from: issuu.com (share this clip)

Issuu was a well chosen platform as it has become a popular free outlet for online magazine publishing and allows clean pages and rapid loading of documents with unique urls for your documents. Well done, a great example of "inside out", providing the outside world with products composed inside university walls!
And here's another collection of international and national trends which was edited into a magazine called The Trendwatcher. Sorry, international readers... the articles were written in Dutch.

Revealing, simple and effective !

Clipped from: www.ifitweremyhome.com (share this clip)

Representing large facts in relation to a person's own home is much more revealing than a simple list or presentation of facts. From this understanding, a new site was launched: www.ifitweremyhome.com. A resource worthwhile exploring within international education, and particularly a tip for our Global Citizenship learning track as it provides an easy gateway to understanding life outside your home.
The site immediately focusses your attention on the fascinating issue: "the lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are."
You only need to use the country comparison tool to compare living conditions in your own country to those of another and you 'll get a short but comprehensive list of comparative data. It's really easy to get started by selecting a region to compare on the map to the right, and begin your exploration.
And here's the question that keeps me puzzling: If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like? Would you be the same person?
Feel free to respond.

UNESCO schools, an outstanding initiative

Did you know: the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet for short) was created over half a century ago? In 1953 to be precise. Convinced of the constant need to construct peace in the minds of men, women and children, a truly international network of schools was set up committed to converting the organization’s ideals into action through new and effective educational practices and approaches worldwide.
It is the largest network of public and private schools around the globe(representing some one million teachers and millions of students, from over 9000 educational institutions in 180 countries, all operating under the auspices of UNESCO and within the United Nations system. It is highly acclaimed by Member States and still expanding.
The ASPnet was set up to help deal with some of the pressing issues facing society and the world at large in the 20th Century. By building peace in the minds of children and young people, the network has kept pace with a constantly changing world and it remains futureoriented. Member institutions – ranging from pre-schools, primary, secondary and vocational schools to teacher training institutions at university level- work in support of international understanding, peace, intercultural dialogue, sustainable development and quality education in practice.
At the moment there are 20 UNESCO schools in the Netherlands and recently Europees Platform activated a specific subsite dedicated to explaining the idea and principles of UNESCO schools. Click here.

Exploring the unesco.org site a little further I came across this very practical toolkit, published by UNESCO, UNICEF and the Arigato Foundation: “Learning to Live Together: An Intercultural and Interfaith Program for Ethics Education”, a programme for educators to teach children about respecting and understanding diverse faiths, religions and ethical beliefs. It aims to help young people and children develop ethical decision-making skills and nurture a sense of belonging, community and values. Ultimately its aim is to shape attitudes for building peace through teaching tolerance and mutual understanding.
In the light of the Grundtvig project that we are participating in this was a welcome find! Another interesting and recent publication is: School Culture: UNESCO-schools towards a peaceful society, showing national and international school portraits around the issue: how can multi-ethnic schools develop a binding school culture? Inspiring examples of the way schools can tailor the UNESCO School profile to their own specific situations ! The idea of becoming a UNESCO school is definitely worth exploring further.

Diversity Icebreaker

Browsing the web for summer schools in the field of social work, I hit upon a new and valuable tool. That is to say: new (and valuable) to me. In fact the concept has been in development since 1998, the tool was validated a number of years later and at the end of 2008 a prize was subsequently awarded for its international breakthrough.
So what am I talking about?
For starters, Diversity Icebreaker is a 42 item questionnaire with 3 dimensions (Red, Blue and Green) that you can score in around 15 minutes and can be used in team development, kick-off seminars, project training, management development programs, change management processes, communication and diversity training.
The website claims: "The test is easy to use and a more positive alternative to Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), TMP and Belbin Team Roles."
And the bonus is, the instrument is available in 19 languages and free of charge ;)
Up to now, within our school of social work we have worked with the concept of Belbin and his team role theory which is often an eye opener for our students when working together.
The difference with Diversity Icebreaker seems to be that the instrument was developed in a more socially constructed way, reflecting interaction patterns more than just personality and self knowledge issues. The real focus appears to be more on social construction processes that take place in and between groups, identifying both actor-observer attributions and prejudices as a natural part of this.
Filling out the questionnaire is only the starting point of it all. The actual focus is on learning about how such concepts are created and how participants’ perceptions of the other are shaped. The value lies in the collective reflection on these perceptions and the group’s ability to choose, revise and develop concepts of the other.
Reviewing the tool like this (based only on the information displayed on the website), I'm convinced that this is definitely a tool to be tried out and applied in our course programmes where much emphasis is on team work, and in year 2 in particular on multidisciplinary team work.
Another idea would be to introduce this tool in the EDDILI project where the RMA approach takes centre stage. It's especially the potential of opening up a dialogue on diversity and diversity processes that makes it worthwhile to apply in one of the RMA training sessions. After all, it makes participants reflect, listen, talk and act.