Empowering Teachers: Preparing for diverse classrooms

DD@S strives to move beyond mere acknowledgement of diversity and focuses on how the classrooms can operate harmoniously and challenge the notion of ‘otherness’ from within the educational structure. It ultimately offers practical tools and educational material to ensure that children have equal opportunities not only for education, but to foster friendships, a sense of belonging in their communities, as well as reshape our future society.

This month’s training focused on bringing teachers from Belgium, Greece, Italy and Cyprus to an open transnational dialogue on how to best combat prejudice and inequality in their classrooms. With the support of the partners, EhB – Erasmushogeschool Brussel, Centro per lo sviluppo creativo Danilo Dolci, CARDET, IISS Einaudi Pareto Palermo, University of Nicosia, the Interorthodox Centre of the Greek Church and Symplexis, the 2-day training was held on the 9th and 10th of May, in Athens. It hosted over 50 teachers who shared their real-life experiences, perspectives, approaches and examples of good practices in a process that enabled them to not only learn from the presenters, but from each other too.

The keynote speeches covered the importance of teaching and discussing controversial issues at school, as well as delved into ways of enhancing a democratic dialogue in the classroom. Separate modules were presented to address sensitive and controversial issues such as politics, religion, gender and vulnerable groups. On this occasion, the secondary school teachers also participated in the training workshops to get hands-on experience with each separate module. Their professional feedback on the proposed practices and tools proved invaluable in further enhancing the project’s toolkit and creating a new teachers’ training course.

DD@S is part of the ongoing and diverse work CARDET is doing to empower teachers and make a tangible contribution to the educational system to the benefit of students. The 2-day training consolidated the efforts to provide an efficient inclusive education framework, which without a doubt, will have a positive long-term effect on challenging discrimination in school communities. For more information about the project, to access its resources and stay in the loop for upcoming events and actions, please visit DD@S website.