Intercultural Citizenship
Education
Alexandria Education Convention
16-18 December 2012
Steven Stegers, EUROCLIO – European Association of History Educators
What is the context?
•The Anna Lindh Foundation/Network is the biggest civil
society platform in the Euro-Med region (>4.000 NGO’s, 43
Countries)
•30-40 % of the members work in education (mostly nonformal) and all are committed to the promotion of
Intercultural Dialogue.
•In 2012 the Anna Lindh Foundation started the
development of a Handbook for Intercultural Citizenship
Education together with a team of 8 authors.
•This is done in parallel with the Citizens for Dialogue
Programme focused on the Arab Region.
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Who are the coordinators?
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Gemma Aubarell
Eleonora Insalaco
Khaled Hammad
Amy Shaarawy
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Who are the authors?
•Léonce Bekemans
•Fadi Daou
•Miquel Essomba
•Emel Kurma
•Tarak Mahdhaoui
•Haifa Sabbagh
•Miguel Silva
•Steven Stegers
Intercultural Citizenship Education
What happened before?
• Previous editions of the Education Convention in Cairo
and Alexandria.
• 1st authors meeting in Cairo,
• 2nd authors meeting in Hammamet,
Intercultural Citizenship Education
What has been achieved so far?
• Commitment from the Anna Lindh Foundation for this
initiative.
• Agreement on the structure of the handbook and the
choice of themes.
• Working definition of Intercultural Citizenship Education
• Stocktaking of Policies, Resources, Relevant initiatives.
• Synopsis / Draft of the chapters.
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Defining Intercultural Citizenship
•Does the education help learners to better understand the
world they live in?
•Does the education show the interconnectedness of
countries and communities living in the Euro-Med region?
•Does the education help learners to better understand
themselves and the others?
•Does the learning activity positively impact the students’
behavior?
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Defining Intercultural Citizenship
•Are learners encouraged to think independently and
critically?
•Is there room for learners to disagree with each other and
with their educators?
•Do all students have the same opportunity for learning
regardless of their cultural, ethnic, and religious
backgrounds?
•Do the education enable students to learn about their own
culture, ethnicity and religion?
•Can the education be used in all Euro-Med countries?
Intercultural Citizenship Education
About the Handbook
I. Introduction (Purpose, Principles and Key Concepts)
•What is Intercultural Citizenship Education?
•Why does it matter?
II. Pedagogical Approaches: (Emel/Tarak)
III. Learning Components
•Embracing Diversity (Miquel/Fadi)
•Education through and for change (Steven/Miguel)
•Pro-Active Citizenship Building (Léonce/Haifa)
IV. Examples of Practice
•Glossary
•References
Intercultural Citizenship Education
About the Handbook
Geographical Focus: Euro-Mediterranean Region on local,
national, regional, and global level.
Age group: All
Type of Education: Formal, Informal and Non-Formal Learning
Intercultural Citizenship Education
About the Handbook
Process: Developed, tested and implemented by educators from
the whole Euro-Med region.
Format: Combination of online and offline elements.
Impact: Potential of the Anna Lindh Network.
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Personal Reflections on the Questionnaire
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High quality of the participants (experience, ideas)
High diversity of professional and cultural background.
There is a need for Intercultural Citizenship Education.
A lot (!) is happening already. We should build on these
initiatives and focus on implementation.
• Very few - if any - references were made to teaching
resources, policy recommendations in Arabic.
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Purpose of the next three days.
•To work together on a definition of “Intercultural
Citizenship Education” including its unique characteristics.
•To test the assumption that such an education is needed,
and discuss how implementation can be further stimulated.
•To involve a wider community of specialists in the
development and testing of the material and the planning of
the project.
Intercultural Citizenship Education
Working Modus
• Participants are encouraged to be active, to speak up and
share their experiences/expertise.
• People who are fluent in English and French are
encouraged to help out with interpretation.
• The results of the convention will impact the further
development of the Handbook for Intercultural
Citizenship Education.
• We hope that in the end of the meeting, you are interested
to help with the implementation of the project.
Intercultural Citizenship Education