Building intercultural competences:
an innovative model under the lens
Maria Giovanna ONORATI
Furio BEDNARZ
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Educazione e Counselling interculturale nel mondo globale
Verona, 15-18 April 2013
LLP – IP “Interdisciplinary Course on Intercultural
Competences - ICIC”
Duration:
2007 – 2010
Consortium:
University of Aosta Valley - Italy (international coordinator)
ECAP Switzerland (partner)
Artvelde University College – Belgium (partner)
Metropolia University College – Finnland (partner)
Semmelweis University – Hungary (partner)
University of Salento – Italy (partner)
Dokuz Eylul Unversity – Turkey (partner)
IUFFP Switzerland (partner)
Aims:
Developing intercultural competences in future
professionals in Education, Social Work, Health Care
Target group:
Undergraduate students of the involved institutions
Priority:
Tuning two different Educational Systems:
Academic higher education and Vocational higher education
>> a close interlace between theory and practice >>
INNOVATIVE LEARNING MODEL LARGELY BASED IN
EXPERIENCE
Overview
Building intercultural competencies, in an ever
changing world: a transformative and reflective learning
process
Conceptual / theoretical background: Aims,
theoretical framework and methods of a good practice
First results:
Evidences in a multidimensional
perspective: a learning process under the lens
Hints for the discussion and final remarks
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
The context:
What:
•
A transfer of innovation Leonardo project (INCOM-VET), drawing on an
Erasmus initiative (Intensive Program ICIC)
Who:
•
From ICIC Consortium to INCOM-VET Consortium:
VET institutions and Academic Institutions together
What about:
•
From initial education (undergraduate students) to continuous vocational
training (professionals)
Aims:
•
enhancing VET practitioners’ competences in managing intercultural
dynamics, according to an innovative methodological approach based
on experiential learning in the framework of lifelong learning
perspective.
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
From ICIC to INCOM-VET:
Emerging challenges and theoretical
background
Theories of social change, risk and reflexive modernity (Giddens, Beck)
Theories of deliberative democracy (Baiocchi) and participative education: make
citizens able to “learn” how to cope with intercultural dynamics by participating (Morgan and
Streb)
Theories of Human Capital (Becker), re-thought in the light of bridging vs. bonding
social capitals (Putnam)
Change and experience >> re-embedding competency into social experience >>
refund trust on trustiness (Jedlowski, Giddens)
Theories of transformative and experiential learning: a holistic and multidimensional
approach to learning, that transforms experience in stable knowledge (Illeris,
Jarvis, Reggio)
Intercultural competency
A key asset for professionals and individuals in the globalized
ever changing world
Culturally aware mobilization of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that
enables people o cope with unfamiliar situations and ever changing problems
arising (in work as in life) from the encounter with people socialized in a
different culture, with a view to find new and shared solutions.
(see Onorati – Bednarz, 2010)
LEARNING AS A TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESS (ILLERIS, JARVIS, REGGIO)
A holistic, situated and multidimensional approach to learning, enhancing the relevance of
personal experiences, relational and physical contexts within which people move and meet.
TRANSFORMATION OF EXPERIENCE INTO STABLE KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFORMATION
OBSERVATION
EXPERIENCE
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
ENCOUNTER
NARRATION
REFLECTION
LISTENING
REFORMULATION
REFRAMING
APPRECIATION
KNOWLEDGE
REFLECTION AS A TRANSFORMATIVE DEVICE IN
EXPERIENCIAL LEARNING (REGGIO, 2010)
4 BASIC COGNITIVE MOVEMENTS OF EXPERIENCIAL LEARNING
• NOTICE>> look out carefully over the world >> didactical situations that arise
curiosity to “note” and “annotate” something
• ADDRESS>> movement outwads: researching, asking, opening to the
unknown, discovery
• TRANSFORM >> re-living experience through forms that make it sharable
• GENERATE >> new ideas (solutions)
BACK-UP MOVEMENTS
• ACTION and PAUSE: enactment and lingering into action
• QUESTIONING and IMAGINATION: facing the world in a problematic way
and production of metaphors, images, intuition
ICIC learning model focuses on:
• the emotional-relational dimensions of learning: living disjunctural
experiences (Jarvis), re-working and reflecting on them in a group
• critical incidents and case studies as learning triggers: learners are
asked to look for solutions coherent with theoretical frameworks
elaborated or inferred by applying Cognitive structures to External
experiences
• Scaffolding techniques, and the use of reflective tools, intended as
classifiers of the experience for a systematization in terms of
knowledge.
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
First evidences of an ongoing action-research
• Researching with the learners: researchers act as
mentors and tutors, fostering peer and cooperative
learning
• Participative and formative monitoring and
evaluation: different surveys about social experiences of
the learners and their perception of the learning
experience, integrated by focus groups during the training
sessions
• Valuing written and oral production of the learners: a
qualitative study on 150 Learning Journals (ICIC,
students 2008-2010)
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Reflection as a double step process: we always reflect on memories of
our experience, on a raw material embedding our previous knowledge
Peter Jarvis, 1994, 1997, 2009…
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Situated experience
Full immersion in
the contexts
Informal learning
emotional-relational dimensions
of learning , disjuncture
Foreign country
Living together
Field visits
Town exploration
Situated experience
Interactive reworking of
expereince
formal learning
Cooperation
Pair or group work
Communication
English speaking
Effective and appropriate communication,
Use of media
Interaction
Active and participative roles
Simulation
Intercultural games, role plays
Cooperative assignments can play a fundamental role in
mediating and accompanying learning from experience
From “ICIC” Edition 2010 in Aosta
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Rethink reflective «circles» in term of «movements», articulating a not
sequential process, made of pauses and actions…
NOTICE
ADDRESS
TRANSFORM
GENERATE
What did you
noticed?
What does it mean for
you?
What did you
learned and how…
(reflective pause)
How this may affect
your practice…
Good to provide
services for illegal
migrants as well (or
could this cause
problems?)
The use of
mediators is very
interesting, … we
don’t have at least
not systematically in
Finland
Mediators are an
I think it would
important bridge
immigrants feel
between different
more at home if they
cultures – it’s (also)
have this mediating
important to
process in use…
remember and honor It’s safe for them to
the original roots and
get used to the
cultures of immigrants culture with the help
of someone familiar
and step by step
This could be useful
to develop in
Finland.
Although the normal
thinking seems to be
that earlier they
integrate to their new
society, the better…
Reggio’s experiential learning movements
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Learning Journals as powerful sources: surprise,
NOTARE
DIRIGERE generating
TRASFORMARE
GENERARE
comparing,
questioning,
new ideas…
What did you feel
… it really made me
sad. The way I felt
really affected the
wayNOTARE
I reflected
afterwards,
andyou
it was
What did
feel
really surprising for
me
I was surprised how
many volunteers they
have in the language
school
It was nice to see
Ludobus in action
for example in the
language school
What did you learn and
how
(azione!)
How can it affects my
practice in a daily life?
What did you learn
How this may affect
and how
your practice…
(pausa)
…because we learned I really should be more
at school that we
careful and try to
couldn’t let our
canalize my feelings
feelings
affect the
before GENERARE
I start helping
DIRIGERE
TRASFORMARE
wedid
help
order
What did you learn way
What
youclients
learn andsomeone,
Howthis
thisinmay
affect
to be able
to practice…
be more
and how
how
your
professional
(azione!)
(pausa)
I wonder how could
we transfer the
voluntary work in
Finland as well
It was nice to see that
they had day for mental
disease (…)
It’s really important to
give information to
people … in order to
decrease prejudices
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
It’s important to adapt
the methodology with
the group you’re
working with…
Experiential learning implies disjuncture and feed-back
processes, in order to produce new mental frames,
awareness, transformation…
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Scaffolds (i.e.
structured Diaries)
are important, but
there’s no size
fitting all! Learners
represent the
interaction
between External
and Internal
experience in
totally different
ways…
Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World
Summing up: some hints for the discussion
• Experiencing disjuncture (falsifying what we take for granted)
and activating (re)constructive reflection processes play a
key role in intercultural learning
• Experiential learning is an individual and relational process,
in any case complex and original; open mind is a requirement
• As far as we reflect on “memories of experiences”, the quality
of this “raw material”, and the awareness of influences
engendered by our cultural imprinting, beliefs and values, is
of the utmost importance for the result of reflective learning
processes
• Writing or visualizing help a lot produce effective and aware
raw material for reflection
• Memorization and reflection can be supported by didactical
means: a
Counselling
and Education
in the Globalsettings
World
• rtifacts,Intercultural
scaffolds,
peer
learning