Scope
The Forum on Intercultural Dialogue and Learning has been established to support the Intercultural courses taught at the Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education (DESECE). It is placed at the Laboratory of Sociology and Education, DESECE, University of Patras, Greece. The Forum has been transformed into a network of academics, researchers, teachers and social actors that empower students’ cross-disciplinary learning. Emphasis is placed on social inclusion, culturally responsive pedagogy and intercultural learning through:
- differentiated instructional design using the Learning by Design framework.
- cycles of intercultural dialogue using the Delphi Method
- collaborative action research projects
- school-based teachers’ training/ communities of practice
- refugee education and children narratives
- teacher reflexive narratives
- measuring Intercultural competence.
Since 2015 the Forum has developed a nationwide network of schoolteachers and principals enabling them to get training in cutting edge pedagogies, test WEB2 technologies/tools and publish their differentiated curriculum plans on the open access platform of CGSCHOLAR. The Forum also maintains an international expert’s database in intercultural education. These experts take part in the annual forum on intercultural dialogue and learning and discuss challenges and future common actions for the field.
In addition, the Forum has run a number of activities with refugee children and schools in the region of Patras and nationwide about refugee integration such as the Panhellenic cartoon contest (Representations of the ‘Other’) in 2017. The Forum maintains close contacts with the Refugee Camp in Myrsini Hlias where research is done, tools are tested and refugee narratives are recorded. One prime target is to measure intercultural competence in formal and non-formal refugee settings. Other refugee camps are also in its reach through academic and stakeholders’ networks.
The Forum has also participated in European projects with emphasis on teachers’ training for an inclusive education. For example the program GetClosetoOpera resulted a well define training framework for inclusive teachers.
Finally, the Forum maintains a strong record of disseminating its research and activities through the organization of conferences and special events.
