The following are the main deliverables that are being realized in the course of the LIFE TWO project:
Upscaling Report
Tries to discover the potential value of developing and identifying interventions that enhance student’s tolerant and collaborative behaviours in respect to multiculturalism and diverse religious backgrounds. It can be considered the backbone for inspiring educators (teachers of secondary schools, teaching staff, administrators) to integrate PD&P and practices into their curricula and for organizing an integrated approach that infuses both promising practices and programs into the daily fabric of classrooms and schools, indispensable for an inclusive education to be fully realized.
Research Report ‘Religious education and multiculturalism: analysis of the status quo and of the strategic perspectives Report in the 8 countries involved in the LIFE TWO project’
Based on the previous Erasmus+ KA2 LIFE project, other existing researches, statistics and studies, this analysis summarizes, condense and – with the aim of comparing trends and developments – frame the status quo and the strategic perspectives with regard to the religious education in the 8 countries involved in LIFE TWO project. The research focuses, in the 8 EU countries, on the general institutional background and the basic legal framework governing Religious Education; on the religious instruction within the different educative systems, and on the state of the debate about religious education.
Scenario based questionnaire and testing
The questionnaire has the aim to produce a study with a perceptive analysis of the target group about the cultural and religious differences. The questionnaire is defined in accordance with the school staff, taking into account the different backgrounds of the students through an initial focus group.
The questionnaire explores the experiences and ideas of students about the topics of Culture and Religion.
Thanks to that we want to learn more about young people experiences and thoughts about culture, religion and diversity in different countries.
At the same moment also teachers are involved. Interviews are made with them to gain an insight into the current situation in schools and classrooms in different countries to explore what is happening and what is possible in terms of classroom practice and pedagogy. It is considered helpful to inform the implementation of the pedagogical intervention planned within LIFE TWO.
Learning Guide
Guideline to transfer and exploit the results of the project. It is addressed to educational networks, secondary school teachers, headmasters, other teaching staff, policy makers, public administrators, giving the project a broader horizon.
It explores the role of teaching and learning religions in secondary schools and contains details about the participatory teaching and learning model to give an inclusive dimension to the religions in secondary school. It also deepens the approach based on the Inquiry Based Method – IBM in the field of teaching and learning religions and how to use PD&P approach (basing on the results of the experimentation held in each partner country). It provides a series of didactic exercises and examples of lessons addressed to the main religions.
It will integrate all the protocols elaborated during the participatory processes of each country and all the practices of each piloting.
All the protocols and the piloting will be compared and analysed by the experts involved in the research phase in order to summarize all the process and create the general Pedagogical and Didactic Participatory teaching and learning Model (PD&P).
Training of Trainers and Piloting and Testing in schools (3.5 e 3.6)
A pilot experience will be organised by all project partners at local level with a learning group of teachers. The training is addressed to prevent radicalization, populism and to know spirituality and religion in a multicultural context. Participants in the training will be teachers in particular but also parents. A report will follow the training, gathering the assessment of the training modules, the first results produced at local level and the satisfaction of trainees.
In all partner countries a piloting phase will be organized. The schools involved will be invited to discuss and implement the Inquiry method. The teachers taking part in the teacher training will explain the students the model. A final report will be realized for analysing the results of the piloting and of the implementation of the Inquiry Method. It will contain a short summary of the questions used and a summary of the answers provided by the students
Live experience in a Spring School in Italy
A selection of teachers and students who have taken part in the piloting will be invited to live a common experience. In Italy they will be invited to take part in a School whose aim is promote and exchange and discussion about:
– how to fight populism:
– how to promote a reciprocal religious and cultural understanding
– how to promote the European common values in schools
They will also experience the Role-game together with the teachers.
Bibliographical and Documents revision
Literature review on the topic of multiculturalism and interreligious education in each country involved in the LIFE TWO Project.
It serves as a tool for the systematization of the theoretical basis that can enlighten the exploration and critical analysis of empirical data. Furthermore, the document provides in-depth overview of the constructive perspectives of intercultural and interreligious competences as integral life skills. It also gives an overview on how education can increase the society’s immunity and resilience against exclusion, discrimination and abuse of basic human individual and collective rights.
The document puts in evidence that the EU discussions are now recognising the importance of the religious dimension to intercultural education: new interpretive and dialogical pedagogies of religious education share similar analytic stances towards culture and religion and similar critical and reflexive methodologies to recent approaches to multicultural/intercultural education. Thus, religious education employing these pedagogies can make a direct contribution to an intercultural education working to promote social cohesion. The Life Manual take into account the results gathered from this deep analysis.
Protocol for the evaluation of the LIFE TWO Model
analysis of what the program for teaching/understanding religions through the PD&P Model is, the definition of the research design, the procedures and steps for the implementation of the protocol itself in partners’ countries and the description of the tools for the evaluation of the entire process.
Intermediate Dissemination Report
Describes in detail the dissemination activities carried out in each partner country. The intermediate report refers to the first 12 months of the project.
Final Dissemination Report
Describes in detail the dissemination activities carried out in each partner country. The report refers to the entire period of the project.
Role play Game
The Role-play Game will captivate students and facilitate the understanding of cultural and religious differences through the application of Inquiry specific learning processes, such as:
o Creating questions of their own to properly afford problems
o Obtaining supporting evidence to answer the question(s) thus achieving objectives in the game
o Explaining the evidence collected for advancing the game
o Connecting the explanation to the knowledge obtained from the investigative process
o Creating an argument and justification for the explanation.
The game will be a face to face community-based game and its efficacy will be tested during the Spring school to be held in Italy. Together with the game, the players will find additional materials (e.g. other maps, charts, instructions in partners’ languages, links and supplementary information).