Category 1. Educational Interventions (General Diversity Training)

1. Why do we need social psychology to fight antigypsyism?
2. Psychological interventions to reduce prejudice
3. The unique characteristics of antigypsyism
4. Best practice examples
5. Recommendations

This category contains interventions with procedures that are mainly educational, and information based and frequently aim at communicating expectations about norms of behaviour. They are frequently, but not exclusively, carried out in school settings. Included in this category are general diversity interventions, diversity training for law enforcement, training the trainer, training NGO’s in human rights etc. To increase the impact of these interventions, the information is combined with discussion, peer-based learning, and cooperative learning. These interventions can use both direct and indirect contact (such as use of peer-stories) to reduce prejudice and induce empathy and perspective taking in participants.

The Yellow Flag Program (Ireland)

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http://yellowflag.ie/

Description of the intervention This intervention is government financed, run by the Irish Traveller Movement, to be implemented in secondary schools (Civic, Social Political Education – CSPE Curricula).

A practical series of 8 steps brings issues of interculturalism, equality and diversity into the whole-school programme. It works with students, staff, management, parents and wider community groups so that issues can be understood and taken outside the school setting into everyone’s personal lives. It is an award scheme, on successfully completing the 8 steps and being evaluated externally, the school is awarded its Yellow Flag. The 8 steps are as follows; Goal Setting, the Diversity Committee, Equality and Diversity Training, The Intercultural Review, The Action Plan, Going Beyond School Walls, Classroom Work and finally, The Diversity Code and Policy Review. On completion of the 8 steps the award is granted once an assessor evaluates the outcome.

The programme provides historical and sociological information about the situation of Irish Travellers, which makes people understand the larger picture, and structural causes of inequality and marginalization. Guidance is provided on how to engage in collective action to fight discrimination (“Going beyond the School Walls”; school diversity policies)

The intervention is aimed at secondary school children in the junior cycle, aged from 12-15.

Why it should be considered as best practice This is a ready-to-use learning curriculum which includes both students and teachers actively in the running of the project. It is developed in collaboration with a Traveller organisation, as an example of intergroup respect and inclusion of the Traveller minority. The programme is based both on social psychology and educational theory.

How this intervention works The programme works on both the individual and societal levels. On the individual level it provides counter-stereotypical information, information on the experience Travellers have with prejudice (perspective taking) and promotes awareness and respect for Traveller culture as prejudice reduction methods. It also provides intercultural training and an understanding of social psychological processes such as stereotyping, stigma and discrimination. On a societal level, Yellow Flags aims to raise awareness about structural inequalities and change norms to value and include diversity. It provides a baseline for political solidarity with the Irish Travellers.

Scope and Limitations Scope: It is aimed at educators and it is best implemented in an educational setting. There is a special set of pedagogical and psychological skills required in teaching about diversity. Therefore, either the teachers need training or facilitators should be brought in.

Limitations: Bureaucratic process of funding; part of a curriculum that is not adequately and consistently taught across Ireland.

Institutionalized racism against Irish Travellers is difficult to overcome in the implementation of this program.

In the absence of the required intercultural skills, some of these lessons can backfire. When people feel threatened in their identity, they could harden rather than dismantle their stereotypes about a minority.

Stories that Move (Slovakia, international)

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https://www.storiesthatmove.org/

Description of the intervention Stories that Move (STM) is an educational project inspired by the Project Zero (Harvard University) concept of visible thinking, coordinated by Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and run in Slovakia by Milan Šimečka Foundation. The target group are students aged 14 years and older.

This online learning tool consists of authentic stories of young people from across Europe who have experienced prejudice and discrimination. It offers teachers and students educational materials and a safe environment to learn about diversity and discrimination, as well as to reflect on their own views and decisions. The ready-to-use learning units can be used primarily in history, civics and ethics classes, as well as in foreign languages teaching. It is available in 7 languages.

STM consists of 5 learning paths that use a blended learning methodology, including information on diversity and discrimination and many assignments. In short clips, young people talk about their positive experiences, but also about exclusion and discrimination. The learning paths can be seen as modules, consisting of several lessons.

Seeing & being learning path explores how we see ourselves and others, reflects on the multiple identities people have, and the need for a positive approach to diversity.

Facing discrimination learning path focuses on understanding how prejudices and discrimination function by showing multiple examples of antigypsyism, antisemitism and other forms of discrimination that young people face.

Life stories learning path explores the personal stories of individuals from different periods of history, and helps learners reflect on the continuity and discontinuity of discrimination.

Mastering the media learning path looks at how propaganda, stereotyping, prejudices and hate speech are part of the online domain.

Taking action learning path stimulates reflection on what taking action means and empowers young people by sharing examples of youth initiatives on different scales throughout Europe.

Why it should be considered as best practice The learning activities have been developed in close collaboration with young people, educators and educational experts from the participating countries. Although they are inspired by country specific cases/stories, the activities stimulate reflection on diversity and discrimination in general. The learning paths are based both on best practice and educational theory. The online portal offers ready-to-use didactic materials that can be used both collectively in the classroom, as well as individually for home assignments. The activities are flexible, and the learning paths can be applied both together, as well as singular activities. The program is free of charge.

How this intervention works STM targets individual (by stimulating critical reflection and attitude change), intergroup (by engaging learners in indirect contact with outgroup members via peer stories) as well as societal level (by challenging discriminatory social norms and stimulating action on behalf of the disadvantaged groups).

Each educational track begins with tasks that lead students to think critically about their own attitudes and decisions. The following key points are subsequently highlighted by the developers: (1) Listening – to those who experience discrimination and intolerance; (2) Dialogue – a powerful way to raise awareness; (3) Sensitivity – educators need to be prepared to discuss different forms of discrimination on an analytical level and to handle the topic with sensitivity, taking into account the vulnerability of their learners.

STM combines sensitivity raising and perspective taking based on indirect contact through peer-stories with information about vulnerable groups and critical reflection on activities. It also encompasses activities focusing on counter stereotypical information, challenging unconscious bias and discriminatory norms, and activities based on common ingroup identity. The activities do not aim to reduce prejudice towards one specific group, but to make the learners sensitive towards diversity and discrimination in general. By doing this, they facilitate the secondary transfer of positive attitudes from one societal out-group to the others.

Scope and Limitations As the learning process can be carried out both online and offline (blended learning approach), there are no technical barriers to participate except for the need of IT devices and internet connection to access the STM portal.

Lack of impact assessment: There has not been a systematic evaluation of the programme in terms of impact assessment, but a follow up project has been submitted to carry out the assessment. The organisations involved in the project have used multiple ways to get feedback from the participants on the learning activities throughout the project development and implementation. In Slovakia, several stories from STM portal were used in an academic research project and were proven to partly reduce anti-Roma prejudice.

Barriers: The general learning environment in Slovakia is performance oriented, with focus on factual information. There is little room for educators to involve students in activities that include perspective taking or experiential learning. Therefore, the use of the learning tool depends on the motivation of teachers to engage in innovative teaching methods. As reflection of activities is an important part of the process, it requires that teachers are truly engaged in the activities, able to listen and work with emotions, different perspectives and experiences of learners.

Go to the next category Interactive, Experiential, and Intergroup Interventions

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