Articles

×

Notice

Please enter your Disqus subdomain in order to use the 'Disqus Comments (for Joomla)' plugin. If you don't have a Disqus account, register for one here

Tolerance – Making your community a safe space

To foster mutual respect and the freedom to express oneself, even if ones thoughts are not representing the common sense, is a crucial objective of modern pedagogic. Thus the Erasmus+ project Visualize aims to create a space where young people feel safe to express themselves and to create a valueless and creative exchange of perspectives. That way tolerance among young people is strengthened while personalities are solidified.

The first Visualize training sessions have just approved that the concept is working. In the first training sessions the social learning motivation and the idea of open speech was an unorganized process. Young people showed little social competencies, as they did interrupt each other up to show verbal abuse and small power struggles. In this time the rules had to be continuously communicated to the group.

In the last training session’s things changed. The group created a pleasant atmosphere of mutual respect. The participants started to be more active. They initiated verbal utterances while the peers listened with concentration. Discussions were left open, participants showed interest and different views were admitted. In this atmosphere youngsters developed creativity and self-esteem. The enormous success was that everybody felt free to say anything, an example of living tolerance!

The project Visualize: An innovative training concept for strengthening the tolerance and soft skills of young people, addresses especially these skills by equipping the youngsters with tolerance and overall soft skills by looking at art and responding to each others comments.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Our Partners

  • Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands gemeinnütziger e.V.
  • Institut für Visuelle Bildung
  • Center for Development and Education
  • Best Cybernetics
  • Fundacion Intras

Read More...