On November 14, 2013 a round table on the issues of multicultural education for the members of the regional education departments and representatives of educational institutions of Brest and Brest region took place on the basis of Brest Regional Lyceum named after P. Masherov. The event was organized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office in the Republic of Belarus, Education Department of Brest Region Executive Committee and International Non-governmental Association for Scientific Research, Information and Educational Programmes «Evolutio». The event was held in the framework of the EU—UNHCR Project «Local Integration of Refugees in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine (phase II)».
A round table was opened by Iryna Chiovzhik, Deputy Head of the Education Department of Brest Region Executive Committee. In her speech she paid attention to the relevance and importance of the round table topic, noted the fact that refugees topic is an acute topic for all countries of the world nowadays. And Belarus can’t stand aside. She welcomed the participants of the round table and expressed the hope that new knowledge and ideas acquired during the round table will be successfully implemented in practice.
Andrey Selivanov, Executive Director of the INA “Evolutio”, then took the floor. He also welcomed everyone and noted and importance of multicultural education in contemporary world. Andrey Selivanov told that this event completes the chain of similar round tables. Having noted particular success gained during joint activities by representatives of educational institutions all over Belarus, the INA “Evolutio” Executive Director paid attention that fruits of these joint activities were reflected in an updated manual on multicultural education, which is soon to receive a stamp of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus. He indicated that the event is held to maintain tolerance in the Belarusian society. One of the main roles in this process is played by teachers and representatives of educational institutions, who are multiplicators of the information, so the organizers hope that the received at the event information will go further to schools. Executive Director of the INA “Evolutio” drew attention to the fact that the event is not a seminar, but the round table where during process of sharing of knowledge and ideas all the parties can get from each other what they lack for further creative work on the subject.
The main information part of the event was started by Andrey Selivanov, where he told the participants who refugees are, what activities the UNHCR implements, noted a definition of the term “refugee” according to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, gave examples of stereotypes about refugees in society and also focused on the main provisions of the 1951 Convention. He presented statistics: 871 persons were recognized as refugees in the Republic of Belarus by November 1, 2013, 30 persons received complementary protection.
Nadezhda Chul, the Main Specialist of the Group of Labour Migration, Refugees and Asylum of the Office on Citizenship and Migration of Brest Region Executive Committee presented the topic “Foreigners and refugees in Brest region and in the Republic of Belarus”. Having described the situation with migrants and refugees in the Republic of Belarus in general, she focused on Brest region. Nadezhda Chul noted that temporary accommodation center for asylum seekers and persons having no opportunity to find accommodation by themselves in Brest was established in the area of 86the Border Group in April 2007 with the UNHCR support. It is designed to host 12 persons. Currently, foreign citizens can be placed in the center whenever they need it.
In general 10 persons are registered as refugees in Brest region. There are 10 persons: 9 citizens of Afghanistan and 1 citizen of Georgia. All citizens of Afghanistan who received refugee status currently live in Pinsk, while the refugee from Georgia lives in Brest. Refugees are entitled to settle independently, they are provided with access to the national health care system, opportunities to work, for professional education and can be engaged in entrepreneurship (2 citizens of Afghanistan are now individual entrepreneurs in Pinsk). Children of refugees go to school in Pinsk.
After a short coffee break the documentary «Refugees in Belarus» made in Vladimir Bokun’s workshop in 2010 was shown to the participants.
After that Liubou Kravets, the INA “Evolutio” PI Assistant, proposed recommendations on the conduct of the “lesson” of multicultural education. She divided her presentation into three logical parts. In the first part Liubou Kravets told that culture forms consciousness and psychology of a separate person and all nation in general. She noted that people who were brought up in different cultures perceive this world differently, they think, remember things and interpret information in their own way. And these differences, with no doubts, affect behavior of each person and intercultural cooperation as well. Liubou Kravets also told what cultural shock is, what variants of acculturation exist and in which consequences can intercultural contacts result. In the second part of her presentation the INA “evolution” PI Assistant focused on multicultural education of pupils in conditions of educational institute. She told what multicultural upbringing is, and also noted that arrangements organized by headmasters such as conversations, discussions, press conferences, “question-answer” evenings, trips, round tables, tournaments, disputes, etc. will contribute to extension and deepening of knowledge about culture and international relations. The third part of the presentation was directly devoted to the INA “evolution” activities directed at integration of refugees. Having told about publications and events conducted by the INA “Evolutio”, Liubou Kravets focused on the updated manual on the issues of multicultural education for teachers and pupils of medium and upper forms which is now being analyzed on the issue of the Ministry of Education stamp. The Publication consisting of theory and outlines-summaries of practical lessons on formation of tolerant behavior towards refugees will be extremely useful either for teachers or for everyone interested in this topic.
Then the participants of the round table were divided into five groups. Each group in 40 minutes prepared a detailed outline of a lesson on multicultural education. Various forms, techniques, and means for this lesson were proposed by each group. On results of work in groups five drafts of the lessons on multicultural education were received, the presentation and the discussion of each of them took place, representatives of each group responded to questions on the presentations. Detailed outlines of the lessons are presented below.
The first group presented the project of the festival named «Rainbow of Friendship». Target group: 5th form. Both pupils and parents are to participate in the event. The aim of the project is team building. The main tasks are: to familiarize children with peculiarities of a national culture; to form sense of mutual respect. Course of the event: 1) introductory speech of a teacher; 2) welcoming in different languages (while the event is held in multicultural group, children welcome each other in languages being in class); 3) presentation of national cultures with elements of a quiz; 4) families presentation (children together with their parents present national songs, dances, cuisine, customs, cloths, routine, etc.); 5) the final stage — reflection. A rainbow is to be drawn on the blackboard or on whatman where pupils leave their handprints and tell their impressions. During this stage a teacher via open dialogue reveals what was successful, what part failed, what lessons can be learned, was the goal of the event reached. The lesson-festival also presupposes the home task: to prepare Christmas and New Year souvenirs taking into account national traditions.
The second group presented the project of a class hour «Hand in Hand». Target group: 7th form. Form of conduct: practical lesson with the elements of interactive game. The aim is to form tolerant behavior towards representatives of other national cultures. Course of the event: 1) introductory speech of a teacher, a story about refugees, foreigners, persons occurred in difficult life circumstances forced them to flee from their homes; 2) creation of a problematic situation «Our guest is…». This stage is held with the elements of interactive theatre when audience and performers interact with each other during the performance. A scene is played out: children run into the class and see a newcomer there. He is “foreign”, “unknown”. How will they behave towards the newcomer? 3) a distant trip about Belarus. Children put their handprints (previously cut from paper) on the blackboard or on whatman where they write tasks for themselves answering the question «How can help the newcomer?». Variants of the answers: «Will introduce him flora and fauna of Belarus» (trip to Belovezhskaya Pushcha), «Will invite and treat him with national meals», «Will help to learn Belarusian and will try to learn his language», etc.; 4) closing speech of a teacher. A teacher conducts reflection. He tells how the newcomer feels on a new place, what can we, host society, offer him, how to help in order for him not to feel lonely and abandoned; 5) the lesson suggests the home task (both for the teacher and children): to implement activities written on handprints.
The third group presented the project of a school event named «Worldvision», analogue of the famous Eurovision song contest. Representatives of the group noted that this arrangement is aimed both at formation of tolerant behavior towards representatives of other cultures and development of communicative, singing, designer skills, which is together very effective and will attract interest among the youth. The aim of the event is to create favorable educational atmosphere for multicultural upbringing of pupils. The tasks: 1) development of cognitive activity of pupils via acquaintance with culture and traditions of other countries; 2) disclose of art potential of pupils; 3) organization of comprehensive leisure time. Target audience: 8—11th forms. Form of conduct: a music project. Course of the implementation: 1) preparatory: familiarization with conditions and contents of the project, choosing country for participation, acquaintance with culture and traditions, choosing the song (the performance must reflect national and ethnic peculiarities of a chosen country); 2) main: creation of videos revealing the country’s peculiarities, preparation of performance (costumes, choreographic accompaniment), workshops (vocal, choreography, make-up, stage speech, image creation), photo session, interview with participants, conduct of a final show; 3) conclusive: coverage of the project in local school mass media and on the web-site, discussion of the project on forum and on the round table. The expected result: studying and familiarizing with cultures of other countries, disclosure of art potential of a big number of participants of educational process.
The fourth group proposed to hold a week of international cultures. And every day of the week is allocated for corresponding task: Monday — search of information about the country in books, on the Internet, etc., Tuesday — presentation of the project about the country (state symbols, sights, national traits, invitation of representatives of this country and conversation with them), Wednesday — presentation and degustation of the national cuisine, etc. (according to teachers’ and organizers’ imagination). Representatives of the group proposed to hold a flashmob «We are different, but we are equal» as a conclusive part of the event, where representatives of different nationalities could show their national dances or all participants of fleshmob could in unison dance to the music of different peoples. NB! According to Belarusian legislation, this type of event needs to be held only with permission of the local authorities.
The fifth group presented the cycle of lessons-trips on the topic «We are different, but nevertheless we are together!» The aim is to bring up tolerance behavior towards representatives of different cultures, religions, nationalities. The tasks: to familiarize pupils with traditions of different cultures; to create conditions for benevolent attitude towards other nationalities; to contribute to formation of the skills of unimpeded communication with representatives of other cultures. The common concept: based on the trip made by Phileas Fogg — the main character in the novel written by Jules Verne «Around the World in Eighty Days». Preparatory work: a) to prepare presentation about the country (optionally); b) to prepare information about peculiarities of communication with representative of this country; c) to make a statuette dressed in the national costume. Course of the lesson: 1) the teacher explains the aim, the goals, actualize the problem; 2) «information section»: pupils tell prepared material on the country; 3) removing the problem of cultural shock; 4) a game with the elements of training: pupils put their statuettes dressed in national costumes on the prepared world map. As a result so-called «arc of friendship» is formed; 5) reflection: the teacher together with pupils during an open dialogue analyses the results, tells what results he wanted to reach via training, what obstacles the pupils faced during preparatory work, etc.
At the end of the event the participants summarized the information, expressed recommendations and wishes for the lesson on multicultural education. Andrey Selivanov noted that different innovative projects which can be used to conduct an entertaining and informative lesson on multicultural education helping to promote tolerance among students, to form positive attitudes towards representatives of different nationalities, foreign nationals, refugees and asylum seekers, were presented at this round table. Participants of the event concluded that the round table on the issues of multicultural education was successful.