Building intercultural competences: an innovative model under the lens Maria Giovanna ONORATI Furio BEDNARZ Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World Educazione e Counselling interculturale nel mondo globale Verona, April 2013

LLP – IP “Interdisciplinary Course on Intercultural Competences - ICIC” Duration: 2007 – 2010 Consortium: University of Aosta Valley - Italy (international coordinator) ECAP Switzerland (partner) Artvelde University College – Belgium (partner) Metropolia University College – Finnland (partner) Semmelweis University – Hungary (partner) University of Salento – Italy (partner) Dokuz Eylul Unversity – Turkey (partner) IUFFP Switzerland (partner) Aims: Developing intercultural competences in future professionals in Education, Social Work, Health Care Target group: Undergraduate students of the involved institutions Priority: Tuning two different Educational Systems: Academic higher education and Vocational higher education >> a close interlace between theory and practice >> INNOVATIVE LEARNING MODEL LARGELY BASED IN EXPERIENCE

Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World Overview Building intercultural competencies, in an ever changing world : a transformative and reflective learning process Conceptual / theoretical background: Aims, theoretical framework and methods of a good practice First results: Evidences in a multidimensional perspective: a learning process under the lens Hints for the discussion and final remarks

The context: What: A transfer of innovation Leonardo project (INCOM-VET), drawing on an Erasmus initiative (Intensive Program ICIC) Who: From ICIC Consortium to INCOM-VET Consortium: VET institutions and Academic Institutions together What about: From initial education (undergraduate students) to continuous vocational training (professionals) Aims: enhancing VET practitioners’ competences in managing intercultural dynamics, according to an innovative methodological approach based on experiential learning in the framework of lifelong learning perspective. Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

From ICIC to INCOM-VET: Emerging challenges and theoretical background Theories of social change, risk and reflexive modernity (Giddens, Beck) Theories of deliberative democracy ( Baiocchi ) and participative education: make citizens able to “learn” how to cope with intercultural dynamics by participating ( Morgan and Streb ) Theories of Human Capital (Becker), re-thought in the light of bridging vs. bonding social capitals (Putnam) Change and experience >> re-embedding competency into social experience >> refund trust on trustiness (Jedlowski, Giddens) Theories of transformative and experiential learning: a holistic and multidimensional approach to learning, that transforms experience in stable knowledge (Illeris, Jarvis, Reggio)

Intercultural competency A key asset for professionals and individuals in the globalized ever changing world Culturally aware mobilization of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enables people o cope with unfamiliar situations and ever changing problems arising (in work as in life) from the encounter with people socialized in a different culture, with a view to find new and shared solutions. (see Onorati – Bednarz, 2010)

LEARNING AS A TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESS (ILLERIS, JARVIS, REGGIO ) EXPERIENCE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFORMATION ENCOUNTER REFLECTION APPRECIATION ACKNOWLEDGMENT NARRATION OBSERVATION LISTENING REFORMULATION REFRAMING A holistic, situated and multidimensional approach to learning, enhancing the relevance of personal experiences, relational and physical contexts within which people move and meet. TRANSFORMATION OF EXPERIENCE INTO STABLE KNOWLEDGE

REFLECTION AS A TRANSFORMATIVE DEVICE IN EXPERIENCIAL LEARNING (REGGIO, 2010) 4 BASIC COGNITIVE MOVEMENTS OF EXPERIENCIAL LEARNING NOTICE>> look out carefully over the world >> didactical situations that arise curiosity to “note” and “annotate” something ADDRESS>> movement outwads: researching, asking, opening to the unknown, discovery TRANSFORM >> re-living experience through forms that make it sharable GENERATE >> new ideas (solutions) BACK-UP MOVEMENTS ACTION and PAUSE: enactment and lingering into action QUESTIONING and IMAGINATION: facing the world in a problematic way and production of metaphors, images, intuition

ICIC learning model focuses on: the emotional-relational dimensions of learning: living disjunctural experiences (Jarvis), re-working and reflecting on them in a group critical incidents and case studies as learning triggers: learners are asked to look for solutions coherent with theoretical frameworks elaborated or inferred by applying Cognitive structures to External experiences Scaffolding techniques, and the use of reflective tools, intended as classifiers of the experience for a systematization in terms of knowledge. Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

First evidences of an ongoing action-research Researching with the learners: researchers act as mentors and tutors, fostering peer and cooperative learning Participative and formative monitoring and evaluation: different surveys about social experiences of the learners and their perception of the learning experience, integrated by focus groups during the training sessions Valuing written and oral production of the learners: a qualitative study on 150 Learning Journals (ICIC, students ) Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Reflection as a double step process: we always reflect on memories of our experience, on a raw material embedding our previous knowledge Peter Jarvis, 1994, 1997, 2009… Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Situated experience Full immersion in the contexts Informal learning emotional-relational dimensions of learning, disjuncture Foreign country Living together Field visits Town exploration

Situated experience Interactive reworking of expereince formal learning Cooperation Pair or group work Communication English speaking Effective and appropriate communication, Use of media Interaction Active and participative roles Simulation Intercultural games, role plays

Cooperative assignments can play a fundamental role in mediating and accompanying learning from experience Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World From “ICIC” Edition 2010 in Aosta

Rethink reflective «circles» in term of «movements», articulating a not sequential process, made of pauses and actions… Reggio’s experiential learning movements NOTICEADDRESSTRANSFORMGENERATE What did you noticed? What does it mean for you? What did you learned and how… (reflective pause) How this may affect your practice… Good to provide services for illegal migrants as well (or could this cause problems?) The use of mediators is very interesting, … we don’t have at least not systematically in Finland Mediators are an important bridge between different cultures – it’s (also) important to remember and honor the original roots and cultures of immigrants I think it would immigrants feel more at home if they have this mediating process in use… It’s safe for them to get used to the culture with the help of someone familiar and step by step This could be useful to develop in Finland. Although the normal thinking seems to be that earlier they integrate to their new society, the better… Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Learning Journals as powerful sources: surprise, comparing, questioning, generating new ideas… Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Experiential learning implies disjuncture and feed-back processes, in order to produce new mental frames, awareness, transformation… Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Scaffolds (i.e. structured Diaries) are important, but there’s no size fitting all! Learners represent the interaction between External and Internal experience in totally different ways… Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World

Summing up: some hints for the discussion Experiencing disjuncture (falsifying what we take for granted) and activating (re)constructive reflection processes play a key role in intercultural learning Experiential learning is an individual and relational process, in any case complex and original; open mind is a requirement As far as we reflect on “memories of experiences”, the quality of this “raw material”, and the awareness of influences engendered by our cultural imprinting, beliefs and values, is of the utmost importance for the result of reflective learning processes Writing or visualizing help a lot produce effective and aware raw material for reflection Memorization and reflection can be supported by didactical means: a rtifacts, scaffolds, peer learning settings Intercultural Counselling and Education in the Global World