490053 PS Kommunikation und Interaktion (2024S)

ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP)
in cooperation with Valentina Muresan PhD, West University of Timișoara,Romania and Lieve Cuypers, PXL Hogenschool, Belgium

GOALS
With „Leaving no one behind“, as the central, transformative promise of the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, it is important for future teachers globally to be aware of and engaged in this effort. The course aims at raising awareness of the role that language and concepts play in fostering division and polarisation in the classroom and extended social context.
As teachers are key actors in fostering diversity-responsive classrooms, this BIP aims to increase their diversity response practices. Therefore the course focuses on critical reflection of what shapes our ways of thinking and the reframing of (implicit) biases that might negatively impact our future pupils. The comparison of habits and systems in the three participating countries supports a more conscious perception of the own school system and pedagogical habits.

CONTENT
The course is organised as an ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) with lectures and teaching practice in Timișoara/Romania as well as online meetings with students from Belgium, Romania and Austria.

The online sessions provide an exploration and exchange of collected information in the participants’ specific educational contexts, with a focus on building awareness on intersectionality and issues such as multilingual and multinational identities.

The face to face period provides theory and practice on understanding and handling the interactions in the classroom from a sociolinguistic and socio-psychological perspective with focus on social categorisation and stereotyping. Building on this, students explore and practice communicative approaches in order to acquire skills so as to create learning environments, where different opinions or ways are dealt with respectfully and welcomed as enriching knowledge and experience in the classroom. Methods and materials for inclusive teaching/schools are explored, developed and tried out in cooperation with a school in Timișoara.

METHODS
- Preparation and discussion of required reading
- Exploration and exchange about existing habits and policies in schools/institutions of the 3 participating countries
- Excursions in Timișoara
- Communication training
- Exploring, developing, testing and reflecting on methods and material on inclusive teaching/schools in a school in Timișoara.

COMPONENTS
• initial meeting for Austrian students
• 3 online workshops
• Face-to-Face training period: 5 days including lectures, excursions and face-to-face teaching practice in secondary education in Timișoara