The Czech Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution
Lomená 9, 162 00 Praha 6, Tel/Fax +420-2-24318887
The Civic Association R-MOSTY
Holeckova 53, 150 00 Praha 5, Tel/Fax +420-2-57313620
Education towards tolerance and against racism in schools of
Prague
the final report
presented to
Open Society Fund Prague
King Baudouin Foundation, Belgium
Synopsis:
- Project Objectives and the Process
- The Textbook "Education Towards Tolerance and Against Racism"
- Project Evaluation
Appendix:
An analysis of the approaches and attidudes presented by the
Prague primary and secondary school students
Tatjana Šišková, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator
Prague, October 1998
1. Project Objectives and the Process
1.1. The Initial Situation
In Autumn 1996, the Czech Center for Conflict Prevention
and Resolution together with the Civic Association R-MOSTY decided to
address some specific, topical social changes and their consequences which had
been linked to the transformation process of our society since the early
nineties. Of course there were many positive changes, attitudes, responses and
new approaches but, apart from them, certain degree of intolerance of any
differences or diversity has been revealed, the result of which were tokens of
the open racism and xenophobia aimed at the minority groups living in our
territory.
There are several roots of this phenomenon. One of them may
well be the lack of information in our society, especially the information
concerning the consequences of intolerance and xenophobia, the attitudes and
standards of different cultures, the traditions and behavioral patterns of the
minorities’ representatives, the history of the coexistence in our country and
all around the world, the experience of the representatives of minorities with
living in our country, the reasons that made these people come to the Czech
Republic, etc. To improve this lack of information concerning these areas, we
have decided to address the youth and the educational workforce which affect
young people’s opinions a lot.
1.2. The Target Group
During the early stage of the program, we aimed our attention
at the students of the upper forms of primary schools, and of secondary
schools in Prague. These groups of young people are still forming their
system of values and standards as well as their behavioral patterns, and there
is still a chance to affect them in a positive way. In Autumn, we have also
addressed younger students (as young as attending the 5th form, i.e.
about eleven years old). As for the future, we are planning to enter the schools
out of Prague as well.
During the second stage of the project, we decided to address
also the teachers of those students, and to offer them appropriate tools
and aids to help them with the education towards tolerance. We wanted to
introduce the positive results and aspects of differences and diversity, as well
as some conflict resolution techniques. At the same time we wanted to provide
information on the civil society, legislation and social context of the topic,
history of the coexistence of various nations, minorities and ethnic groups in
our territory, their traditions and systems of values. It happens every day that
our opinions and perceptions of certain problems may be different to those of
other people, but still we have to gain an agreement as we still have to live in
the same neighborhood, and the mutual agreement is our common benefit.
Regarding the fact that the final result of the project
should be the edition of a textbook, it is important that all the information
may well reach other people interested, and the public.
1.3. Project Objectives
- To conduct discussions with the youth, and to collect their essays, and
thus to help the multi-cultural education, more tolerant approaches to the
representatives of different tehnic groups in our society, and, as a result,
to reduce the racialist approaches and hatred.
- To supply the teachers in our schools with important information, and,
during the training courses, to enable them to gain more skills in
multi-cultural education, tolerance and conflict resolution. These skills
may be later used during the Civic Education lessons. They are rather
undeveloped in our society but this fact makes them even more important.
- To create an alternative textbook for the Civic Education teachers, aimed
at the resolution of ethnic motivated conflicts, racism and xenophobia,
minorities and their standards, values, and traditions.
1.4. The Stages of the Project
- The essays written by the students
- The discussions conducted with the students
- The seminars on racism and intolerance prepared for teachers
- An alternative textbook of the Civic Education
1.5. The Schedule of the Project
- The preparation stage
The submission of the project, together with the request for
funding presented to:
- Foundation for a Civil Society (Autumn 1996)
- Open Society Fund, Prague (Spring 1997)
- King Baudouin Fundation (Summer 1997)
- The Municipal Hall of Prague (Spring 1997)
- The Embassy of Canada in Prague (Spring 1998)
B. The training seminar conducted on March 24, 1997
The training seminar was prepared for trainers that should
later visit the schools. The seminar was attended by experts who brought basic
information concerning minorities, and the legislation and sociological aspects
of the topic in our country as well as abroad. The fresh trainers learned about
the methodology of school lecturing and discussion leading, and about the whole
picture of the project, its objectives and mission.
C. The essays written by students
As soon as a certain school contacted the project
coordinator, showing interest in the experts’ visit, a meeting was planned. A
week before the meeting, the students wrote essays describing their own
experiences with people of different races or etnic groups. In the essays, the
students also stated their opinions concerning the representatives of different
groups, and the multi-cultural society.
During the project, the primary and secondary school students
have written about 3.800 essays.
The essays written during the early stage of the project, in
1997, were paid a special attention. That time, about 375 essays of secondary
school students and 800 essays of primary school children were evaluated using
the method of subject analysis. The rest of essays is stored in the
archives of the Czech Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (see
Appendix 1).
D. School visits and discussions
During the project, 49 schools were visited, and 153
discussion seminars on racism, tolerance and xenophobia were conducted. In
total, 26 trainers attended the discussions, each session was conducted by two,
or three in the early stage, of them. At every discussion, one of the trainers
was always a representative of a minority or a different ethnic group (a Roma,
an Arab, an African, a Vietnamese, a Chinese etc.), while the other one was a
professional in conflict resolution or other field connected with the topic. In
total, about 4.000 students have been addressed.
The teachers of the schools we have visited have shown
different approaches.
- At some schools, the teachers prepared themselves well for the project,
having discussed the topics with students in advance (a case of a teacher
who lectured the students during three whole history lessons on the
historical development of the Romas and other minorities has been reported),
prepared the room, joined the project spontaneously and cooperated actively
during the training seminars as well as during the textbook preparation.
Some of these teachers spend a lot of their own time seeking the information
concerning these complex topics, and it is apparent that they educate the
children to be open and to adapt a diverse approach to the topical problems.
Despite the fact that some schools belonged to the areas where the personal
experience of many inhabitants was not good at all when it concerned the
representatives of different cultures, the children did not condemn the
latter. Instead, they tried to analyze the situation, and avoided the
generalization.
- There were, however, other schools whose teachers were only happy that
they did not have to attend the meetings. They didn’t prepare the children
for the discussion, and they didn’t even explain the subject of the essays
that the students should have written. Some of them didn’t even read these
essays, others refused to thank for the lecture. The teachers have
complained that they miss the information on the subject, don’t know how
to teach about the civic society, miss textbooks and handouts, and they were
of course afraid of the supposed increasing number of crimes. Among other
problems, they didn’t know how to deal with students that declared
themselves as skinheads. This group, though given a college education, does
not show any activity; if there are no exact instructions what to do, the
teachers won’t seek the necessary information themselves.
From the experience of the trainers, following key messages
may be drawn:
Formal messages:
- The discussions were successful if they were conducted in a friendly,
informal environment.
- It was good to break the initial ice by an interesting model situation so
that the children were involved in the activities. Some model situations have
been included in the textbook.
- If the teacher was sitting in the back of the room, he/she was often
surprised by the way his students behaved. Those "problem" ones were
often active, original, full of ideas, and they soon understood the danger of
intolerance. On the other hand, the students known as "classroom
stars" kept silent most of the time, and sometimes they even did not join
the discussion at all.
- The discipline was different from school to school. If the group was rather
small there was usually a friendly environment that became informal pretty
soon. Therefore, we recommend not to group more classes together and keep the
discussion in small groups.
- The most difficult discussions seemed to be those with the students of the
ninth forms (the last ones) of the primary schools, and with the attendants of
professional schools. Trainers who conduct discussions with these youth should
be well tempered and perfectly prepared, able to create a positive athmosphere
and to attract the adolescents who try to catch all the public attention
themselves.
- Both the primary and the secondary school students have appreciated the
discussions, and, sometimes, even a lust for information might have been
traced. Many applauded after the discussion, and stressed that such sessions
should form a more important and larger part of their education. At the same
time, they pointed out that it wasn’t because they were able to escape their
regular lessons - the reason, according to the students, was that they learned
things they had never heard about before. They appreciated the environment and
the way the discussions were conducted just because they were informal and
brought some fun even though the topics discussed were important and grave.
Subject messages:
- The trainers gradually started conducting the discussions in the lower
forms of primary schools as well. In these forms, the children didn’t
write essays but the environment was spontaneous and vivid. It was interesting
to see that the children adapted the information they were given at the first
stage during a game very soon, and they implemented this information in their
group work that followed immediately. That means that these small children are
really keen on gaining information, and able to process it. Thus, if the
teacher gives a positive information the children will be full of positive
perception, and if the initial information is negative the perception of the
children will probably be just the same.
- There were many tests and games which identified the stereotypes,
i.e. prejudice against certain groups. In Spring 1997, these tests were full
of statements as "Gypsies steal, the Ukrainians are filthy..." This
situation changed in Autumn, and then the children stated: "It’s the
politicians who steal...", an informational frequently used by the media,
but there were also rational statements as "It’s the people working
with clay, and those who don’t wash themselves, who are dirty..." - the
generalization concerning the representatives of the minorities almost
vanished. A boy of eleven wrote: "It’s my father who’s dirty when he
works in the garden." This might mean that the children seek for specific
answers, not for generalizations.
- At the discussions, new positive information and experience was
presented. This enabled the participants to implement this information in
their existing knowledge, and thus to better understand the principles of the
tolerance of differences.
- If there were skinheads among the students, or people who support
shinhead ideology, the environment was full of tension, and the rest of
children seemed to be afraid to condemn the skiheads’ opinions. (This
situation occurred especially in the last forms of the primary schools, and at
professional schools.)
- If there were representatives of different ethnic or national groups in the
classroom, there was more tolerance and understanding among the students. This
implies that there should be more integrated classrooms in our school
system. For example: No one condemned the Vietnamese in the classroom which a
Vietnamese girl attended. Or, racialist thoughts were refused in a significant
way in the class attended by Romany students even though there was still a
mixture of considerations concerning the Romas. "These are different,
they’re our classmates, they are nothing like the thieves who do all that
pickpocketing in the streets..." - these were typical comments when the
students spoke about their Romany classmates.
- As for negative approaches demonstrated during discussions, most of
them are aimed at the Romas (they steal, lie, don’t work, destroy
flats, rob our country...), Vietnamese (they occupy our squares, force
us to buy their junk stuff, we’re afraid that there’s still more and more
of them and there may be more yellow people than us here in the end...), Ukrainians
(they take our jobs, stink, are filthy...), Balkan immigrants (they are
beggars and thieves), and Arabs (they are drug pushers). These
xenophobous, or even racialist approaches are mostly aimed at specific
phenomenons (crimes etc.). Therefore, it may be easier to teach the students
to avoid generalizations and to focus on specific issues instead (example:
some of the Romas steal...). In Autumn 1997 and in Spring 1998, the Romas were
still paid most attention (they cause problems and shame our country when
leaving for Canada, destroy flats...) as well as the Russian and Chinese
mafiosi (newspaper and TV information on murders), Vietmanese (the source
were especially the reports of the police), and skinheads (the level of
condemnation still increases).
- As for the Africans, positive attitudes prevail, and sometimes they
turn to admiration for sportsmen, musicians, actors and African students. The
influence of American movies where there is no difference between black and
white stars is immensely positive. The Africans are admired for their smiling
and friendly nature, and the students sometimes even idealize them as their
potential partners for living. However, some of the girl students were anxious
about what would their parents say if they chose an African husband.
- As for racism, it’s generally condemned by most of young people
which is an important hint. There are still many critical remarks aimed at
specific issues but the general racialist behavioral pattern isn’t tolerable
anymore. This approach became even more apparent in Autumn 1997 discussions,
the reason of which may be more attention paid by the media to this problem.
- It was plain to see during the discussions that some of the students stated
their opinions rather thoughtlessly without a proper analysis and without
making differences. Other opinions were, however, based on the personal experience
of the students, gained in a non-Czech environment (the visits abroad).
Sometimes it was apparent that the young people with these opinions and
attitudes are more tolerant than the generation of their parents; especially
those who have travelled and seen that diversity and differences are respected
and positively considered all around the world.
- As for xenophobia, the word is generally unknown and completely new
to the students. If they even mentioned the word they linked it to the
American action movie "Xena". The following answer appeared in one
of the essays: "Xenophobia is a disease that takes half an hour, and you
may get it after watching the Xena movie. This disease is highly
dangerous." (Xena is a heroine of a Holywood action movie, a female
paralell to Superman that fights the evil.)
- Most of the students who haven’t had any experience with meeting a
representative of a different ethnic group have condemned the racialist
approaches in general. Their response, however, to a specific new (and
possibly negative) experience is not easy to be foreseen; it may be reasonable
or not. All that depends on the environment in the classroom, at school, in
the family, media and the whole society.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that the generation of
adolescents is open to all information on tolerance, and it depends on all of us
what will this information be like.
E. The final seminar of the first phase - June 20, 1997
At the final seminar of the first phase, all the activities
were evaluated, further steps were suggested, and the preparation of the second
phase of the project started for the period 1997 through 1998.
F. The initial seminar of the second phase of the project -
September 9, 1997
The seminar was attended by 25 participants in total. It
covered information concerning essays written by students, experience
(especially positive) drawn out of discussions, and organization details of the
consecutive phase as well as expert information concerning refugees, housing and
camps for immigrants, state immigration policy and the Romany exodus to Canada.
G. Seminars for the teachers
The discussions with students have been followed by the
seminars for teachers of Civic Education. There were nine seminars from October
1997 through June 1998 organized, each of them was attended by approximately 15
to 25 persons. The objective was to provide information concerning conflict
resolution techniques especially of racially motivated conflicts, human rights,
civil society, racism and xenophobia, refugees and minorities living in the
Czech territory. In total, 150 teachers attended the training seminars, and
apart from the teachers there were some volunteers working for non-profit
organizations present as well as several employees of state administration and
local government.
- Each seminar took three days. The first day was devoted to lectures
and structured discussions conducted by the experts in the following topics:
the Romany people and their system of values, the Jewish people and the
roots of antisemitism, the Vietnamese and their system of values, the Arabs
and Muslims among us, the civil society, the anthropological view to the
race, etc. The participants were also given information on refugees. The
lectures were organized by the Civic Association R-MOSTY.
- Days two and three
were organized and conducted by the trainers of the
Czech Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. The topics were the
following: the nature of a conflict, the grounds of communication, the
barriers to communication, the conflict resolution models, the techniques of
active listening, the effective communication. Then there were several model
situations of conflict resolution, focused especially on etnic motivated
conflicts.
- The seminars were conducted by interactive methods. Therefore, the
participants had a possibility to practice immediately all the skills which
were subject to theoretical information, and they adapted the skills to
their own possibilities. There were several Romany volunteers and an Arab
participating in the model situations, and therefore the teachers gained a
new experience and views of the problems.
- There was a lot of written materials available to the participants, for
example a book "Conflict - the Spice of Life" published by the
Czech Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in 1996, and many
handouts covering education for tolerance which eventually became a basis of
the
H. A workshop concerning the alternative Civic Education
textbook - December 5 and 8, 1997
The alternative textbook for teachers of Civic Education at
the primary and secondary schools, "Education Towards Tolerance and Against
Racism", is an important output of the program. The theoretical background
of this textbook was discussed and evaluated during two workshops, and all
comments and suggestions of the teachers were included in the final version of
the text.
I. The seminar for trainers, January 24, 1998
The participants of this seminar summarized the ongoing
experience of the experts drawn out of discussions with students, seminars for
teachers, and essays written by students. Then, new information concerning races
and ethnic groups, refugees on our territory and migrations all around the world
were presented. The trainers were also shown interactive games for use at the
discussions with students, created by the employees of the Czech Center for
Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
J. The Textbook "Education Towards Tolerance and Against
Racism"
One of most imporant outputs of the program, the alternative
textbook for teachers of Civic Education at the primary and secondary schools,
"Education Towards Tolerance and Against Racism", mentioned in the
previous sections of this report, will be printed out in November 1998. (See
also below.)
2. The Textbook "Education Towards Tolerance and Against
Racism"
This textbook which summarizes materials and experience drawn
out of the whole two-year program "Education Towards Tolerance and Against
Racism", will be published in November 1998 by PORTÁL Editions. This
publishing house in widely known and renowned as it has published a lot of good
texbooks and materials. Therefore, it is popular among teachers of all forms.
Our textbook will have 250 pages in total, divided into five sections.
- In the first section, the readers will learn some general information on
racism and xenophobia especially from the sociological point of view, on
discrimination, violence and legislation concerning the topic, on the
anthropological view to races and ethnic groups and on the migration of
inhabitants of Europe and the world, again from the sociological point of
view.
- Section Two covers the modern immigration and problems of refugees
especially in our country. In the end of the section, the readers will find
the story of an immigrant who has come to the Czech Republic.
- Section Three includes the information on national minorities which have
been living in our territory since long ago (Germans, Slovaks, Bulgarians,
Ukrainians, Poles, Greeks, Hungarians, Jews, etc.), as well as on minorities
which have come lately (Romas, Vietnamese, Arabs), on their systems of
values, traditions and experiences, on roots of racism and antisemitism.
- Out of the fourth section, the readers may draw information concerning
educational and psychological approaches to adolescent youth used for
education towards tolerance. They will also learn about possible approaches
to Romany pupils. Also, the approaches of the Czech primary and secondary
school youth to racism and xenophobia are described here (i.e. analysis of
the essays written by students during the project).
- Last section includes the summary of games and model situations which may
be practiced in various occasions, e.g. during civic education lessons, when
practicing tolerance and anti-racialist approaches, or for strengthening a
positive view to diversity and differences around us (races, gender,
cultural behavior etc.).
- The textbook also includes an index of basic expressions linked to racism,
xenophobia, multicultural coexistence etc. The book also includes the
overview of both domestic and foreign literature linked to the topics
discussed.
3. The Project Evaluation
Every activity, might it have been a discussion, a seminar or
a workshop, has been evaluated by both participants and trainers. A written
final evaluation report was prepared in the end of each stage.
The students appreciated the way the topics were discussed,
and there are some schools where the discussions will go on. In fact, we have
heard at every school that the subject is interesting, will make the students
think, and if it wasn’t us who addressed the topic hardly some of the teachers
would.
The teachers appreciated interactive methods of the training
courses a lot, as well as a wide range of functional suggestions for both
teaching and life in general. What also satisfied the teachers was the
availability of a number of previously unknown but important information
concerning tolerance, racism and the grounds of the theory of the civil society.
Regarding the fact that there was a number of university
students participating in the project as a part of their studies, as well as
volunteers of many non-profit organizations (e.g. Amnesty International, Czech
Bishop Conference etc.), and teachers living outside of Prague, it is apparent
that the topic is interesting for lots of people and that it’s important to
disseminate the information as widely as possible.
The project gained full support of the Ministry for
Education, Youth and Sports. Since the period of 1998 - 1999, we plan joint
activities outside of Prague in the areas with strong ethnic motivated tensions.
Existing evaluations have implied that the joint project of
the Czech Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution and the Civic
Association R-MOSTY is an important activity which may be successfully performed
in other parts of the Czech Republic as well as in Prague. This may only be
possible, apart from the work of trainers and experts, with the financial help
of all funders, especially the Open Society Fund and the King Baudouin
Foundation.
