One of the most precious elements and underestimated aspects of education is trust and especially the feeling of belonging.
The positive feeling of being part of something bigger allows students and learners to feel comfortable and inspired by others, instead of being skeptical and competitive towards them. In line with this, it is advisable for all the users of this module to spend enough time before starting the sessions with the group of learners, becoming familiar with their learning needs and expectations with regards to the educational process and content, as well as the group dynamics.
There is a rich repository of introductory games, namely “ice breakers”, “get-to-know each other” and “team building” activities that could be found and used, either online or in many relevant non-formal education activity publications (check here our choices). To foster intercultural dialogue and understanding, it is advised to use also local traditional games and focus on small group self-presentations of the participants. Nevertheless, creativity of the facilitators is a strong asset!
These simple but important elements of facilitation create a friendly atmosphere for participants, helping them feel safe and become more willing to open up and engage in the learning experience. In this way, participants become part of a learning community, they develop an interest to evolve as a group. Such positive emotions give the opportunity to apply holistic learning methods that are based on emotional experiences and empathy, apart from knowledge and practice. In line with applying dialectical and critical learning approaches, these may support transformative learning impact.
Furthermore, to set some boundaries for productive and respectful collaboration between the participants, a Group Agreement should be created and be put in a place that is visible for all the members. These usually include basic principles of how to work together in a peaceful, non-discriminative or offensive manner. At any case, this should be developed together with the facilitator and the participants before starting activities and sharing experiences.
To associate the aforementioned suggesting good practices with the content and objectives of this training module, the following activities are proposed:
ACTIVITY 1.1 System Change
ACTIVITY 1.2 Restorative Circles Method
The particular activities has been inspired by the 6th International Degrowth Conference for ecological sustainability and social equity that took place in Malmö, Sweden 21-25 August 2018 after receiving constructive feedback upon the STEP module and participating in the session "Degrowth and community-led sustainability initiatives" lead by Tom Henfrey, Ana Margarida Esteves, Claudian Dobos, Filipe Alves, Anna Kovasna, Peter Hagerrot, Emilia Rekestad, and Pella Thiel.
The positive feeling of being part of something bigger allows students and learners to feel comfortable and inspired by others, instead of being skeptical and competitive towards them. In line with this, it is advisable for all the users of this module to spend enough time before starting the sessions with the group of learners, becoming familiar with their learning needs and expectations with regards to the educational process and content, as well as the group dynamics.
There is a rich repository of introductory games, namely “ice breakers”, “get-to-know each other” and “team building” activities that could be found and used, either online or in many relevant non-formal education activity publications (check here our choices). To foster intercultural dialogue and understanding, it is advised to use also local traditional games and focus on small group self-presentations of the participants. Nevertheless, creativity of the facilitators is a strong asset!
These simple but important elements of facilitation create a friendly atmosphere for participants, helping them feel safe and become more willing to open up and engage in the learning experience. In this way, participants become part of a learning community, they develop an interest to evolve as a group. Such positive emotions give the opportunity to apply holistic learning methods that are based on emotional experiences and empathy, apart from knowledge and practice. In line with applying dialectical and critical learning approaches, these may support transformative learning impact.
Furthermore, to set some boundaries for productive and respectful collaboration between the participants, a Group Agreement should be created and be put in a place that is visible for all the members. These usually include basic principles of how to work together in a peaceful, non-discriminative or offensive manner. At any case, this should be developed together with the facilitator and the participants before starting activities and sharing experiences.
To associate the aforementioned suggesting good practices with the content and objectives of this training module, the following activities are proposed:
ACTIVITY 1.1 System Change
ACTIVITY 1.2 Restorative Circles Method
The particular activities has been inspired by the 6th International Degrowth Conference for ecological sustainability and social equity that took place in Malmö, Sweden 21-25 August 2018 after receiving constructive feedback upon the STEP module and participating in the session "Degrowth and community-led sustainability initiatives" lead by Tom Henfrey, Ana Margarida Esteves, Claudian Dobos, Filipe Alves, Anna Kovasna, Peter Hagerrot, Emilia Rekestad, and Pella Thiel.
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views
only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.