The theme of this week is ‘Educational Landscapes’ and as such, today began with looking at Educational settings in the 4 featured countries. Work was done on how the groups would create an ‘ideal’ educational landscape, while overcoming a major obstacle currently holding their nations back, and discussions were given additional input from an international Skype conversation with ESD expert Rob O’Donoghue.
Tuesday morning began with recap for each country group, and then education through presentations for the others, based on educational settings in their homelands.
The exercise included mapping learning places and education offers in the groups country, specifying who is supporting and steering any work or changes, and describing each route of education as formal or non-formal. Interesting discussions revealed that even within countries, the learning on offer can differ, and the support, specifically financial, can vary widely between the four countries represented in Berlin.
Presentations of the findings ran on for much longer than expected, as participants found out all they wanted to know about Mexico, South Africa, India & Germany. For example, the difficult task of classifying indigenous persons in Mexico, the violence they see there, and how South Africa has moved on from its system of separate schools for black, white & Indian children.
After lunch, once Skype issues had been overcome, Rob O’Donoghue (an expert the group met in the first week) broadcast a presentation from South Africa on his opinions on Educational Landscapes. The group was keen to find out how the other ESD experts saw the future of educational landscapes for the participating countries, and how Rob could see play being incorporated with ESD learning. While he noted there were many differing perspectives, he made it clear that learning was not possible without tensions, a theme picked up on in the final task of the day.
The country groups were encouraged to create their own ideal educational landscape in the home countries, while at the same time tackling one major challenge at the same time e.g. racist views being a barrier to education for all. After discussions, Anna summarised the topics that had been and will be covered under the umbrella of Educational Landscapes.
The day finished with a recap of the Cultural project, deciding on contact people from each country, and encouraging participants to start thinking about the style and content of the project.