Teachers Against Antigypsyism

In schools, especially those with students from different ethnic groups, including Roma, conflict situations of bullying, discrimination, exclusion, hate speech, etc. are very common. Part of the obligation of teachers is to try to prevent such situations, resolve conflicts, and better be able to distinguish them when they arise. Unfortunately, the majority of teachers working in a multicultural environment have not received training to deal with such situations.

The idea of the workshop is to identify the most common conflict situations in schools with students of different ethnicities, with an emphasis on Roma students, and to gather information on the most commonly used practices by teachers to prevent these conflicts. The exchange of good practices from different schools will enable the most successful ones to be identified.

 

THEME:

preventing harassment and hate speech, conflict resolution, Roma students

 

GROUP SIZE:

10 – 20 participants

 

TIME:

90 minutes

 

OVERVIEW:

Participants will be able to recognize and prevent conflicts between students and will have different options for solving them, which have been tested in real-world settings.

 

RELATED RIGHTS:
  • The right to equality
  • Right to freedom from discrimination
  • Right to education

 

OBJECTIVES:
  • Encouraging teachers to recognize and prevent conflict situations
  • Identification of good practices for dealing with conflict situations in mixed schools
  • Teaching teachers appropriate interventions to tackle discrimination, harassment, exclusion, hate speech, and more.

 

MATERIALS:
  • Markers
  • Paper
  • Flipchart

 

PREPARATION
  • Prepare the hall with separate places for 3 to 5 groups
  • Create an evaluation questionnaire

 

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Discuss with the participants the daily conflict situations in schools and the most common causes of their occurrence.
  2. Divide the participants into groups of 3 to 5 people, preferably with at least two different schools in each group. Spread some paper and markers to participants.
  3. Ask the participants to identify a conflict situation that they consider to be present in all schools represented in the group. Let them discuss measures for preventing and resolving these conflicts, which are undertaken individually by each, and to choose the one that they consider most appropriate and successful.
  4. Ask the groups to present their results within 5 minutes each. After each presentation give 2-3 minutes for discussion.
  5. Conduct a 15-minute group discussion, ensuring that it ends with a selection of the two best practices in conflict prevention at school. Prepare a poster containing the conflict situations considered and the prevention measures chosen.
  6. Discuss with the participants how the various best practices presented can be incorporated into the daily work of the different schools.
  7. Ask participants to complete the evaluation questionnaire.

 

DEBRIEFING AND EVALUATION:
  • How do you think Roma students feel in different conflict situations?
  • Do you think that identifying a future conflict before it occurs will reduce their number?
  • How would you react in identifying a potential conflict?
  • How would you react to a pre-existing conflict?
  • Would you apply some of the best practices presented in your work?

 

TIPS FOR FACILITATORS:

In order to extend the scope of the conflict situations under consideration, make sure that at least five different schools are represented in the group.

It is good for participants to include teachers with different specialties as well as those working with different age groups.

Try to involve participants from both Roma schools and those that involve students of different ethnic backgrounds.

To prepare for the seminar try to find information about similar conflict situations from other schools, and examples from other countries as well.

 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FOLLOW-UP:

Ask participants to try to apply any of the best practices suggested in their work and to give feedback on the outcome.

Give them the information you have gathered in advance for examples from Bulgaria and abroad and provide your contacts for any further clarification or cooperation.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Best Practices of Non-Violent Conflict Resolution in and out-of-school. Some examples

https://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/pdf/Non-violent%20conflict%20resolution%20-%20schools.pdf

Resolving Conflict in the Classroom

https://www.learnersedge.com/blog/resolving-conflict-in-the-classroom

Toolkit for download