About the Project DH - Democratic Heritage - Memorials and heritage museums engaging migrants in developing resilient democracies
Running from 2020-2023, the project “Democratic Heritage - Memorials and heritage museums engaging migrants in developing resilient democracies” (DH) was a small-scale educational project which developed and evaluated participatory teaching methodologies aimed at strengthening democratic competencies amongst adult learners with non-European background. The term migrant is used in the text to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to define as economic migrants.
DH was motivated by the lack of efficient and innovative tools for working with democratic competencies for refugees and migrants. Museums, memorials, and heritage sites are among the institutions that have developed learning policies for adult learners with a non-European background. The project partners are all active in the field of adult migrant education and have for several years developed activities and practices based on the model of democratic competencies established by the Council of Europe (2018). Through DH, the partners set out to explore the benefits of sharing best practices across nations, to evaluate existing and develop a set of more resilient participatory teaching methodologies that can be applied to meet with non-European adult learners in different contexts. The project partners (PP) involved in this project represent various organizations in the EU/EEC who all have developed and practice different strategies in working with migrants, refugees, and newcomers through a shared framework of common values, civic engagement, and participation. Having a diverse set of partners allows this project to collect responses from both participants and teachers as well as collecting an international sample of empirical material from groups of migrants and refugees that are underrepresented in statistical studies. Developing a cross-European forum where experience, techniques, and methodologies in working with migrants, refugees and newcomers can be shared, developed, and tested in the field was one of the primary objectives that this project sought to contribute to.
DEMOCRATIC HERITAGE IN TURKU AND KAARINA LIBRARIES BY TURKU WOMENS’ CENTRE, FINLAND
Collaboration Between Turku Women’s Centre and Educational Centre Visio:
Long-term educational partnership.
Involved in implementing the Democratic Heritage project in Finland.
Focus on language education for adult migrant learners.
Collaboration with the public library institution.
Activities of Turku Women’s Centre:
Community for women from various cultural backgrounds.
Organizes study clubs, Finnish language courses, art, and digital workshops.
Emphasis on community-building and phenomenon-based teaching methods.
Operational Environment and Implementation Format:
Educational Centre Visio provides non-formal education.
Not governed by a national curriculum.
Collaboration with formal educational institutions is minimal.
Funding from public funds administered by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Hybrid Education Approach:
Turku Women’s Centre offers education online or as hybrid education.
Utilizes online tools like Quizlet, Google Translate, Facebook, Zoom.
Examples of activities during cultural visits and online courses.
Methodology of Courses:
Democratic Heritage project focuses on teaching Finnish and supporting social integration.
Phenomenon-based approach in teaching, emphasizing active citizenship.
Teaching plans designed through discussions among the teacher cohort.
Flipped classroom methodology is employed.
Collaboration and Best Practices:
Collaboration with the public library, local cultural operatives, and other organizations.
Examples of best practices include studying statues and memorials, addressing everyman’s rights, and a language-conscious teaching approach.
Libraries play a crucial role in supporting language development and social integration.
Relation to Democracy Competencies:
Courses aligned with the Council of Europe’s model for democracy education.
Objectives include values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge related to democracy.
Assessment of objectives in weekly staff meetings.
Visualizing Democracy Goals:
Use of "democracy hearts" as a visual and easy way to localize and highlight democracy goals in teaching plans.
Colors representing different areas (values, attitudes, skills, knowledge) are depicted using heart emojis.
These main points highlight the collaborative efforts, educational activities, operational environment, methodology, and the emphasis on democracy and cultural themes in the language learning programs for adult migrant learners.