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Description
Research demonstrates clearly that discrimination is common in Polish schools. The pandemic has exacerbated fears and prejudice in relationships with others. Teachers under the strain of having two or three jobs and responsibility for safety of children, and who experience burnout quickly due to various factors, need support in their educational work, which is combating discrimination and vulnerability and forming approaches of openness and empathy. The idea of the online Antidiscrimination Drama Academy is to introduce an effective and tested drama method used for teaching how to react to discrimination and violation of human rights among young people, and networking and providing support for teachers and educators who work in this area in Poland. The project will comprise four online live e-learning courses for 160 people on the subject of using the drama method with respect to human rights and how to react to violation of human rights among children and young people. In addition, there will be two supervisory meetings for those attendees interested in the online course. The project envisages a public campaign to educate on how to react to discrimination using the drama method. An e-book will be created containing scripts for classes that have been tested on various groups of children and young people in the course of the project. A conference will be held for approximately 100 people at the end of the project.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the problem of discrimination in Polish schools. As the research of the Society for Anti-Discrimination Education from a few years ago shows, discrimination at school is a widespread phenomenon and is experienced by various people - because of their disability, gender identity, psychosexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, skin colour, religious beliefs or appearance. Violence takes many forms, from psychological or physical violence to sexual violence and cyberbullying. Moreover, the hate speech present in public life - especially towards LGBTQ people or refugees - gives consent to violent behaviour towards minorities. At the same time, many pupils do not understand the mechanisms of discrimination and are unable to respond to it. The Polish authorities are strongly opposed to anti-discrimination education, so schools do not undertake such initiatives, while teachers do not have the resources to conduct such education. This task seems to be particularly difficult at a time of crisis in the Polish education system, the mass departure of teachers from their jobs and the burnout experienced by this professional group.
As part of the project, an online Anti-discrimination Drama Academy was organised. The project held 5 editions of an e-learning course for almost 150 people, primarily teachers and educators working with children and young people. The course focused on the application of the drama method in the area of human rights and responding to human rights violations among children and young people. There were also 3 supervision sessions for willing participants of the course. In parallel, there was an online campaign promoting education for responding to discrimination using the drama method. Various educational tools were also produced, including podcasts and instructional videos, as well as an e-book with scenarios for drama activities to work with children and young people.
Thanks to the project, the trainees, especially teachers, improved their competences in recognising and reacting to discrimination or hate speech. They became familiar with the drama method - an attractive tool for working in formal or non-formal education - and learned how to use the method in the field of anti-discrimination and peer violence. An important competence that the course participants gained was the ability to work with children and young people in responding to discrimination.