Let’s explore- Refugees today in Europe. Educational challenges and opportunities for youth workers

BACKGROUND: Since 2015 the migration of refugees became a focus topic of medial and political attention all over Europe. As a result of (civil) war, social and economic inequality and discrimination people are forced to escape from their home countries in search of a better and safe life. This process leads to different challenges in society, education and youth work as apart of education. In our training we would like to invite youth workers to develop their capacity to raise awareness and address refugee related issues in their work with young people. During this course, the participants will explore various issues related to the topic using creative tools and methodologies. How to create conditions for a dialogue? How can we establish a culture of diversity, acceptance and pluralism? How to deal with fears that exist in our society? OBJECTIVES: • to widen perspectives of participants on the topic of the training course; • to provide participants with educational tools and methodologies that will enable them to act as multipliers on refugee related issues in their work with young people; • to enable participants to make informed decisions regarding their work on refugee related issues; • to explore the dimensions of diversity in refugee related issues. PROGRAMME ELEMENTS: The training offers the implementation and reflection of pedagogical approaches and tools to educate about the current situation of refugees in Europe, anti-discrimination education and stereotypes. Generally the training course will contain various forms of creative and interactive methods such as creating an Open Space for Dialogue and Inquiry, drama/theatre and further non formal learning activities. Experiencing and reflecting the activities themselves, youth workers will get inspired to address the topic and use the activities in their own work. PARTICIPANT PROFILE: The training course is intended for: • Youth workers/ trainers/ youth leaders who want to get familiar with the subject (prior experience is not necessary) • Youth workers/Trainers who want to educate about the topic; • Youth workers who want to develop their own intercultural/diversity-competences; • Youth workers who want to expand their line of work to include young refugees; • Participants that are able to participate in the training course in English