Re/Move the finish line: going beyond inclusion and diversity

Our educational European Programmes, especially the ones for youth, have been strongly focused on the concept of inclusion and diversity, an important stakeholder is specifically named “SALTO Inclusion and Diversity” and a lot of work in this regard has been done, with very good results. But there is always room to raise the bar, to rethink and refine the approach on inclusion, the language and jargon of inclusion and maybe to challenge the meaning of the inclusion concept/word as such. In 2022 there is a need for that. The risk  is that by using the word “inclusion” a subtle implication keeps being in place: there is always a majority that creates, if not simply decides, what/who/how has to be “included”. In this way the spotlight is always on a minority: single persons in a group, a group in a community, a community in a Country and so on. The same goes when we think of diversity: if there’s something or someone who is different, this implies that there are things or people that are the same, the “norm”. But who and how can decide what’s normal and what’s different?

The title of the project recalls these concepts according to two perspectives: on the one hand, we should start challenging the concept of inclusion as a race, a competition at the end of which we find a finish line that minorities need to reach, and make an effort to remove that finish line. On the other hand, if adopting an inclusive approach is considered a “finish line” for workers and actors in the field of youth, then we should probably keep moving that line more and more forward, so that we keep working on getting better.

On another level focusing on workers in our field: youth workers, trainers, educators… 

If you look around, there are tons of tools and methods when it comes to “inclusion and diversity”, many times called “non-formal learning tools”. First of all, there is no such thing as “non-formal learning tools”: tools are TOOLS, and it’s not tools that create a non-formal learning environment, not just because those tools can be interactive, playful. Secondly, we believe that more than tools, we need to focus on the mindset of those who work with groups, with the aim of having an inclusive learning environment. In this training course we will put the focus on developing competences that might support this shift, from “using” something inclusive (tools) to “making” something (the learning environment) inclusive.

Aim & Objectives

The project aims to contribute to developing an inclusive mindset in trainers, youth workers and educators, as well as raise awareness on the importance of competences as a tool for individual holistic development. 

The specific objectives of the project are:

• to promote self-reflection and self-assessment to reach a higher level of self-awareness and personal understanding of inclusion and diversity;
• to promote the adoption of an intersectional approach to raise awareness on modern complexity, on the nuances of inclusion, of social processes, and of identity;
• to enhance competences apt to create inclusive learning and working environments, deepening some specific competences such as: understanding and facilitating individual and group learning processes; designing educational programmes; communicating meaningfully with others; being civically engaged;
• to master learning tools by linking them to methodology, approach, general and specific context.

Programme & Methodology

The training course will include moments dedicated to concrete tools and measures for inclusion, as well as spaces for discussion and reflection on the concept of inclusion itself.

Day 1: a welcoming “getting to know each other” and group building; a safe and inclusive learning environment; getting into the self-reflective practice; 

Day 2: learning on the agenda; how to look differently at “competences” and how their meaning can change when we we talk about a “competence based approach”; 

Day 3: “all the ways we”...see inclusion and diversity - looking back and looking forward; something old, something new, something borrowed, something (out of the) blue;

Day 4: “all the ways we”...create inclusive and exclusive dynamics; digging into intersectionality and inclusive language;

Day 5: from “self” to “others”; wrapping up, harvesting, evaluation.

In the frame of Non-formal learning methodology, we will use an approach where participants can find their pace and space throughout the whole training process. With the guidance and support of the trainers’ team, the aim is to allow participants to shape a self-paced training course. The learning environment will simply have the non-formal learning principles in full and deep motion, so every single person attending the course will be able to self-direct their learning path.