In collaboration with the Padagogische Seminar Göttingen and BUPNET the educational approach was defined.
An intercultural training course for staff members was developed aiming at enabling staff members to be more proficient in interacting with people from different cultures and to be able to activate migrants in taking part and in organising intercultural events themselves. During its development phase, the course was contemporaneously tested in the partner institutions.
The course is based on the 20 didactic models according to the Catalogue of Didactic Models (University of Goettingen) focussing relevant models on multiethnic learning groups.
The training course (train the trainer) consists of four major elements:
1. Casuistic approach in intercultural documentation and intercultural training: critical incidents, culture assimilator, culture categories, topics, keywords, description of multicultural settings for collecting reports within an institution and for preparing specific training material or a data base.
2. Survey approaches in intercultural documentation and intercultural training: questionnaires on needs of clients, staff..., questionnaires on culture orientation for collection surveys.
3. Simulation/gaming approaches in intercultural documentation and intercultural training: role playing on intercultural experiences, theories and models of intercultural development, encounters in intercultural or multicultural situations.
4. Videographic approaches in intercultural documentation and intercultural training: seeing and reflecting given situations of intercultural encounters and of cultural settings, producing and documenting "intercultural micro-communications".
The partners have tested all different elements themselves for feedback in order to eventually improve the course elements. They have become multipliers within their teams. With this approach all team members will be gradually in a position to interact proficiently with their clients.
With their newly acquired competencies, staff members have been identifying training needs and developing specific training material. The migrants themselves have been motivated by staff members to develop learning material.
