Evaluation

To evaluate the project during the last project meeting in Hagen in October 2018, we took two steps: first, we made students write a small daily letter including their impressions and the “best of the day”, thus evaluating the progress of the current meeting in terms of newly gained knowledge as well as emotional learning (tolerance, role models etc.). Secondly, we distributed a final questionnaire at the end of the last project day asking for a final evaluation of the week and the complete project. The data basis taken into account are 23 letters of the day and 28 questionnaires (including teachers’ questionnaires).

Here is a short summary of the results of these evaluation processes:

On Monday, many students wrote in their daily letter that they are happy to be here (11) and that they are interested in and feel excited about the next days (9). They expressed that they have high hopes for the week and hope to have a good time together. Some were happy to see friends from the project again (4) and others were excited to meet new people (4). One student summarized the day saying it was enjoyable that so many different people are able to talk freely about topics that are considered “hard to chew” by teenagers.

On Tuesday, many students focused their letter on the places we visited, saying that they were beautiful, interesting and for some new (10). They learned more about the places and the religions. Some said it was special to see Muslims and Christians working together in a community (7), the understanding between religions was also mentioned by 3 persons. Two pointed out that it was a good way to have an own opinion about Marxloh.

On Wednesday the focus was on learning about guidelines for interreligious dialogue which eight students mentioned in their letter. Several were of the opinion that it was hard work and felt exhausted by the end of the day (7). But the positive side was that they worked on a project with an interesting topic and they were proud of the final product as well as feeling happy with the work done today (5). Considering social interaction, several of the students said that they were happy to see how well they work together (4) and that they had fun working together (5).

Thursday was considered a very good day by a majority of students (14), they were excited about it especially about having seen beautiful places. Students learned new things about the EU, found the visit to the EU Parliament interesting and that it was a pleasant experience to talk to Protestant and atheist teenagers at the church. Some liked Belgium in general, four said that they would like to visit Bruxelles again and one even wrote that this day inspired him/her to come back to Bruxelles for an internship.

On Friday, the letters also tended to summarize the week. Most students stressed that they made new friends or that it was good to see everybody again (11). Friday was an interesting and interactive day at school. Students wrote that they learned much about other religions, especially taking into consideration the guidelines for interreligious dialogue. Three of them expressed their relief that people on the project are open-minded and tolerant towards everyone’s beliefs.

The final questionnaire distributed on Friday resulted in the following:

Asked for their expectations when deciding to work on the project, the focus was on meeting and getting to know new people and their way of life (14) or to learn more about different cultures and people (6). People also expected to learn more about other countries (4), to share information about school and life from different perspectives (3), to have a good time and to see new places (7).

Secondly, we asked them if these expectations were met. 26 said yes and explained that they met a lot of people (12), that they learned interesting things about different religions (8), travelled (4). Concerning social interaction, the answers focused on communicating with people from other countries, learning a lot from each other by seeing how other people study, live and work (8) and spending time together enjoying yourself. Two people said that their expectations weren’t met, one of them expected having stress but instead met amazing people. The other had language problems so he/she discovered that he/she was not able to talk to people.

Asked for the impressions of the programme this week, the main focus was on learning a lot about religion(s) and how people live with their religion and about different views of the world (7). Several pointed out that the trips and activities were inspirational (6), especially the visits to churches and the mosque. The week’s programme was perceived as well-planned and interesting. “This week will forever be in my mind being not only a special week but a grand week.” “We were motivated to see each other as equals and to respect one another.”

To evaluate the whole project, we asked what was best looking back at it. Most answers referred to the places we visited, especially Bruxelles (19). The way we worked together to implement the project (e-book on migration, managing diversity, interreligious dialogue) was also mentioned (5). Socially, meeting the families and seeing their way of life (4), the students from other countries that I am glad to call friends (2) and that everybody got along well and we understood each other (2) were the main aspects. “I am really excited about the man in Duisburg. I have respect for his work and what they do in Marxloh.”

Finally, we asked what they will remember about the project. Again, the focus was on the people (12), making new friends and to keep these friendships (6) and the experiences made together (7). The day in the family and how welcoming they were is what some people will remember. The places we visited were mentioned again (11).  Not to forget, the things we discussed and learned about (interreligious dialogue, diversity, migration) which are “interesting and significant for the times we are living in” (5). Two persons pointed out that it is the fact that people from different religions work together in a catholic church in a social project to help people who need help. Two others wrote that they had a lot of prejudices about some religions before, but they have now learned that their prejudices were wrong. Moreover, some stated that they found that communication with people from other countries can be difficult but it is possible.

To finish, one quote from a student may summarize everything said before: “ I am glad to be part of this unique experience.”

All results in one post

Our project ended on 30 November 2018. We managed to publish all the ebooks and are proud to share them here:




We hope you enjoy. Feel free to be inspired by our work.

Result: Guidelines for interreligious dialogue

Students taking part in the project meeting wrote up guidelines for interreligious dialogue which they will implement at their schools. Here you can read our guidelines in four languages:

 

Project meeting in Hagen | Day 5

Today students presented the week's project results: Their guidelines on interreligious dialogue in four languages. Students explained how talking to somebody with a different belief can be successful. The guideslines will be made public here, too.

As this was the last meeting of the project we also travelled to the other schools in the form of an exhibtion. We remembered our time in Bucharest when we talked about migration and found out that it is not a new phenomenon. People have always moved between the three countries for various reasons.

We also travelled back to Dolni chiflik where we discussed how to deal with diversity at school. We always have students who are different so we wrote a managing diversity strategy for each school.

Project meeting in Hagen | Day 4

Today everybody had to get up early in order to meet up for our trip to Brussels. First of all we visited the European Parliament to find out more about the multinational work of a Member of the European Parliament.

 Dr. Dieter Köster, MEP for Wetter, gave us some insights into his life and shared some ideas about the present state of the EU and what needs to be changed.

Afterwards we went to visit the Parlamentarium to find out more about European history and to understand the ideas behind the founding of the EU. Everybody was given a media guide to explore the exhibition.

Then it was time to look at Brussels beautiful old town and taste some of its culinary offers like fries, waffles and chocolates. At the end of the day we went to La Chapelle Royale to meet pupils from Brussels for a discussion on interreligious dialogue. We found out that Protestants are a minority in Belgium. Students of all four countries - Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Romania - talked about their experience in small groups.

The students and teachers on this project would like to thank European coordiantor of the city of Hagen Mrs Sabine Krink for her excellent organisation of this very impressive day.

Project meeting in Hagen | Day 3

On the third day of the meeting students sat down to write their own rules for interreligious dialogue. This was done in four international groups. After having written out four different versions students sat in two groups and merged their two versions into one. In the next step they looked at the results and discussed them. They finally consolidated the two versions into one final version.

The afternoon was devoted to spending time with host families and diving into German culture.

Project meeting in Hagen | Day 2

Today the group went on an excursion to Duisburg-Marxloh to see how people of different religions live together. In order to find out we went to Merkesz mosque where we found out about its planning process. The mosque was planned including representatives from the neighbourhood like the Catholic priest, the Protestand pastor and others. Some decisions about the mosque were taken jointly, for example that the mosque has clear windows in the ground floor so that everybody can see what is happening inside. There are also three entrances to cater for different types of visitors (believers, visitors).

After that the group enjoyed a walk in the sunshine through Marxloh to have lunch in the canteen of Elly-Heuss-Knapp-Gymnasium.

After a break which people spent in groups we went to Petershof which is part of the Catholic parish neighbouring the mosque. Here social worker Oguz Topac told us how the help refugees and migrants of all backgrounds in Duisburg. They have many volunteers and can offer help in many languages. Moreover they are creating more and more offers according to need.

To sum up we can say that we have had some great new impressions on how people of different religions live together and what they can do to ensure a peaceful community.

 

Project meeting in Hagen | Day 1

Representatives of all three schools have met in Hagen today to start working on their last topic: interreligious dialogue. 

After some icebreaking activities students worked on their understanding of their own and other religions. We were led through the day by the expert Ulla August, a Protestant pastor working for Pädagogisches Institut Villigst, who created great activities for the students and teachers to open their minds for interreligious dialogue.

She guided the students by a variety of excercises to insights like these:

 We also learned that it is good to observe the following things:

 To remind us of the fact that religions have many things in common Ms August gave us these symbols:

 Thank you for a great start of the working meeting! The headteacher of Kaufmannsschule II also came to welcome our guests.

We are all looking forward to our excursion about interreligious dialogue tomorrow.

Managing Diversity Strategies for Schools

After the international project meeting in Dolni chiflik, Bulgaria the students wrote their own managing diversity strategies which we proudly publish today. 

 

Projekt meeting in Bulgaria | Day 5

On the final day of the meeting the students were busy working on the diversity management strategies for their schools ending the working part of the day with presenting them to each other. Then they spent the afternoon with a Bulgarian host family and the evening was a farewell dinner at a restaurant.