5th meeting in Bratislava

5^th meeting of the “Cultural and peer learning approaches” project in Bratislava, Slovakia, 27^th - 28^th January 2011

 Participants: Ulrich Diermann, Institut equalita e.V. (Köln); Bettina Kocher, Ralf Classen, Büro für Kultur und Medienprojekte/KinderKulturKarawane (Hamburg); Erika Köchl, Edgar Lliyue, VIDC (Wien); Torben Vosbein, SPOR Media (Kopenhagen) who attended despite the fact, that SPOR Media was not funded for its Grundtvig Partnership Project; Anita Ramsak, Petra Hartman, Nastja Horvat, Ekvilib Institute (Ljubljana); Zornitsa Staneva, Foundation for Development of the Cultural and Business Potential of the Society (Sofia), Alena Krempaska, People against racism (Bratislava).

Thursday, 27^th January 2011

After the welcome word, the partners discuss the background of Cultural peer learning approaches in their respective countries.

There is a strong emphasize on the use of Cultural and peer learning as a technique of KinderKulturKaravane and related groups on one hand, and a question of financial sustainability of such a robust experience on the other hand.

During the talks it becomes obvious there are basically two groups of experiences, Western KinderKulturKaravane approaches and Eastern broader speaking cultural exchanges experiences. There has not been any KKK related experience implemented in the East yet; that is what makes it particularly appealing for the future.

KKK cultural exchange is a very complex event in many ways; it combines an informal education approach within the performance and the workshops for the pupils whilst establish a ground for various unpredictable informal experiences during the workshop and beyond, while the children stay with the hosting families. In this regard, the KKK aproach is revealing and enriching in many directions.

The Eastern partners explain the circumstances in the East: KKK experience being very demanding in terms of finances and organisation, there is a need for some forms of simplification and availability of such experience for local teachers, who might otherwise be not able to multiply it. The question rises whether KKK approach is transferable between any differentiated cultural groups or there is loss of some crucial elements in the process.

Alena and Anita argue that the financial point of view will eventually force the teachers to adjust to lower-cost (and maybe less interesting) activities that should be developped.

Day 2 – Friday 28^th January 2011                     

The partners discuss the possibilities how to fully explore the potential of CPL. Is there any space for the multiplication amongst local teachers? The discussion continues over the opportunities and expectations of all the countries involved.

One of the interesting ideas that arose during the debate is the direct involvment of the teachers into the workshop so they have first-hand experience. In theory it might help teachers to understand what kind of processes happen during the cultural exchange what might boost their interest into this educational approach.

The partners schedule next online meetings, next meetings in Ljubljana and Hamburg and set the preliminary agenda for Ljubljana, where the compendium ist to be finalized.