Do you know who these people are?

Some of over 300

school teachers, principals, psychologists, pedagogues

and other experts who work in one of

40 primary schools, in one of 21 towns from all over Serbia

What do all of them have in common?

Alphabet of Tolerance – Education & Practice

How did it all start?• working with children from Roma

Community Centre in Mali Mokri Lug (Belgrade suburbs)

• teaching them how to recognize their own and other people’s emotions and constructively deal with them

• dealing with Roma children’s personal identity issues

“When they tell me that I’m a Gipsy, I feel very bad, like I worth nothing… They tell me “You’re a Gipsy” and that offends me. I tell them back “You’re Serbs” and that does not offend them! It’s really stupid…”

(10 years old Roma boy)

“If someone acts violently to me, I start a fight! Coz

this is Serbia!”

(12 years old boy)

The “Alphabet of Tolerance” with children was first time realized

in Mali Mokri Lug, in 2001

“Discrimination… that is… I think, some kind of disc, with confidential codes, that someone has to steel. It’s sort of crime.”

(9 years old girl)

I think that discrimination is segregating and

neglecting people, because of their

height, sex or religion.”

(13 years old boy)

Teacher training• we wanted to include as many children as possible• realized in 2002, for the first time

aiming to• Increase participants’ knowledge on social phenomena

such as prejudices, discrimination, violence, tolerance, cooperation, on how to make a distinction between positive and negative ones and react upon each one of them adequately and constructively

• Improve participants’ skills regarding interactive group work methodology – it’s basic principles and values and ways to use it in their classrooms

How does the Training look like?

• tri-modular educational course• running the 12 workshops with pupils• teachers’ work as workshop facilitators

is continuously been supervised by the trainers

In 2002, the “Alphabet of Tolerance” was for the first time accredited by the Ministry of Education and included into the Catalogue, as one of the programs recognized and recommended for further professional improvement of experts who work in schools.

We have also developed a

Manual, containing

theoretical articles and

12 workshops to be run with

children

In 2003, the Manual was translated into Hungarian.

In 2007, it is available in 3 more minority languages:

Albanian Romanian and Bulgarian

Animated Series “It’s So Unfair!”• created in 2004, as a supplement to the

“Alphabet of Tolerance”, but can also be used as a separate educational program

• used within UNICEF’s “Schools Without Violence” Program

• awarded by Council of Europe, within “Dosta!” Campaign

• along with related Manual and set of workshops, accredited by Ministry of Education of Republic of Serbia

see one episode of “It’s So Unfair” >>>

In 2006, another new element was added to the program: school actions, with an aim to strengthen connections between schools and their local communities and raise awareness of wider audience concerning incidence of discrimination and violence in schools, an existing need and possible ways to fight them.

What did participants benefit from “Alphabet of Tolerance”?

“Participating in “Alphabet of Tolerance” helped me to improve communication

with my pupils, to understand their needs better, to enjoy in my job more, to realize

how stimulative interactive methodologies are and that children can

be very successful in finding out solutions for certain situations themselves.”

(a teacher-participant)

84,3% of experts who have attended the Program claim that, after the

education, they react different when they face discrimination and that they are ready to handle it in a constructive way, both in school

context and in their everyday lives

Children’s* understanding of the phenomena Program deals with:

Phenomenon Before the Program

After the Program

discrimination 63,79% 90,08%

prejudices 74,00% 87,65%

violence 74,00% 82,15

cooperation 92,42% 88,98%

tolerance 81,05% 87,65%

* More than 3000 children have participated in “Alphabet of Tolerance” workshops since 2002

Social distance scale shows that, after the program, children’s

answers on all levels have changed for averagely 17,25% in

positive way i.e. social distance among children decreased on all

levels!

“Every child is my friend, because they are all great, no matter what colour their skin is!”

(11 years old girl)

Next steps…

• continuation of Program implementation in multiethnic communities throughout Serbia, especially in the regions that were not included so far (far South of Serbia, Sandzak) and those where existing manuals in minority languages can be used

• developing program for children aged 12-15• developing program for inclusion of parents• continuation and further development of

cooperation with Ministry of Education• …

“Tolerance is when we forgive each other. We should be glad if someone draws, writes or does something that differs from what we did, so we can see that (s)he also has his/her own opinion!”

(13 years old girl)

Grupa “Hajde da…” – Group “Let’s…”

www.hajdeda.org.yuhajdeda@eunet.yu