Engaging school communities in Lebanon to explore the possibilities of tolerance education

• In Event: Engaging with school communities in MENA during crisis

Proposal

This presentation will focus on a participatory study about tolerance education in Lebanon which involved grade 6 students, parents, teachers, and school directors from schools in four regions across the country. The study, conducted in November 2022, applied a systems thinking approach using World Café Workshops to bring diverse school communities together to define “tolerance education” and discuss their experiences with and ideas to incorporate tolerance education in their schools. The workshops used whole-group discussions alongside small group activities (students with students, teachers with teachers, etc.) during which the groups engaged in a visual data collection activity called Mind Mapping. The small groups used colorful sticky notes to map out how various components of “tolerance” are and should be addressed in schools. The groups also presented their maps to other groups and engaged in discussions about the differences and similarities between the maps they designed. The study revealed strong student, community, educator, and Ministerial support for tolerance education programming, and the World Café process generated rich proposals from the school communities about what tolerance education programming should include. The school community groups were so engaged in the World Café workshops, that they asked that this type of cross-community engagement activity be part of future tolerance education efforts. Students, in particular, conveyed their interest in meeting students in other communities in a similar forum.
The presentation will describe how the participatory approach, the use of visual data collection methods, the evolution of the application of the World Café, and the interest of the school communities in tolerance resulted in highly engaged participants and rich data about the possibilities of tolerance education. The presentation will first discuss the ways in which the school communities shaped the methodological approach, paying attention to how the application of the World Café evolved from the first workshop to the final workshop based on observations made by the study team about participant engagement and comfort as well as participant feedback received during each session. The presentation will then discuss the findings of the study, emphasizing the local voices. Finally, the presentation will conclude with a discussion about how the local school community voices were captured to develop practical recommendations for designing future tolerance education programming which aligns with local interests.

Author

• Michelle L Solorio, Management Systems International (Tetra Tech)