Sub Group ‘Tolerance Reports’

by Valerie Morgan

In April 1999 the Bertelsmann Foundation in association with the Bertelsmann Group for Policy Research at the Center for Applied Policy Research, University of Munich established the International Tolerance Network. One of the sub-groups developed under this initiative has been working for over two years on a series of comparative case studies examining ‘Education for Democracy’ in a range of cultural, social and economic contexts.

The group currently involves institutions based in Israel, the United States of America, the Philippines, Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, Chile and Brazil with additional input from the Council of Europe. Given the diversity of the situations in which participants operate, one of the first concerns was to develop a process whereby the range of individual and world wide experiences within the network could be examined in a co-ordinated and comparative way. After a long series of fruitful discussions it was agreed that each organisation should develop a written case study describing the educational initiatives in which they are involved and how these operate within their specific geographical, social, cultural and political context . This material would be valuable in its own right but could also provide the foundation for an analysis of the questions and concerns which are common across cultures and for identification of the fundamental issues which education for tolerance and democracy has to address.

The actual process of agreeing on the structure and format of the case studies allowed us to explore many of the complexities, paradoxes and contradictions inherent in attempting to use education as a mechanism to increase understanding across cultural boundaries. Participants have had to examine critically the social and historical context in which they work and the types of educational responses which have emerged. They have also had to consider practical issues such as resource inputs and implementation strategies before moving on to more contentious areas such as the ways in which various elements within their societies respond to interventions in such sensitive areas as prejudice reduction and reconciliation. With almost all the case studies either completed or well advanced a working meeting in Munich in March 2001 drew up a timetable for the completion of a substantial publication based on the group’s work and also began the process of generating a conceptual framework for the theoretical elements of the study which will be further refined at a meeting planned for August 2001.

More info about our sub group "Tolerance Reports"

Index: Podium

Language Learning, Tolerance and Human Rights
by K. Hugh Starkey

Sub Group "Tolerance Reports"
by Valerie Morgan

Sub Group "Language and Democracy"
by Michael Seberich

Sub Group "Evaluation"
by Katrin Uhl

Portrait
Participa: A Chilean NGO

Case Study: Citizenship and Education in 28 Countries
reviewed by Katrin Uhl

"Linguistic Genocide in Education"
reviewed by Constanze Schellhaas

Carl Bertelsmann Prize
by Sabine Donner