ForDiSens: Professional Development for Diversity Sensitivity
Professional Development Programmes to Strengthen Diversity Sensitivity
Project at a Glance
Project Description
The distribution of educational opportunities through the institution of schooling is demonstrably shaped by discrimination along the categories of race, class, and gender. Against this background, the collaborative project focuses on the analysis and further development of anti-discrimination training programmes for teachers. Its objective is to strengthen diversity sensitivity among school stakeholders in order to reduce barriers to participation experienced by those affected by discrimination.
The project is guided by the following research questions:
- How do teacher training programmes generate impulses for strengthening diversity sensitivity at the levels of professional practice and school development?
- How are these impulses translated by participating teachers into their own responsibilities and everyday school practice?
- Which enabling conditions and quality standards can be identified for strengthening diversity-sensitive professional knowledge and action?
The collaborative project consists of three state-specific tandems (research institutions and training providers), each addressing the research questions through a different thematic focus:
- Bremen: Classism and racism
- Saxony-Anhalt: Sexism and anti-queer discrimination
- Thuringia: Dealing with right-wing populist attitudes
By bringing together the findings through an intersectionality-informed approach, the project aims to develop, pilot, and sustainably implement transferable training modules.
Methodologically, the project builds on qualitative developmental research. Training programmes are observed ethnographically and audio-recorded in order to generate insights into concrete processes of awareness-raising and sensitization. Interviews with participants and training providers, as well as group discussions with teachers, provide further insights into how training content is translated into participants’ own (non-)responsibilities and professional practice, thereby shedding light on the effectiveness of the programmes. The data are analysed using the method of positioning analysis (Adressierungsanalyse). The collaborative project is grounded in a responsive recognition research approach.
Organisations
Subproject: Empirical Analyses of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Classism in Schools
University of Bremen
Subproject: Empirical Analyses of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Right-Wing Populism in Schools
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Subproject: Conceptual Design of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Sexism and Anti-Queer Discrimination in Schools
lebensart Community and Counselling Centre e.V.
Subproject: Conceptual Design of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Right-Wing Populism in Schools
Work and Life Thuringia e.V.
Subproject: Conceptual Design of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Classism in Schools
Bremen State Institute for Schools
Subproject: Empirical Analyses of Professional Development Programmes on Addressing Sexism and Anti-Queer Discrimination in Schools
Sponsors
The project “Meta-project Migration, Integration, and Participation in Education” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth and the European Union through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) as part of the “Integration through Education” program.
