Call for participants: RAN in the Western Balkans Training: “Dealing with radicalisation in schools”, Kosovo 21-22 June 2023

Context

Adolescence is a period in the development of a child to adulthood, where youngsters start exploring their identity and are forming their worldview. The influence of parents and other educators like teachers reduce during this stage. Peer influences and self-retrieved information online become more important alternative influence. One of the puzzles during this stage  is the search for clear answers to difficult questions as well as new sense of belonging. Especially when youngsters are vulnerable (due to lack of protective measures, feelings of being excluded) this can become fertile ground for radicalisation.

Secondary schools are places where youngsters spend their time and so their worrisome behaviour may become manifest and they may even be confronted or recruited by radical groups. The presence of the target group, the school’s task for civic education and existing structures for signalling and care have made schools significant for PVE activities throughout Europe. 

Questions to address during the training are:

• What are the signs and patterns of radical thinking and behaviour in a school setting?
• When are strong and black and white remarks to be seen as radical and when are they the usual less thoughtful adolescent framing?
• How can potentially radicalised statements/behaviour in school during discussions be dealt with?
• How can signs of radicalisation (individual care) be dealt with?

After the training participants will understand:

• Signs and characteristics of radical thinking patterns.
• Current forms of radicalisation
• How to better ask questions in an inquisitive and acceptable manner 
• How to moderate discussions on difficult topics
• The capability to react in a constructive manner on potential radicalisation incidents in the classroom.

Target group

The target group of this training are teachers, school directors and other relevant staff members of secondary schools (e.g. psychologists or social workers). We have capacity for maximum 15 participants from the Western Balkans only. The aim is to have a good regional spread and a variety of institutions (max 1 participant per organisation). Simultaneous interpretation in Albanian, BCMS and Macedonian will be provided based on the needs of participants.

Application

We kindly ask you to fill out this questionnaire before June 8th. We will select participants based on their answers.

This call is also available in: Albanian | Macedonian | Serbian