Between the 19th and the 21st of November 2021, in Toledo, Spain, the “Imagine” Seminar engaged a group of 30 school and university students in dialogues and debates around different current controversial issues.
Controversial issues generate strong feelings. They are increasingly being raised by multimedia, social networks and have a direct impact in education settings. Youth is especially vulnerable when it comes to addressing controversial issues and are influenced a lot by social and collective discourse. When conducted in safe spaces, debates on controversial topics teach young people how to dialogue with and respect people whose values or ideas are different from their own. This is essential for living in today’s diverse and democratic societies.
The seminar focused on providing young educators, pre-service media professionals and civil society activists with the values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and critical thinking needed to address controversial issues.
The event was designed as a training for trainers. It applied the Council of Europe teaching and learning materials on intercultural education and human rights education as tools for the promotion of inclusion, democracy, and human rights.
The seminar was organized by ECUDEM-UCV, the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe Network, and it took place in the framework of the Global Education Week initiative of the North South centre of the Council of Europe.