2018 – Seminars in Greece

The ‘Language support for Adult Migrants and refugees (LIAM): a Council of Europe Toolkit’ seminars, organised during 2018 in Athens and Thessaloniki by Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece, affiliated to the Council of Europe Network, provided to teachers and educationists the necessary space to interact and familiarise themselves with the Toolkit in order to acquire and implement new educational approaches to their original educational strategies. The more than sixty participants in the two cities welcomed the dissemination of the LIAM Toolkit and contributed to the seminar by presenting their experiences based on specific cases during the educational process.

The seminars presented great results both in terms of outcomes and visibility. Most participants highlighted the need for similar events and worked with profound interest in the scenario exercises presented at the end of the seminar. According to information shared, educationists rely in most of the cases on improvised teaching methods and tools which are being circulated by civil society organizations with little contribution from state institutions. The Toolkit was evaluated by participants as a reliable and tested method which can present excellent results in most of the classrooms. The participants committed to circulating the knowledge gathered during the seminar to their organizations and schools, as well as to form an alumni group of good practices which would help them address common problems with speed and efficiency.

View the dissemination video produced by Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece

26 - 28 September 2018, Athens Seminar

The LIAM Athens seminar was hosted on 26-28 September at the premises of the Athens Coordination Centre for Migrant and Refugee issues (ACCMR). The Toolkit was presented to about 30 participants by Dr. Fernanda Minuz, member of the Council of Europe LIAM programme development team and by Michalis Karakonstantis and Angeliki Sireti, teachers at the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) where LIAM is also being piloted.

The extensive number of the topics discussed during the three-days seminar duration provided a good balance between theoretical and practical applications of the Toolkit. The 10 workshops that took place at the seminar and the Scenarios approach, where participants wrote their own scripts for their classrooms’ specific needs, received very positive reviews.

22 - 23 October 2018, Thessaloniki Seminar

The LIAM Thessaloniki seminar was hosted on 22-23 October at the premises of the Municipality of Thessaloniki. The Toolkit was presented to 36 participants by Michalis Karakonstantis and Angeliki Sireti, from the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) who worked in Athens with Dr. Fernanda Minuz on the LIAM Seminar there.

The seminar included 4 workshops as well as scenario development, while more time has been dedicated to the exchange of views and ideas, contributing to its interactive character. This methodology seemed to be extremely effective for the participants, while during the last morning follow-up dedicated exercises took place.