The BAS Toolbox: A toolbox for the organisation & implementation of intercultural exchanges based on the BAS experience.

The BAS Toolbox aims at providing parties involved in the development and implementation of intercultural school exchanges with a set of tools and suggestions drawn from the BAS project experience with the organisation of such exchanges.

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The BAS Research Report: An Overview of the BAS experience

During the past three years the BAS project explored the impact of school intercultural exchanges as a tool for tackling stereotypes and investigating the impact of in-group and out-group contact in one’s attitudes. For this purpose, four exchanges were organized with the participation of four schools from Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, and Sofia. Although the original planned field trips were transformed into virtual exchanges under the impact of the Covid-19 crisis they stayed loyal to the spirit of the project.

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Brussels to Sofia: 4th BAS virtual Exchange

The fourth and final of the BAS cultural exchanges took place on the week of 22-26 February 2021. 127 SU Ivan Denkoglu in Sofia hosted students from GO! Atheneum Unesco Koekelberg (Brussels) in a series of virtual activities.

The Exchange

Language exchange sessions between hosts and guests were implemented. Bulgarian students provided a Bulgarian language session while Belgian students delivered a Dutch language session in return.
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Barcelona to Brussels: 3rd BAS virtual Exchange.

GO! Atheneum Unesco Koekelberg, based in Brussels, Belgium, hosted students of Institut Escola la Mina, from Barcelona, Spain in a series of virtual exchange activities throughout the week of 22-26 of February. This was the third in row of the BAS virtual exchanges, to be implemented.

Brussels in the heart of Europe, From the session on Brussels as the capital of European Union. Students from Brussels presents and discuss the presence of EU in Brussels and beyond.
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Athens to Barcelona: 1st BAS Virtual Exchange

The first, in a series of four BAS virtual cultural exchanges, took place on the week of 8 to 12 of February of 2021. Secondary education students from 2nd Lyceum of Vrilissia of Athens were hosted in a series of virtual sessions, hosted by Institut Escola la Mina in Barcelona, throughout the week.

The Exchange

Students of Institut Escola La Mina participating in a virtual session
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Breaking stereotypes through intercultural exchange: The BAS project experience so far.

The existence of stereotypes among people is an issue in modern societies. The reaction to the increasingly growing cultural diversity is often reclusion and retraction, and a growing support of community, ‘nativism’ and nationalism.

In this context the BAS project is developing and organizing intercultural exchange field trips to develop intercultural competences and skills among young people of 15/16 years of age, that are still in their “impressionable years”, which is roughly between the age of 12 and 24. The project wishes to go beyond general cultural representations and provide students with a deeper insight on cultural characteristics, such as lifestyle, cultural heritage, and social habits.

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