Storytelling for Inclusive Education

Summary

As signaled by the EUPeace alliance, teachers are responsible for equalizing inequalities and attending to diversity at school. Therefore, collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking and problem solving are key competencies of future teachers and their students. The main objective of this EUPeace funded project is to offer a response to the limitations of teacher training for inclusive education, usually relegated to specific courses of the academic syllabus rather than offering a transversal and global perspective in inclusivity likely to be experienced in any subject of the degree (WP2). To do this, student teachers will develop a collective writing task aimed at creating children’s stories in English based on inclusivity. The task can be developed virtually through digital tools, including hybrid online/face-to-face international meetings at the different stages. As a result of the experience, student teachers and their professors will collaboratively create digital stories in English, based on the School4All Concept (WP3). The experience will result in a collection of e-Books on inclusivity likely to be used at schools to promote the pedagogical integration of digital, cognitive and social skills necessary to face the challenges of the 2030 Agenda and the comprehensive training of future teachers on inclusive education.

This project is made possible through seed funding from the EUPeace Fund, an initial incentive launched to cultivate and develop interest across EUPeace communities in our network; by providing a first format for collaboration, the Fund equips participating researchers, educators, students and administrators with a practical tool for experimentation and active participation, employing a bottom-up approach that generates concrete information on the interests and needs of our communities and informs future collaborative initiatives.

EUPeace Fund

Project Team

Magdalena Custodio Espinar
Sandrine Simon
Leslie Amiot
Vaclav Stacke

Project Results

Empowering Future Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms

Teachers play a key role in building fairer schools where diversity is embraced. That’s why the EUPeace alliance is fostering projects like the “Story Telling for Inclusive Education” STIE Project, that promote the development of key skills such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving in student teachers.

Through this EUPeace-funded project, we have tackled a major challenge: inclusive education is often limited to isolated courses in teacher training. Our goal? To make inclusivity a cross-cutting theme across the entire curriculum and a transversal competence in the academic programs of the Education degrees.

How? In the Story Telling for Inclusive Education (STIE) Project…

Student teachers have been working together on a creative mission: writing children’s stories in English that celebrate inclusion. A powerful way to learn, share, and shape the classrooms of tomorrow.
The task was developed virtually using digital tools and included hybrid international meetings—both online and face-to-face—at different stages. As part of the process, student teachers and their professors co-created digital stories based on the School4All Concept.
They shared their stories and provided feedback using a checklist for peer-assessment. Spanish students gave feedback to their French and Czech counterparts; Frech students to Spanish and Czech ones; and Czeck ones to their Spanish and French student teachers resulting in an extremely rewarding international learning experience.

One of the most exciting parts of the project was seeing how student teachers brought their own cultures and values into the stories. From local traditions to everyday life experiences, each tale reflected something unique about their country. It was amazing to see how inclusion could be told through so many different cultural lenses—making the stories not only meaningful for kids at home, but also eye-opening for readers around the world. The result? A rich mix of perspectives that celebrated diversity in a truly creative way.

The outcome was a collection of eBooks on inclusivity, designed to be used in schools to promote the integration of digital, cognitive, and social skills. These eBooks that support the goals of the 2030 Agenda have contributed to the comprehensive training of future teachers in inclusive education and to the development of their intercultural competence.