Baraldi Research 2008
IVC Summary on Baraldi Research 2008
Theoretical Notes
Monologue: one-sided discussion, a speaker talks and the interlocutors listen.
Empowering dialogue: parts create the opportunity to contribute and show positive involvement.
Conflict management techniques:
• Mediation - transforming the uncertain produced by refusals into opportunity to change the social system, avoiding judgments.
• Prevention - providing conditions for the absence of conflicts
• Avoidance - contradictions with no consequences
In standard education systems children are nor creative nor able to construct meanings and they lives as determined by curricular and behavioral rules. Recently the mainstream of culture of childhood has place particular emphasis on children self realization, in particular the promotion of children's active participation, self expression e self determination. This seems to be possible with empowering dialogue.
Intercultural education consist into teaching children to accept cultural diversity (so integrating minorities and convincing the majority to accept them), promoting success full communication. It is reciprocal learning, creating multicultural citizenship. This creates the problem of choosing between conservation of culture and creation of a "third culture": the shaping of mixed cultural identities is contradicted by the necessity of maintain individualism. Specific techniques include: illustration of cultural habits, narration of cultural stories, non native narratives, theatre and recitation, parties with ethnic dancing, food etc.
CISV Camps Research Overview
The research, which is based on the observation of the CISV experiences, excluding all the informal moment, for practical and privacy reasons.
The camps attempt to construct an ideal intercultural community (WE IDENTITY) which is protected by the risk of destabilization represented by conflicts, closing them as quickly as possible. The only place in which cultural differences can be shown is the "cultural/national" nights. This approach constitutes a success factor in terms of participants’ feelings. Is interesting how the background of the children is so similar that their similar socio-economic origin makes no difference into making a friend from different countries, as they were of the same (children found easy to interact). With the exception of Asian delegations, which have trouble especially because of English and lack of training. In this environment there are fewer conflicts than in normal life. The solutions usually involve adults, preventing direct confrontation.
The observation showed us some interesting points about adults’ behavior:
• Adults consider success in camps by observing the acceptance or adaptation of different cultures to certain aspects of Western culture;
• The adults find difficult to consider the autonomy of children;
• Among adults more conflicts arises than within children, especially between leaders and staff about roles expectations;
• Adult males are more mono-logical. In general adults in CISV are more dialogical than outside world.
The data collected in questionnaires show little change in the opinion about personal differences after the experience.
Leaders Meetings
The analysis focuses on the presentation of activities and the discussion of problems. There are several ways are uses to open up participation:
• Ask for understanding after exposing something
• Ask for discussion on some information given
• Ask for support on a problem
The decision making is often done in a collective way, in which all participants cooperate.
Sometimes the opening turn is based on normative expectation which blocks active participation. Participation may be prevented also when promotion is substituted by assessment: the teaching attitude of experienced members often determine the drawback of other participants. Staffs often play an asymmetric part in the dialogue.
Especially in summer camps leaders are very supportive with the participants exposing their proposals.
Conflict Management among Adults
A conflict is generated in communication through contradiction, when in interaction a proposal is refused by an interlocutor. There are different types of conflicts and often concern aims and development of activities, especially between camp directors and leaders. The opening of a conflict may project forms of conflict management with include normative proposal to avoid future conflicts.
In leaders meeting there is preponderance of role conflicts, few are intercultural (food and time usage habits) and less interpersonal. Role conflicts concern parties’ performance when all parties are treated for their standardized actions. The concerns mainly arises about the organizational aspects (risk management and learning expectations) and less frequently the educations aims, some time is also the role of the leader. All conflicts are prevalently managed by the staff that imposes normative expectations and tries to promote agreements.
Conflict avoidance is frequent in leaders meeting, strategies used are:
• Ignoring the contradiction (ELUSION);
• Shifting to another topic (DIVERSION);
• Abandoning communication (WITHDRAWAL);
• Minimizing contradiction (REDUCING THE RELEVANCE OF THE CAUSES);
• Mitigating contradicting (NEGOTIATION);
• Realignment: renouncing to oppose to it.
The major forms of conflict resolution are:
• Normative: staff member proposes what is right and what is wrong;
• Coordination: negotiation of agreement which satisfies all parties involved, based on cooperation;
• Mediation: coordination of divergent position with a third person.
Village Participant-Adults Interactions
The communication has been observed in the educational activities: trust, cooperation and simulation games. There are different ways of leading activities with different consequences for the children opportunities to actively participate. Considered that traditional education stress the performance of the participants on how they should behave in some circumstances has been analyzed how adults introduce dialogic components in the interactions. The interaction in CISV is structured as educational monologues, constructed in particular kind of rituals which are repeated everyday which employs standards phrases left incomplete to elicit the children completions (example CI-SV).
The debriefing sessions, which are supposed to allow participants to gain knowledge, are the most relevant component of intentional education. Usually talks are done in turn, and leaders maintain the control of the agenda distributing talking opportunities. This creates an asymmetry in term of the access of children and adult at the resource. Leaders often use questions with candidate answers in within, somehow pre-evaluating the children. The resistance of children to these types of monologues is rare since they tend to downgrade their competence. The promotion of reflection should be in the form of empowering dialogue to allow children participation but, since empowering dialogue represent a risk for education, is avoided in debriefing, making difficult to act the creative learning. This attitude restricts the opportunity for participation in terms of timing and access.
Inter-linguistic Interactions
In CISV adults’ linguistic competences allow them to control the communicative process and direct them towards their normative and cognitive expectations. In villages, participants need systematic support and translation is often necessary to promote participation. Adults while translating often guide communication towards cognitive expectations. They are not able to promote reciprocity because of the lack of translation of children contribution, their main problem is the development of activities. In some cases adults direct their children in a normative way, without listening their contribution. During translation also adults tends to change the meaning of the original sentences for two main reasons: guiding the understanding of children or present them in a better cognitive form.
In some episode translation was lacking in order to accelerate the beginning of activities affecting so the children needs of attention to their self expression. This happen also because of the separation between the children and their leader.
Some other time the use of the respective first language is promoted to promote reflection, favor decision making or for not being understand.
As concluding remarks children who don't understand English participate only in a marginal way also because during translation not all doubts are answered. Only adults with dialogic communication also during translation promote participation to children.
Participant Assessment
The social engagement proposed to children in ambiguous since it promotes children contribution, while educating them to play a role in the society preserving universally accepted values. According to participants their self expression has been effective in free time and delegation time, but restricted during activities. The CISV experience is determined by 4 aspects:
1. Participation to activities and decision making processes;
2. Self-expression;
3. Intercultural learning;
4. Fun.
Nearly all children that knew little or no English declare they have learnt the basics or to express with greater fluency. They also declared they learn ho to make friends quickly, to open themselves, to see other as similar in spite of their differences and not to make immediate judgments.
Children expectations towards their leaders have been fulfilled. While leaders found difficult to carry out their own role (relations with children), especially the authority connected to it: which limits and rules give to children and when to ask for respect. Their educational ideal has rarely translated to practices due to their inexperience and desire to have fun, since there was an unexpected amount of work to do.
Nearly all children appreciate CISV programs because of fun and new friends. For this the most important part to them is the informal one. In villages they find boring the simpler activities to get acquaintance, while unclear the complex ones. In general they would like to repeat the experience. While there are difficulties in creating educational activities, a concrete result of the experience is to allow children to manage new emotions.
Conclusion
CISV activities are very successful among children and create great changes in their interest in reciprocal knowledge and friendship, as result of interaction and communication. Improving the communication is therefore crucial in different aspect of these experiences:
• In leaders meeting which are fundamental has been observed: low participation, hierarchical approach for staff, conflict avoidance, partial coordination ;
• In complex games and debriefing session: leaders pone themselves hierarchically, worried more about activity development than children participation, insufficient promotion of children engagement;
• Instrumental use of translations, not to improve participation. Language knowledge is very important;
• Adults mainly use monologues based on the hierarchical difference.
CISV success is much more for the WE-Identity rather then activities.