16th and 17th May 2022, the Heidelberg University of Education (PH) invited students from Greece, Austria, Turkey and Germany to two digital encounter days as part of the PH-led EU project "Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for Common Values in Diversity". The event was aimed at international multipliers in the field of education as well as student teachers in the fields of religion, ethics and philosophy.
"Our goal is to bring different worldviews into conversation with each other transnationally, across religions and worldviews, as well as across subjects. We want to get students with different views to meet each other respectfully and with interest,” explains project coordinator Prof. Dr. Katja Boehme about the goal of the Erasmus+ funded project "Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for Common Values in Diversity". Democracy thrives on debate and thus on the exchange of people with different worldviews in mutual appreciation and respect, she continues. In a pluralistic society, citizens must be equipped with the ability to conduct a fair dialogue with mutual respect, even with sometimes very different world views. The ideal place to teach these communication skills is at school, which is why the project "Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for Common Values in Diversity" aims at teacher training.
The study days on May 16 and 17 were a first milestone in the project. Over 100 interested multipliers and more than 170 students from different countries participated. In parallel online meetings on both days between 1:00 and 6:00 p.m., multipliers and students were able to exchange ideas with each other on the topics "Who is the human?" and "Vision of a better world."