Year: 2016
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Managing Cultural Diversity
Some European universities are much more pro-active about internationalisation than others and I have a feeling that German universities are in general more proactive in this than HE institutions in other EU countries. The Managing Cultural Diversity seminar which I have just returned from is just one prong in a palette of events and opportunities…
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Sustainable home-based business
Many use their household skills as the basis for a home-based business. It could be a Bed and Breakfast, with or without AirBnB. It could be the manufacture and sale of country food grown on their own land. It could also be a farm market or a small cafe in a little ceramics gallery. This…
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Using games in conflict resolution
This book caught my eye based on the title alone “The Big Book of Conflict Resolution Games: Quick, Effective Activities to Improve Communication, Trust and Collaboration” (Big Book Series) by Mary Scannell. The book is not aimed at the adult education sector nor the intercultural communication sector. So once again, I am left wondering which…
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Don’t forget the classic tools
In the last few posts I have been exploring different facets about how to resolve conflict in the diverse adult education classroom. This mainly revolves around taking the intercultural aspects into consideration such as tolerance for ambiguity and the role of the teacher (leader) in the classroom. This post is a reminder not to forget…
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Reducing ambiguity
In the last post I made a case for not only the teacher but also the students to increase their tolerance for ambiguity. I suggested the following approach: ask about and clarify when behaviours are unexpected. even better is to anticipate misunderstandings and to make as much clear from the beginning as possible. there is…
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The agony of ambiguity
One of the major intercultural competences is a tolerance for ambiguity. This means being open to different interpretations of what you observe and experience. Without awareness, we are likely to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable when people behave in unexpected ways. We are also more likely to attribute negative motivations such as They are doing this…
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Impartial justice or relationship repair?
In his book ‘The World Until Yesterday’ Jared Diamond examines conflict resolution in societies at different scales and makes the point that at small scale, conflict resolution is about relationship repair whereas in state-level societies, conflict resolution is more about formal and impartial structures of justice between strangers. He sources his examples of small scale…
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Visible thinking to reduce conflict
Seeing this wonderful video made me wonder if visible thinking routines could help to reduce conflict in the diverse adult education classroom? Visible thinking is being used to professionalise the learning process, not only for the teachers but for the students too. I am impressed to see such young students thinking at such a meta…
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Do we have a problem?
Conflict in the diverse adult classroom Discussion of conflict resolution often starts with describing the conflict. But are you confident that you can even identify when there is conflict in your classroom?
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BREXIT – no quick fixes
It is undeniable that a large part of the Leave vote in the referendum over the UK’s membership of the EU was about the perceived effects of immigration. It did no good to argue that it is globalisation and the current government’s austerity policies that lead to the under-funding of public services and stagnating wages…