Classrooms are places which accommodate learners from different cultural and social backgrounds, thereby contributing to a rich diversity where everyone can learn from each other. Often, however, we tend to forget to cherish the diversity which we encounter in our immediate surroundings.

Expectations deriving from curricula, teachers’ workload and numerous activities happening within the school and classroom, shift our attention and, quite frequently, educators take for granted the differences that exist among students. Additionally, instead of celebrating differences that exist among us and transferring this perspective to our students, the tendency is to ignore them. In turn, the discourse in our classrooms becomes the setting for where prejudices, biased and intolerant attitudes become the norm.

In order to transform our classrooms into a rich learning environment, this training unit invites teachers and teacher trainers to reflect on the topic of exclusion and celebration of diversity as two opposing forces. Participating teachers who implement this unit, developed within the Pestalozzi Programme, are involved in exploring these concepts through practical activities such as miming, role-play, drama and problem solving; experiencing at first hand the importance of cultural and social diversity in the classroom. As teachers become more aware and open towards accepting otherness, they learn to appreciate and promote diversity in their own context and with their own learners.

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To cite this resource:  Sezgin, H. (2012). The Black Sheep.  In Council of Europe Pestalozzi Programme Training Units.