The SHARMED project: the promotion of dialogic intercultural learning in the classroom

This chapter discusses findings from the SHARMED (Shared Memories and Dialogue) project. SHARMED was a project to implement pedagogical innovation funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, designed and delivered by the University of Suffolk (UK), the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) and Universität Jena (Germany) between 2016 and 2018.
SHARMED aims were: 1) promoting new experiences of education, with specific consideration for respect of promotion of intercultural dialogue; 2) fostering equity in participants’ contributions to classroom interaction; 3) enhancement of new experiences of education in European schools and settings, responding to the need to innovate traditional ways of dealing with different perspectives, which is particularly felt in some contexts (Farini, 2019).
The SHARMED project was based on the use of workshops to facilitate children aged 8-13 years in producing and sharing narratives related to personal memories. SHARMED involved 48 classes in Germany, Italy and UK. In SHARMED workshops, children were invited to bring photographs related to their memories and shared narratives of those memories. The promotion of children’s authorship of narratives was based on facilitation as a methodology to enhance empowerment and recognition of children’s contributions.