Mobile Ethical Laboratory - Global Hospitality

Five education institutions, ranging from primary schools to universities and one SME collaborate on a project aiming to improve inclusion in classrooms making students feel at home.
The partners are from Belgium, Romania and Denmark and the project is funded by Erasmus+.

Funded by Erasmus+

The Mobile Ethical Laboratory

Erasmus+

Global hospitality

Studies show that an increasing number of students of all ages feel lonely and like they do not belong.
The Mobile Ethical Laboratory (MEL) project explores how to make students feel at home in the classroom, using an experimental approach of desk- and case studies.

Primary schools have a strong tradition of focusing on inclusion and making sure that all students feel at home. However, students at higher education levels often do not experience the same level of support and care for their social wellbeing.
Schools in different countries have different approaches for supporting their students socially, but they share the assumption that the older students do not need any assistance finding their position in the social classroom. 

The MEL project explores the different methods in the three partner countries and connects them into a toolbox, that the educator can use to make students of all ages feel at home in their classroom. 

Tool Box: Materials for download and Results

Events

  • Final Symposium at Wednesday the 10th of May 2022 from 12.00 – 17.00 at VIA University College in Holstebro, Denmark. 

    Discover hospitality and how to create a welcoming professional environment.  

    We are delighted to invite you to the closing symposium of The Mobile Ethical Laboratory project. The symposium will present outputs and perspectives from the project and hands on experiences.

    Find the program here (pdf)

    Watch the video here

  • Multiplier Event at Saturday the 19th of March 2022 at Art’Ed in Durãu, Rumania. 

    Multiplier Event is for teachers, nurses and preschool teachers from all of Europe. You can participate in person or online.

    If you are interested in participating please contact Ciprian Cobzariu on the following email:
    E: ciprian@arted.ro

    Look for more information about Art’Ed on this link: https://www.arted.ro/

  • Programme: Transnational Meeting in VIA Campus Holstebro

    Watch the video form the meeting here 

    Monday the 7th:

    10.00 – 11.00 Hello and welcome

    • Introduction to the days and how to do with the bag of ’birdseeds’ Susanne and Heidi

    11.00 – 11.30 Presentations about toolbox  - Heidi and Louise

    11.30 – 12.30 Thinking break about the toolbox - without screen and eat lunch

    12.30 - 13.30 Break out room – nationally -  focus on toolbox

    • B1 Rumania
    • B2 Belgium
    • B3 Tvis
    • B4 VIA

    13.30 - 15.30 work on your own actioncard and template according to your IO.

    15.30 – 16.00   Summary of the day and See Ya tomorrow – remember a phone or camera for tomorrow

    Tuesday the 8th

    09.00 – 10.00 Selfie event – upload to padlet:

    10.00 – 11.00 Working with material in padlet and online – action cards and template – breakout room - toolbox

    • B1 Stephanie – Heidi – Ciprian - Helle
    • B2 Solveig – Tamara – Anne
    • B3 Susanne – Elena – Liselotte
    • B4 Louise – Simona – Carsten 

    11.00 – 11.30 Lunch

    12.30 – 13.00 Presentations about podcast v Heidi and Anne - toolbox

    13.00 – 16. 00 Prepare for podcast

    Wednesday the 9th

    09.00 – 10.00 Licorice eating competition

    10.00 – 12.00 Play mentalisation game - toolbox

    • B1 Stephanie – Solveig – Susanne – Simona
    • B2 Louise – Elena – Tamara – Helle – Ciprian
    • B3 Carsten – Anne – Liselotte – Heidi

    12.00 – 12.30 Lunch

    12.30 – 14.00 Record the podcast and goodbye – see ya in Durau. - toolbox

     

     

About the project

  • The scoping review provides an overview of relevant research on the topic of Exposure methods.

    Through all the different perspectives and definitions, the literature points out, that exposure is coherent to aesthetic performance such as drama. Exposure connects with aesthetics and aesthetics relates close to ethics.

    Applied aesthetics is a kind of practical ethics and emerges in education disguised in different exposures, where both the student and the teacher see themselves and each other in a new way. It is evident that methodologies connected to exposure have a significant impact on people involved.

    The key to using exposure methods in education will be who they both are, what they do, what they are willing to change and how they can expose their vulnerability. 

  • The scoping review provides an overview of relevant research on the topic of hospitality. We go back in time to discover the meaning of hospitality through ages and cultures.

    Through all the different perspectives and definitions, we note one common aspect: hospitality can only happen when there is an encounter between – at least – two people. The generous and altruistic way people will be welcomed is the core of hospitality, but there are many different elements, which have an influence on this reception. 

    We also discover the Mood Maker Hospitality Model of Hokkeling and explore five core elements that influence hospitality: the guest, the host, the company, the service and the experience of hospitality. We go deeper into the meaning of hospitality for education and find out that in education the teacher and the way they act, is more determinative for the experience of hospitality than the lessons they teach or the design of the classroom.

    The key to develop hospitality in education will be in the symmetric relationship between the teacher and the student: who they both are, what they do and how they can expose their vulnerability. 

  • In choosing the methods highlighted in this research we started from the idea of hospitality seen as a sum of several socio-emotional skills (flexibility, adaptability, empathy, care, friendship, communication, etc.), which from our perspective are important elements when training a person to be a teacher.

    We believe that with these skills, you can build a safe space where everyone feels welcome and safe, and these feelings increase motivation for work and learning for students and teachers alike.

    This research aims to demonstrate that the weekly practice of exposure methods proposed and applied by teachers of Ferdinand I School in Romania ensures the development and consolidation of social-relational skills that underlie hospitality.

  • What does hospitality mean to our teachers? How can we support teachers to further develop a hospitable school?

    We are going to get the answer to these questions by exposing a test group to situations where hospitality is discussed from different angles.

    Through these exposures, the teachers of the test group will hold up a mirror to themselves and be confronted with the positive things and the work points that are currently present.

    After each exposure, we will reflect thoroughly in order to arrive at tools that can help the entire school team make the school environment more hospitable in the future.

  • When students start their education, they are often divided into study groups.

    These groups lays the foundation for not only the academic work in the semester, but more often than not also the social composition in the classroom.

    The life of and in the study group is therefore very important and problems in the study group, or problems finding a study group, is often the cause of great despair for the student.

    The case study investigates the possibilities for teachers to help, to mediate, to rescue the study groups when they run into trouble. The ‘catch 22’ in the situation is that the students are adults and therefore are expected to fend for themselves.

    However, at the same time, they are also students in a vulnerable situation where they are learning and developing, and therefore do not always have the excess energy to accept each other all the time and when “the going gets tough’.

    The case study is based on focus group interviews with students and staff. Our method of discussions and investigations are based on Forum Play inspired by theatre practitioner, drama theorist, and political activist Augusto Boal.  

  • Case study 4 focuses on educators’ ability to mentalise when welcoming new students at the start of the semester.

    The aim of the case study is to invent/produce/generate an exposure method, which can make educators aware of and able to reflect on the feelings and defence mechanisms that might occur in the interaction between educators and new students.

    The case study is performed in cooperation between educators at the school of social education, and the school of nursing. In an iterative process, data is collected via observational studies and interviews, and analyzed over six months.

  • Case study 5 examines how teachers can support and facilitate the cultural encounter between students who before 8th grade have attended three different schools.

    We have researched what it means to be in "The World's Best Class" and launched new initiatives that build on exposures tested at the Ferdinand School in Bucharest.

    All teachers who is affiliated with the students in the 8th grade are involved, but it is the students who have the main role in defining what it takes to have the world's best class in teaching, in the free time and as a class community in leisure time.

    Our study currently indicates that it is important, that it is educators who facilitate this process. Right now, the work is continuing on how the teacher can support the class community on social media.

    The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has made this study more accessible, as restrictions and homeschooling have been a basic condition in Denmark.

    The study shows that there are both advantages and disadvantages associated with working with classroom dynamics and social community on social media. We have launched various initiatives, which will be presented in the project's tool box in 2022. 

  • We present a comprehensive overview of what the inclusive oriented environment within schools really mean. A major focus is on mapping the common understanding of two major issues:

    1. What are the most common emerging kinds of creative and innovative exposure methods used by educators at all levels? 
    2. What are its links to pedagogy and establishing a common understanding on the concept of hospitability in education? 

     

  • When learning about hospitality in their classrooms, teachers need strong and concrete examples to lean on. Our answer to this is a video, which will be a strong support instrument in the toolbox.

    We will film the different ways to approach the other and make them feel comfortable in the ArtEd Camp and in The Ferdinand School.

    Our hope is that teachers can find support and inspiration in the video to develop their own approaches. 

     

  • The toolbox is the major tangible output of the project. It will contain a guideline which explains the idea of the project, a methodology handbook and a sampling of topic cards.

    All elements in the toolbox will offer a guide and a methodology for establishing a hospitable and inclusive environment.

     

mel

The Mobile Ethical Laboratory

University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

Read about University of Bucarest
Scolar

Inspectoratul Scolar

Read about Scoala Ferdinand