Five steps to tolerance. A programme for students in secondary vocational education

February witnessed the inauguration of the first phase of a programme focusing on social identity and the bases of social planning. The meeting followed an interactive format where each one of the participants was able to reflect upon themselves as a part of society, on their needs, considering the values and the rules important to their social group, as well as come to a conclusion on the possibilities of dialogue in conflicts between entrenched positions.

The practical response to the question of how the students wished to see this world, took the form of creating the foundations for social projects capable of being realised in educational institutions by their very own efforts as representatives of the active student body in colleges from various Moscow districts. The first phase of the programme was attended by over 400 students from 35 colleges.

The programme continued in March – participants making the second “step to tolerance,” during which they gave careful consideration to the structure of an effective project team, and underwent an immersion process in the work on social projects.

The third module of the programme was held in April, covering the acceptance of people with different physical capabilities, and focused on the understanding of the concrete aims involved in the realisation of social projects.

The fourth “step to tolerance” was devoted to the perceptual peculiarities of people around us from different cultures (ethnically and otherwise), as well as the necessary resource base for bringing social projects to life whose aims are significant and relevant, both within an individual college, and for Russian society as a whole.

The programme was brought to its conclusion on the 3rd June with the presentation and defence of the social projects that had been devised and a formal ceremony presenting awards to the ten best proposals. A continuation to the programme is planned for the coming academic year.