The iLEGEND III seminar “Reinforcing competences of education practitioners to manage intercultural and interfaith dialogue” provides a space for fifty participants from over thirty countries to analyse and discuss the latest developments shaping intercultural and interreligious dialogue in the education sector, the challenges and skills required to implement it.

Nowadays, we continue to experience distrust and fear among communities, hate crimes, intolerance based on religion or beliefs, and prejudice. Yet most teachers and educators do not feel prepared when it comes to address cultural and religious diversity at school. The lack of such competences is a factor in detaching learners from their community of peers and, at the collective level, in preventing peaceful coexistence.

The seminar provides expert contributions, followed by interactive exchanges aimed at identifying good examples of practices in the educational context. This one-day event aims to open the debate and suggest possible actions, either for practitioners and policy makers, to work for tolerance and quality education for all.

The Thematic Seminar is part of iLEGEND III: Intercultural Learning Exchange through Global Education, Networking and Dialogue (2023-2026), a Joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe: co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. The overall objective of the project is to increase the active engagement of EU member States, candidate and potential candidate countries’ citizens (in particular young people) in safeguarding sustainable development and confronting global challenges and inequalities at local and global level.

Contributing to the same issue, an online training course on global education and intercultural/interfaith dialogue will be launched this year for education practitioners, media professionals and faith-based organisations.

 Read the concept note of the thematic seminar.