MERLIN – Storytelling as Life-long Learning
Storytelling should get reactivated as artistic, cultural and educational strength for adult learners. The discovery and reconstruction of stories makes one part of it, furthermore finding new methods to use them in learning processes is as important and challenging, too.
Aims:
The main aim is to use storytelling as a tool for life-wide learning.
- To use storytelling as a tool to explore cultural identity and awareness and to facilitate the growth of personal development
- To make the organizations get involved in an attractive destination of dymanic cultural growth, where people may explore their roots.
- The project will also attempt to use storytelling as a vehicle for promoting understanding and co-operation on local and global level.
- To use stories to enlarge knowledge and investigate new methods of storytelling.
Results:
- Collected stories and methods to create stories published via internet
- Music, theater and creative writing events
- Documentation of the project as a tv-program and/or video clips and photographs
- Exchanging experiences and effective practices concerning storytelling as a tool for adult education
The learning process should help people to find a way to experience their creativity and personal identity. It should sp`read knowledge and methods of storytelling in the ways that people’s own point of view will be heard and taken into consideration.
Activities
Meeting in Finland
The meeting was held in Helsinki from 12-15 February 2006. The meeting was attended by Finland, Denmark, Lithuania and Cyprus. Great Britain withdrew from the program. Hungary joined in as a new partner. During this meeting the partners had the opportunity to present the programs that they organized within their activities for Merlin.
Finland is represented by the Oy Yleisradio Ab, Draaman οsaamiskeskus (Finnish Broadcasting Company, Drama Dept.) and by Adulta/Arto, Radio-ja tv opisto (Adult Learning Centre). Finland had organized an event with a lot of different speakers with the title “What kind of story Europe writes about itself?”
The Danish are represented by AOF Svendborg Daghoejskole (Adult Learning Center). Denmark organized an event with a professional storyteller (Mrs Dorte Futtrup).
Cyprus is represented by the Cyprus Sociological Association. Cyprus’ event took place in Nicosia and was called “Scientific intervention in the Mass Media”
Lithuanians are represented by Zaidimu Teatras (Theatre).
During this meeting the partners decided that Finland, as the coordinator will design a webpage so that every country with an activity will be able to upload it for dissemination purposes.
The partners also decided to print a leaflet in English presenting each organization from each country and the activities they were already involved in. Each partner is responsible to send the description of the organization s/he is representing. The draft of the leaflet will be presented during the next meeting. This leaflet will include the various activities.
These are:
- Re-activating storytelling towards cultural integration
- Training
- Training and media, academic institutions or associations
- There were also suggestions as to the workshop activities to be organized for the forthcoming events:
- Presenting the methods
- Results
- Demonstrating the use of storytelling
- Breaking the barriers between audience and performers
It was also decided that the next meetings will be organized in different countries as follows:
- Lithuania 14-17 Sept. 2006
- Cyprus 25-28 Jan. 2007
- Hungary 26-29 April 2007
The meeting also included a tour hosted by the Finnish coordinator at one of the biggest television broadcasting corporations in Finland where the partners had the chance to visit the studios and see how filming was done for some of the popular series in Finland.
Meeting in Svendborg-Denmark
As a follow up of the activities during the Merlin Program, the Cyprus Sociological Association decided to organize a meeting with the Danish partners, in order to be able to learn from the activities of AOF Svendborg Daghoejskole. The meeting was held in Svendborg from 17 – 22 July 2006. Τhe Association was represented by Tatiana Zachariadou, Vice President, and Sofoclis Sofocleous, member, in July 2006.
During their stay in Denmark our representatives had the opportunity to visit AOF (Adult Learning Center), where they were hosted and toured by our partners. They had the opportunity to learn about the diverse activities of AOF addressed to their different target groups in order to assist them in matters related to social inclusion.
The target groups consist of the following:
Section 1: the target group is unemployed people who come to AOF to acquire a qualification in order to find a job. They learn how to write a CV and are introduced to employers so as to discuss possible work opportunities. AOF helps them negotiate the terms of employment and secure that they will stay at a job. Unemployed individuals can benefit from the services of the AOF for one year. If they do not succeed to get a job within the year and remain unemployed they are referred to the Social Welfare Services
Section 2: the target group of this section is mainly illiterate immigrants who want to learn how to read and write
Section 3: this section is for immigrants and poor people who want to learn a language and some other skills. This organization gives the opportunity to people to become functional in their society and avoid being dependent on the Social Welfare Services.
In the case of the above target groups this Grundtvig program’s application is on how story telling can be utilized in new methods of teaching underprivileged groups (e.g. unemployed, immigrants) that could prove more effective.
This experience gained from the Danish application of the program is very interesting from a sociological point of view, since social inclusion is one of the major interests of Sociology as a discipline.
During the Svendborg-Denmark meeting the representatives were also briefed as regards the role of sociologists in the Danish mass media. This was of special comparative interest, because it connects with the dimension that the Cyprus Sociological Association focused on. It seems that in Denmark media interventions by well-known sociologists have led to changes in respective social policies and have given the opportunity, by expressing an opinion through the Mass Media, to alter policy on social issues.
The Participation of Cyprus Sociological Association
It is a prevalent view that in most cases in which crucial social problems (youth delinquency, violence in schools, violence in the family, increases in the divorce rate, racist behaviour etc.) come up for public discussion the public sphere is dominated by views from non-specialists, who construct an image of reality that does not correspond to social realities. As a consequence, public opinion gets disoriented as regards the substance and the real cause of social problems, often leading to the creation of “moral panics”.
Acknowledging this state of affairs, the Cyprus Sociological Association thought of organizing of a workshop, with the aim of offering its members the necessary knowledge and skills for Mass Media interventions, regarding current social issues. The workshop was organized on Saturday, 21st January 2006 at Intercollege, within the context CSA’s participation in the European Program Socrates / Grundtvig Action. The initiative belonged to Chrysanthos Chrysanthou, journalist and member of the Association (holder of a PhD in Sociology, with a major Mass Media)
Part A
In this part Chrysanthos Chrysanthou presented the topic “Mass Media intervention by Sociologists”. The focus of the presentation was on the description of Merlin – Storytelling as Lifelong Learning program (identity and aims).
Then the issue of the power of the Mass Media in modern society was examined focusing on construction of news and the forming of opinion, as well as the impact of media on individuals.
More specifically the following were covered:
- Who speaks and whose voices are heard through the mass media?
- Which factors influence the mass media in structuring their agenda?
- What are the criteria used by the mass media in evaluating the data to be included in their agenda as news or reportage?
- In which ways can somebody claim time and space in the Mass Media in today’s highly competitive environment?
- What are the basic competences of story-telling in the Mass Media?
During the presentation there was reference to the theory of the functions of mass media in relation to their information potential, and on the way the mass media present news and facts, influencing society’s coherence and creating “moral panics”. The role of the sociologist in this process can be vital in providing a more critical perspective through media intervention.
Within this framework, some guidelines were proposed as to how a sociologist may intervene through Mass Media. More specifically the methods a sociologist possesses which s/he may utilize in this direction are the following:
Knowledge: Social scientific research (in Cyprus and internationally), scientifically validated positions, tested policies, practical experiences etc.
Views: Evaluation of social phenomena problems and the effectiveness of social policies (on the basis of existing knowledge)
Questions: questioning prevailing views, so as to prevent social panics, or calls for more intense social control leading to the boosting of social conservatism
Means of Media intervention:
- Press Conferences
- Press Releases
- Interviews
- Articles – commentaries
- Reportage
- Letters to editor
- Phone interventions etc.
After the presentation the workshop focused on how each of the above means can be used. Finally there was a briefing on how one can ensure that critical perspectives/views will be broadcasted by the Mass Media.
Part B
Initially there was a discussion during which participants cited their personal experiences of mass media intervention. Some members shared their past experiences of how they successfully managed to intervene via local mass media that can be used for mass media intervention.
Following there was an attempt to consider the practical implementation of the methods presented in the first part. Participants were divided into six 2-member groups, where they assumed the role of journalist and interviewee in succession.
Particular issues were covered using the story-telling method, focusing on the personal experiences of the sociologists participating, drawing mainly from their personal work or from the research they conducted. The following specific issues were covered:
Katerina Kokkinou: Family – Single-parent families
Spyros Christou: Sociology of Religion
Katerina Christodoulou: Substance use and KENTHEA (Centre of Multiple Approach of the Centre for Education about Drugs and Treatment of Drug Addicted Persons)
Christina Loizou: Football Violence
Chrystalla Charalambous: Cyprus Welfare Council
Marina Payiatsou: Problems faced by the mentally retarded persons in Cyprus
Sofocles Sofocleous: Football Violence
Constantinos Constantinou: Organ Transplants in Cypriot Society
Eftychia Demetriou: Substance Use: The role of KENTHEA
Stalo Petridou: Youth Delinquency
Maria Christodoulou: Ways of approaching the public by the Cyprus Police
Finally at the end of the process there was a short summation of the issues covered, as well as an evaluation by Chrysanthos Chrysanthou, who commented on the positive and negative outcomes of the particular storytelling process, and on its potential for media intervention, as well as on the weaknesses that story telling presented.
