Belgium Flanders: More and better guidance needed for mobility students

In 2006, a study  directed at young people by JINT - a Flemish organisation working on the internationalization of youth work - revealed that support and guidance during and after mobility was lacking.

Analysis of the results shows that young people were in need of more help with project management, intercultural learning and practical preparation. Also the need for evaluation, exchange of experiences and possibilities to build on the mobility experience was emphasised.

Those who received support and guidance during and after the mobility experience were satisfied and found this support very useful. Guidance support during and after mobility is not common practice however.

'Colourful Flanders'

In 2007 a new study  was commissioned by the cooperation platform for mobility in Flanders called ‘Colourful Flanders’ of which Euroguidance Flanders is a member. The aim of this study was to investigate how organisations dealing with mobility for young people are organising support and guidance before, during and after mobility.

Although this study, just like the previous one, focussed primarily on young people studying, working and doing voluntary work in third world countries, there are also interesting conclusions relating to mobility in Europe. One of the important main outcomes is that guidance before, during and after mobility is a broken and fragmented process.

In most cases support during the stay is only available if the young person has a problem. Some reflection is needed to see how this support can be best organised and delivered, the following elements can contribute to this thinking.

Monitoring and evaluation can play an important role in detecting problems, and helping young people to reflect and change their behaviour and attitudes. Modern ICT can be used here in the form of blogs, internet diaries. Also the use of Skype or MSN can help to bridge the distance between the youngsters and those at home.

Self-assessment instruments will help young people to map for themselves their own competences, growth and intercultural learning during the stay abroad.

Support during the stay abroad should be directed to learn from any crisis which may take place during the stay. Conflicts and crisis could be seen as positive challenges if faced by the young person, rather not avoided. 

In most cases the support of the ‘significant other’ or ‘peer group’ is crucial in dealing with crisis.

Masking culture shock

Practical problems can mask deeper problems like homesickness, cultural shock. Culture shock is an important concept to introduce because if the problems that students experience overseas stem from their difficulties in adapting to the new culture, then the pre-departure preparation has the potential to give students the skills to handle these new challenges in advance.

Qualitative monitoring and evaluation should not only map all problems, but also stimulate reflection, and attitude or behavioural change.

Knowledge of and competence in the foreign language also helps with cultural adaption.

More follow up

The follow-up of the mobility experience is often neglected; the following thoughts could help us to give more attention to this.

Attention should be given to get rid of reversion (when the other culture is praised to the skies in relation to one’s own culture) and duality (polarisation of cultural differences) on the one hand, and dealing with liminality on the other hand. This means that young person coming home after a stay abroad can indicate not feeling at home neither in the home-culture nor the foreign culture: this should be transformed towards a form of ‘world citizenship’.

Some young people do experience a (reverse) culture shock when coming home, and need to adapt to there own culture and society again.

Young people should also get the occasion to tell their story and exchange experiences with others, and reflect on what they have learned. What does the stay abroad mean in the life of the young person? What are the opportunities and challenges for lifelong learning and one’s place on the labour market? Which competences have been acquired? Again, the above mentioned self-assessment instruments can be used in this context in order to ‘measure’ and make young people ‘aware’ of progress made in intercultural sensitivity, languages, learning styles.

The evaluation could be repeated a couple of months later as the young people will be more objective about their experience. At the same time they get an opportunity to tell their story again.
 
Those young people and their rich experiences can play an important role in the preparation of mobility experiences of others (peer learning). This can help to give new participants a more realistic view about going abroad. The whole process is not linear but a continuous circular effort for all those involved in mobility. The follow-up of the mobility experience should be set out in the preparation phase with the motto: Start early, mention often!

Theoretical background

The study is based on sound theoretical backgrounds, like the ‘Concentric-Circles approach’ by Rohrlich  which helps the reader to get an insight in priorities like the fact that practical information linked to travel, food, health, shelter, sleep, safety and hygiene toilet facilities must be met first before the next rings of needs like privacy, personal growth, etc. should be addressed.

Also the ‘Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity’ (DMIS) of Intercultural communications developed by professor Milton Bennett is another useful and interesting concept that can help counsellors to better prepare young people for mobility. The DMIS provides a structure for understanding how people experience cultural differences.

Six stages of perspectives describe how a person sees, thinks about, and interprets events happening around them from an intercultural-difference perspective. Since DMIS indicates what a person sees and thinks, it also suggests what they do not see or think. DMIS, therefore, highlights how a person’s cultural patterns both guide and limit their experience of cultural difference.

Briefly, some characteristics of each stage are:
•    Denial. Being comfortable with the familiar. Not anxious to complicate life with ‘cultural differences’. Not noticing much cultural difference around you. Maintaining separation from others who are different.
•    Defence. A strong commitment to one’s own thoughts and feelings about culture and cultural difference. Some distrust of cultural behaviour or ideas that differ from one’s own. Aware of other cultures around you, but with a relatively incomplete understanding of them and probably fairly strong negative feelings or stereotypes about some of them.
•    Reversal is the opposite of Defence. The person feels that some other culture is better and tends to exhibit distrust of their own culture.
•    Minimization. People from other cultures are pretty much like you, under the surface. Awareness that other cultures exist all around you, with some knowledge about differences in customs and celebrations. Not putting down other cultures. Treating other people as you would like to be treated.
•    Acceptance. Aware of your own culture(s). See your own culture as just one of many ways of experiencing the world. Understanding that people from other cultures are as complex as you. Their ideas, feelings, and behaviour may seem unusual, but you realize that their experience is just as rich as your own. Being curious about other cultures. Seeking opportunities to learn more about them.
•    Adaptation. Recognizing the value of having more than one cultural perspective available to you. Able to ‘take the perspective’ of another culture to understand or evaluate situations in either your own or another culture. Able to intentionally change your culturally based behaviour to act in culturally appropriate ways outside your own culture.
•    Integration. To varying extents, have integrated more than one cultural perspective, mindset, and behaviour into one’s identity and worldview. Able to move easily among cultures.

Read more on DMIS

All cultures equal or ‘mine’ is the best

The first three stages are considered ‘ethno-centric’ in that one’s own culture is seen as the only culture or to varying extents the ‘better’ culture.

The last three stages are considered ‘ethno-relative’ in that one’s own culture is seen as equal to many other cultures.

The ethno-relative stages are characterized by a positive mindset about cultural difference. These stages are indicative of a person who will tend to make more inclusive decisions.

The DMIS approach gives us an insight on the different phases during a stay abroad towards a more complex approach of cultural differences. It is important to pay attention to these different phases during the preparation, during the stay and during the follow-up.

Nearly 200 participants attended a conference in Brussels on the 4th of March 2008, where the results of the study where presented and discussed. This generated a lot of enthusiasm among participants, on which the platform ‘Colourful Flanders’ wants to build further actions for improving mobility for young people. Thanks to carefully planned media coverage in newspapers, radio and television, the study and the conference were also helpful in pushing mobility on the political agenda in Flanders.

Jef Vanraepenbusch
Euroguidance Flanders

Sources:

Bennett, M.J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity.
In M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Bracke, C., (2008) Onderzoek naar de omkadering voor Vlaamse jongeren die naar het zuiden trekken. In opdracht van het platform Kleurrijk Vlaanderen. Brussel.

Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity:
http://www.mdbgroupinc.com/dmis_background.htm

JINT (2006) Onderzoek Noden en Behoeften Mondiale Jongerenprojecten. Brussel: JINT  
 
Rohrlich, B. (1993) ‘Expecting the Worst (or the best!). What Exchange Programs Should Know about Student Expectations’, Occasional Papers in Intercultural Learning, number 16.