Migrants and Practitioners united in a Flipped Classroom. An Interethnic Communication Path for Individual and Community Well-Being

Abstract

Background. A pilot-training experience focused on the integration of migrants from African coasts in Sicily (South Italy). Specifically, the challenge was to increase awareness of the need to obtain a variety of flexible skills among people who work in the context of the delicate and complex area of migration and multi-cultural community needs. Methods. The methodological choice of the Flipped classroom allows an enhancement of practitioner awareness (pedagogists and psychologists) about migration, enrolled on the course above mentioned which took place in Palermo (Sicily) in 2021. Results. The authors focused on migrants, who, together with teachers, ran all the sessions of the project and had different responsibilities. They had the strategic role of conductors, interviewers, storytellers, witnesses, cross cultural mediators who interfaced with locals participants to widen their horizons in respect of otherness. Conclusions. The training course highlighted the challenges still to be faced in order to improve future training interventions within the pedagogical methodology of an inverted classroom aimed at migratory contexts. In this sense, a proposal for an intercultural training package is presented, currently unique in Italy, which could be adopted internationally due to its structure and organizational flexibility