Joining Erasmus+ international youth programs is how I keep connected, exchange ideas and grow. It’s also a chance to contribute meaningfully in an international environment, putting my skills, passion and expertise in the service of fellow participants and, indirectly, the people they work with.
One of my dearest Erasmus+ projects I recently attended was developed by organiser Aouatef Khemiri (France) and trainer Ivana Host (Croatia) in partnership with Rachid Boumallassa from RPJA – Reseau Professionnel de la Jeunesse en Auvergne, France. It was a two-stage learning program for youth workers (trainers, teachers, coaches, learning facilitators) chosen from 6 different countries (Cyprus, Croatia, France, Spain, Romania and Türkiye) on the topic of developing critical thinking skills.
The program “Who? What? Where? When? Why? How – Fostering Critical Thinking in Youth” was hosted in the city of Clermont Ferrand – France (September 11-18, 2023) and Sakarya/ Sapanca – Türkiye (February 26 -March 6, 2024).
The purpose was to create a supportive learning environment of sharing knowledge and resources through nonformal learning methodology, so participants dive deep into the topic of critical thinking and develop new skills and mindsets that can be transferred later in their youth work. Another aim was to turn the two-weeks exchange of ideas and tools into a colaborative effort to build a free pocket guide with nonformal activities for educators on the topic of critical thinking.
“Thinking is hard, that’s why most people judge.” – Karl Jung
Critical topics of the program
While the first stage of the project in France focused on tacking the topic from a personal perspective, challenging us to push the boundaries of our understanding, in Türkiye the goal was to learn, build, use and share concrete tools to beef up our critical thinking skills. Combining both theoretical elements and practical activities, we were challenged with themes like:
- media literacy – from social media communication and the dangers of misinformation to identifying fake news and internet censorship
- cognitive bias and logical fallacies – identifying automatic thinking patterns
- subliminal messages – spotting symbols in public messages
- manipulation tactics – from priming, nudging and social engineering to extreme behavioural experiments (recap)
- communication – developing active listening skills and debating complex issues
- lateral thinking – training fast and slow thinking for creative problem solving
A distinctive workshop was related to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and how to detect information gaps in communication and avoid manipulation or self-sabotage by daring to ask critical questions. Considering my interest, training and experience in professional coaching with NLP, organisers invited me to run an introductory workshop on the topic for the international audience of various backgrounds and little or no previous knowledge about the subject.
First time I started learning about NLP was in 2009, 15 years ago. So, what I did for this challenging task was to get back to the roots of my studies, revisiting basic concepts, asking myself new questions and structuring technical definitions into familiar language, with examples.
Together with the organisers, we agreed people needed clear communication about NLP, especially since nowadays trustworthy online resources are rather scarce and the public discourse about the topic is mostly superficial, biased or misleading. The goal was to bring awareness about neuro-linguistic programming as a creative tool to explore how we think and invite to self-reflection.
The session started with an opening exercise outdoors, followed by an indoor presentation of basic principles of NLP. Considering the main theme of the project was critical thinking, the participants were invited to reflect and question the NLP principles, observing how they think and feel about them, how they connect to their values and beliefs individually.
Active hearing and listening was at the core of the activity, a chance to experience other types of information gathering than visual stimulation, so frequent nowadays. Then participants were introduced to the Meta-Model, a language analysis framework developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s, useful to identify language patterns and the questions that need to be asked to avoid self-sabotage or manipulation. I will write more about it in a separate article.
BUILDING BLOCKS as concrete tool to foster critical thinking.
Throughout the program, we discovered there are many tools that can be used to grow awareness, develop meta-cognition and boost critical thinking in a learning process. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is one of them. However, professional training and careful practice are required to use it properly when working at deeper level with groups or individuals.
What I find highly revealing and easy to use by any youth worker interested in fostering critical thinking skills are the building blocks.
With the generous help of a volunteer from the group, I ran a coaching demonstration to showcase how I use the tools in an individual learning session. Coaching someone with an audience takes a lot of courage and trust, especially for the client who is putting themselves out there, willing to open up and invite others in their inner world. So, we first created a supportive and safe environment for the volunteer to explore the unknown, for which I feel very grateful to the assisting fellow colleagues in the program. After the session, people considered the experience highly insightful and revealing, both as content and as a process. As I was guiding the client with the coaching questions, people would switch their attention to questioning their own matters, looking for personal answers as well.
This was my first facilitation experience in an Erasmus+ international project. I felt grateful for the chance to share a bit of my background and practice, hold space for the audience to reflect and test for themselves the meaningful impact of the coaching process.
By the way, if you are interested to debunk the field of NLP and get more scientifically informed about the topic, you can check Gatekeeping in Science: Lessons from the Case of Psychology and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the latest article co-authored by Prof. Katherine Normandy from Innsbruck University and Dr. Bruce Grimley from Universidad Central de Nicaragua.
Critical thinking starts with SILENCE.
Both stages of the project, in France and Türkiye, brought us opportunities to take in challenging experiences, engaging with all our senses – sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. Which is why I find so important to take time off to breathe out, reflect, filter and integrate information. To me, taking space to write here is a great way to also find closure, get ready for my next adventures.
As Erasmus+ participant and coach I noticed how in our teaching/ learning/ facilitation profession we use our sense of hearing very intensely. From active listening, speaking a foreign language with fellow participants or making meaning out of impossible sounds, it feels like we are constantly processing diverse sounds and at very high speed. It’s important to balance our hearing and slow down. Listening to elements of nature such as wind, water, fire or birds chirping, helps us regulate our nervous system. The large forests surrounding the location of our both training courses provided enough space to take a break from the complexity of our learnings or find solace when needed.
It’s worth mentioning that silence is also one of the most important stages in the process of developing critical thinking skills. It may look like a self-centring practice at the beginning of a session or a reflective break after a course.
And that silence as a tool is also when we deliberately suspend judgement to release tension and allow new ideas to come up. By raising our awareness about our belief system and behavioural patterns, we can foster better connection, understanding and communication with ourselves and within our communities.
Critical thinking takes individual contribution and collective work.
Out of this reflective silence, at the end of the learning journey in Türkiye, a concrete tool appeared. In a collective effort, all participants put together this FREE useful pocket guide with 26 tools and activities to stimulate and develop critical thinking among young people and beyond.
The guide includes a description of the activities we shared during both stages of the Erasmus+ program, their duration, recommended age group, materials needed and detailed implementation steps. Plus concrete examples for educators about how to use them in the classroom, outdoors or at home. In other words, whatever type of education you are involved in: formal, non-formal or informal.
My contribution to the pocket guide consists of two learning tools:
- Building Blocks – the tool I mentioned before. It helps us map our actions, thoughts and emotions, observe our decision-making process, identify patterns of thinking and behaviour and possible solutions. Just like in theatre/ acting/ performance we use our voice, bodies, props or musical instruments to express intention and convey a message. The mapping out practice is based on the observations of the Polish-born American scientist Alfred Korzybski, founder of the field of general semantics, who mentioned in his book “Science and Sanity” about our ability to externalise internal experiences. One of my favourite areas to work with building blocks is conflict management. You can find instructions how to use them in the guide at page 56. However, after reading you can come up with you own way of using them.
- KnoWonder – a thinking tool developed by Tim Hurson, facilitator and author of “Think Better”, an amazing mentor I’ve been learning from for a few years. Tim created the KnoWonder tool after noticing that in working sessions people can have different levels of understanding of the same topic of discussion. Which inevitably leads to disorganized communication and unproductive conversations. So, Tim has built this very simple and easy to use tool to stimulate thinking, collaboration and team alignment towards a common outcome. You can find the details in the guide at page 56.
Since the guide is the result of the work of a multicultural team within a European project, it is available in English, accessible online to anyone working in education and/ or interested in developing critical thinking through group and individual activities.
© photos during the Erasmus+ training course in Türkiye by Sorina Gavrilă
© AI animated illustration by @muhammetlord of international E+ team at TC2 – “Concrete Tools To Beef Up Your Critical Thinking Skills” in Sakarya, Türkiye (Feb-Mar 2024)