START OF Jean Monnet`s ERASMUS+ programme EUROTOLERCULTURE IN PHILOLOGY: TEACHING ACCORDING TO NEW EUROPEAN STANDARDS

On 15 February 2024, the Faculty of Philology of Zaporizhzhia National University hosted a presentation of the course "European strategies for the formation of a tolerant society: media, education, art" within the framework of the Jean Monnet Erasmus+ programme with the support of the European Neighbourhood Instrument.

The project coordinator is Iryna Bondarenko, Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Associate Professor of Slavic Philology.

The project is being implemented by the Department of Ukrainian Literature: Associate Professors Nataliia Horbach, Iryna Bakalenko, Yuliia Kurylova, Valentyna Nikolaienko, and postgraduate student Oleksandr Smirnov.

The course "European Strategies for the Formation of a Tolerant Society: Media, Education, Art" involves teaching students in 6 modules as an elective and will last until May 2024. The final control of learning achievements includes participation in the defence of group projects, which students will carry out with the mentoring support of lecturers. There is an option for dissemination of student project creativity in further project activities: the joint project initiative "See, Hear, Feel - Towards Understanding", in which students of the pilot course will already help participants from schools and colleges develop their own project proposals that can be submitted to the competition committee by the end of 2024.

The project fulfils an important mission, as the transmission of the European experience of building a culture of tolerance is extremely important for Ukrainians at a time when the choice of a model of social construction and value perspective is being debated. In particular, this was emphasised by project coordinator Iryna Bondarenko in her welcoming speech:

"This project raises many questions for us: how to live in war, how to live this life, how to to educate a personality, how to nurture spirituality in everyone... Is it possible to fight violence in our lives?"

An important aspect of our project initiative is intersectoral cooperation - the connection of future teachers, teachers of of the Ukrainian language and literature trained by the Faculty of Philology, with students and future colleagues, members of NGOs. organisations. Iryna Bondarenko drew attention to the importance of educating future generations who are destined to receive education during the war, on completely different values. The participants of the presentation were extremely impressed by the fact that the entire three and a half thousand years of human history is marked by numerous wars and destruction - and only about 250 years of peace and harmony. The war in the heart of Europe makes us think about the need to move from a culture of cruelty and violence to a culture of reconciliation and tolerance.

What does tolerance - a value we have committed ourselves to promoting in all levels of education - mean in the face of savage cruelty and exhausting hope, as well as inexplicable love?

What is the paradox of understanding and acceptance during the powerful armed resistance to the aggression of a neighbouring state with a plan and almost a thousand years of relevant historical background?

Is absolute tolerance possible, which cannot exclude a humane attitude towards enemies, including, despite all the suffering and pain, hatred and curses that make up the emotional matrix of the entire nation and different generations?

We have to deal with these issues for the sake of those who daily lay down their lives on the sacrificial altar of Freedom and Equality, Democracy, the Rule of Law and many other things that are based on the ideology of a community of people who value life both their own and the lives of others is above all!

The meeting was attended by project partners - coordinators of the projects "European Integration and Sustainable Development of Rural and Sustainable Development of Rural Areas of Ukraine as a Guarantee of Food Security in the Post-War Recovery" (NEWAGRO) project coordinators Svitlana Kushnir and "European practices of social entrepreneurship: sustainability, inclusion and creativity" (EUROSECRET) Anna The synergy of the Jean Monnet projects of the Erasmus+ programme is very important, because the Ukrainian state and society need to recover and develop holistically in various aspects and areas of cross-sectoral cooperation.

Svitlana Kushnir welcomed the participants and emphasised the feasibility and urgent need to implement such a project:

"The war... unfortunately, only the war reminded us, Ukrainians, that we are a separate nation with our own powerful history, culture, values, melodic language, worldview, values, and melodious language. National identity is not an innate trait, but is essentially a social construct... construct... Ukraine's aspiration for EU membership is a conscious choice of the Ukrainian people. And the European values that we havehave realised since the Revolution of Dignity: freedom, democracy, equality, respect, respect for human rights, the rule ofof law ... are what unite us with Europeans".

At the beginning of the twentieth century, European philosophers postulated the idea of the Other, which allegedly always poses a threat to our livesHowever, this truth has proved to be somewhat controversial - both over the course of the century and is currently being actively rethought. The authors of theof the course offered to students have tried to actualise this issue from new perspectives and at different levels of intellectual tradition.tradition:

• historical, legal, and institutional context (PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Iryna Bondarenko):
• educational paradigm, inclusive space, NUS (Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor Iryna Bakalenko;
• gender paradigm and artistic projections (Philologist, Associate Professor Yuliia Kurylova);
• anti-totalitarian discourse, militarisation and tolerance, artistic projections of genocide (PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Valentyna Nikolaenko);
• intercultural communications, multiculturalism, and imagology (PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Nataliia Horbach).

At the end of the presentation, the participants took part in a Kahoot quiz on tolerance and immediately afterwards

were taken to the virtual classroom of Iryna Bondarenko, who started teaching the first module of the programme that day.

The project "European Experience of Building a Culture of Tolerance in the Ukrainian Perspective: Media, Education, Art" ( Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Programme) focuses on strategies of inclusiveness, anti-discrimination and the creation of a comfortable safe environment for all people in a free and democratic society.