Three neighborhoods, three middle schools
By Claire, Local Coordinator in Marseille
Between January 28 and February 7, four middle schools in Marseille hosted the pilot version of the PRADO project. This new format uses the educational tools of the association (exploring hidden stories within urban heritage) to raise awareness among middle school students about issues of discrimination related to origins. This year, more than 200 students, ranging from 6th to 8th grade, participated in this one-day workshop.
With the PRADO format, The Beit Project association offers workshops within schools to address the specific challenges students face around issues of racism, antisemitism, and discrimination based on origins. The morning is dedicated to an urban walk around the school’s immediate surroundings. The facilitation team closely guides the students as they explore the urban space, drawing attention to traces left by significant historical events, as well as more ephemeral marks linked to current affairs.
This connection between past and present is explored throughout the afternoon in small groups. Several steps help students gradually link historical issues to contemporary questions: interviewing passersby, reading archives, identifying key themes, and engaging in small-group debates.
To encourage diverse forms of expression, each group creates a poster featuring a question they choose to pose to the entire school community. These posters combine drawing, writing, and collage and are displayed in the school hallways.
The four pilot sessions provided an opportunity to refine the project’s focus and identify the activities that resonate most with students. Incredible creations emerged and are now proudly exhibited in the corridors of the participating schools.
The facilitation team is thrilled with the feedback received so far and looks forward to developing the next steps of the project!
A huge thank you to everyone involved this year!
Here are a few examples of creations made by the Marseille students at the end of the session.
Team feedback:
“Of course, this is an experience of living together—through interactions with the youth, through engagement with the city, and through the themes we explore. It’s also an experience of living together in the collaborative effort made by the team. If the sessions go well, it’s largely due to the collective work on the ground of everyone involved in the project, and this is reflected in the working experience.”
“I really appreciate that the facilitation and coordination team at The Beit Project is made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds. This immediately sets a small example of living together as we enter the schools. A diverse team working on issues of discrimination, racism, and antisemitism creates a beautiful image and serves as an example of living together in a city like Marseille, which is so diverse and multicultural.”
Next steps for the PRADO project:* This project will be further developed in its final version in 2025/2026 in medium-sized cities around Marseille. (Call for applications from cities and schools.)
This project responds to the DILCRAH call under the National Plan to combat Racism, Antisemitism, and Discrimination based on Origin.
