Abstract:

Educators focused on promoting intercultural dialogue and protection of human rights are frequently faced with the challenge to come up with something innovative, something that can attract pupils and students attention. The Human Library is considered as an innovative method, it is a safe space for dialog where different topics are discussed openly between Human books and their readers. In Slovakia Human Libraries have operated in youth sector for fourteen years, however there has been almost any cooperation by their organisers (NGO's) with formal educational institutions. Therefore the study responds to this gap and examines Human Library as a teaching strategy for achieving cooperation between formal and non-formal educational institutions and simultaneously engaging pupils and students in challenging prejudice and stereotypes. A qualitative research design was used for this study. All participants of Human Libraries (primary and secondary school teachers, university teacher trainee educators, youth workers, pupils and students) were asked to fill out an anonymous feedbacks regarding their attitudes to the Human Library and also to the "read" Human Books. We gathered data from seven Human Libraries around Slovakia (Banská Bystrica, Bratislava, Košice, Nitra, Prešov, Trenčín and Žilina) from more than 650 respondents. These Human Libraries brought together people who would normally not meet, engaged them in conversations and provided them an innovative strategy useful for formal and non-formal education, as well as for cooperation of formal and non-formal educational institutions to increase respect for difference and otherness. The results of a content analysis of feedbacks demonstrate how Human Libraries engage pupils and students in a process of countering prejudice, increasing respect for difference and promoting human rights.
This study was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-17-0071.

Keywords:

Human Library, Human Book, Formal education, Non-formal education, Human Rights, Difference, Otherness.