On the second visit of the Gooische School in September 2020, we conducted a pilot study on a sample of teachers. Under the heading of “Internationalisation”, the school board organized the “World Citizenship Days” for the teacher team. As part of this project, the teachers played “Empathy Land”. Overall, we received positive feedback from the teachers. “Empathy Land” earned great reactions because it started lively discussions about at-home habits and families within the groups that were playing the game. Especially learning about unknown similarities and differences in their private lives helped the colleagues to get to know each other better. Different ideas to simplify the game for younger players were proposed. Even concepts for new games were discussed at the end of the pilot!
“The morning was enlightening. It felt as if everything I’ve ever read about intercultural sensitivity had been delivered to me in those three hours, in such a candid, interesting and informing way”
– Tim Unsworth, education consultant