It's widely acknowledged that education isn't just about the things you discover in the classroom; it's about life and the lessons you learn out in the real world. Diversity and inclusion are frequent buzzwords in Europe now; it's clear that we need to rise to the challenge of creating an all-inclusive environment for the many families setting up homes in countries and cultures other than their own.

This is a Europe-wide issue as each year thousands upon thousands of pupils arrive in schools across the region, faced with new systems, communities and ideologies. The positives are numerous but various challenges are evident too.

The British Council, as a cultural relations organisation, set up the Indie project to help education authorities meet these challenges. Indie, which stands for 'Inclusion and Diversity in Education', is a Europe-wide project aimed at promoting social unity and raising educational standards in culturally-inclusive schools.

In Malta, the project, led by the local British Council office in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, has just been launched in two local schools to help them deal with the realities of having pupils from diverse backgrounds join their classrooms.

"The aim of the Indie project is to build lasting networks between schools in Europe which will focus on the common challenges presented by migration and cultural diversity," explained British Council representative Alison Driver.

"Uniquely, it brings together pupils, head teachers and policy makers to discuss how inclusion and diversity in schools can best be managed and implemented. In Malta, we have the active support of Grace Grima from the Ministry of Education and a great team of enthusiastic teachers who will be working with their counterparts in Italy, Belgium and the UK."

As part of the project, the British Council recently ran a five-day leadership training event with 24 children selected from the Pembroke Girls' Secondary School and Gżira Boys' Secondary School. Young people are at the centre of the project, and these children, aged between 12 and 15, were chosen as the project's young leaders' and representatives of their schoolmates.

Through a variety of workshops they were able to develop their leadership skills, acknowledge situations beyond their own horizons and develop their understanding of diversity and its role within modern Maltese society.

These leaders were then faced with the challenge of taking what they had learnt back with them and sharing it in their classrooms and homes.

"The workshops we held were real eye-openers for the students," commented Ingrid Eomois of the British Council, "as they were able to explore philosophies and principles that were new to them. One of the workshops involved the talents of well-known local percussionist Renzo Spiteri who helped the youngsters work on a percussion rhythm together. Their challenge was to work as a team towards a common goal and the results were quite impressive.

"This is a pilot scheme but one which we hope may one day be open to all Maltese schools and we are actively seeking local sponsorship to make this possible. For the time being, only the two local government schools are taking part; they were chosen because they each have a number of students from diverse cultures and backgrounds."

Both schools will now go on to complete specialised projects throughout the scholastic year. The girls' school will be working on a task entitled 'What you say matters' which emphasises the role and importance of the student council. A survey will be conducted to find out how much the students know about the council, and steps will be taken to improve this awareness. In the second project, the girls will organise an event called 'Foods of the world' in which they will taste and experiment with a variety of foods from around the globe.

Meanwhile, at the boys' school, there will be another project related to their student council, and to develop an understanding of how democracy works the students organised the elections and vote-counting with the support of their headmaster Alfred Grixti. In another project, the students will be focusing on family, culture and traditions. They will organise a Family Day within which they will talk about societies and customs in different parts of the world.

"The chosen projects are all long-term in scope and will make a lasting impact on these young people's minds so that they can go back into their communities and drive positive changes. This is a bottom-up approach. We certainly aren't telling them what to do; instead, we are giving them ideas and incentives to take the initiative. It will serve both them and their society well for the future."

Diversity does not simply refer to the boundaries of different nationalities, races and religions, but to anybody who may, for some reason, feel excluded from society in general. As one of the young participants rightly pointed out, there are many things that can make a person feel different.

"Diversity is a good thing," he said, "some people talk differently, look different or do things in a different way, but we must remember that we are all the same deep down."

Many of the students said they had already been positively affected by the work carried out so far. They had learnt new things about trust, teamwork, diversity and inclusion.

One student shared her thoughts midway through the five-day programme. She said: "I went home yesterday and asked my mother to question me on diversity; I wanted the opportunity to tell her all that I'd learnt so that she could learn too.

"I told her that there are people whose skin is a different colour and whose religion is different to our own but that that doesn't make them dirty or wrong.

"I said we mustn't judge people we don't know. She said she would try to be more inclusive. It's nice to know that I have made a change already."

For more information on the Indie project, visit the website: www.britishcouncil.org/indie.