SCOPE Survey of strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of Comenius 2.2 in service training programmes in Europe.

SCOPESurvey of strengths, weaknesses and

opportunities of Comenius 2.2 in service training programmes in Europe

SCOPE SOCRATES ACCOMPANYING MEASURES

nº 2003-0537/001-001 SO2 81 AWC

Coordinator: Gianfrancesco Musumeci, CSA Bergamo IT

Partners: Yves Beernaert, KHLeuven, Katholieke Hogeschool BE

Rosangela Baggio, CSA Bergamo IT

Gabriella Lazzeri, Carlo Zanesi, CSA Sondrio IT

Manuel Megías, Universidad de Alcalá ES

Ray Kirtley University of Hull UK

Research objectives

obstacles and problems met by course organisers during the preparation, the implementation and the follow-up of Comenius 2.2 courses

solutions and strategies which have enabled them to solve some of those problems

examples of good practice and practical suggestions to improve the quality in planning and running European courses

training needs of course organisers

Project methodology

Respondents: all stakeholders: course organisers, participants, National Agencies Instruments: Questionnaire for course organisersQuestionnaire for National AgenciesInterview protocol for experienced course organisersCase studies formatParticipants´ report

Key issues

Course programme and contentsEuropean dimensionPublicising the courseCourse information and preparationFollow-upPractical suggestionsPedagogical and didactic work formsIssues of foreign language competenceEvaluation, accreditation and recognitionDissemination and valorisation

Course programme and contents

Key words:Coherence between project and courseMethodologyPiloting for course validity Variety of materialsParticipants’ needs and expertise FlexibilityEvaluation and dissemination

Variety of materials

project websites and the websites of project partners an on-line library of documents which have been

created or used by the project team. Reactions to these documents gathered during pilots can also be taken into consideration so that they could reflect a good balance between rigour and practical realism

grids and check lists which can promote the discussion of crucial topics in the context of dissemination, help to undertake field observation, and aid the presentation of programmes and tools

collections of real data with guidelines to help their use in simulation activities

collection of documentation from different projects questionnaires and evaluation tools a bibliography and list of related web pages.

European dimension

Key wordsInternational viewpointsSharing a common terminologyIntercultural learningPersonal developmentNetworkingRaising the quality in education

Raising the quality in education

by promoting multi-culturalism through the concept of the multiplier in education by focusing on the needs of the participants and

helping to develop their skills by helping education administration to support

training centres by exposing teachers to new ideas by broadening horizons through professional

development by helping bring pupils into multi-nationals

projects which can be highly motivational by using new education tools.

Publicising the course

NAs (catalogue) Partners’ websites Networks Professional associations Mailing lists …

Course information and preparation

Key words Finding about the others Preparatory activities and tasks

Pre-course assignments background reading/websites Examples of interesting practice

Time allocation

Follow-up (1)

a powerful tool for professional development both at course coordinator level and at participant level appears to be the least ‘controlled’ aspect of most courses little evidence of structured activities

lacking time and resources necessary for follow-up structured activities.

Follow-up (2)

Follow-up implies that some further course objectives remain to be accomplished: feedback from the experiences

undertaken the development of new teaching

practices evidence of the impact of the teacher

attending the course on the school itself at a professional level.

Follow-up (3)

From informal contacts to structured activities. Some follow-up assignments are foreseen within the course and recognised as part of the course itself informal or occasional contacts post-course tasks and feedback dissemination strategy and feedback creation of newsgroup/mailing lists on

the Internet.

Example of assignment

Barcelona 7th November 2003

According with the course programme to obtain the final Certificate participants must accomplish with the homework proposed.

It is expected from every participant at least one contribution to forum and the realisation of two activities. The activities can be chosen from the five proposed related to every session of the course.

Introduction Self-evaluation Philosophy - Mr. Jorge Coelho Introduction to Self-evaluation Class/Pupils Dimension – Mr. Egil Eide and Mr. Bjorn Meling Self-evaluation: Test, Tools and Methodology – Mrs. Wilma Bain Self-evaluation: Internal School Policy – Mr. Josep Gómez and Mrs. M. Cristina Pujol Internal and External Evaluation – Mr. Rudy Rydant

Remember that you must send your activities to the trainers responsible for that theme.

Deadline 31st December 2003

newsgroup/mailing lists

use of intranet, forum or learning platforms usually used for a limited period of time

it is very difficult to find out the impact of the course one year after.

newsgroups or learning platforms are dominated mainly by activities concerned with the evaluation phase of the course

Practical suggestions

For organisers:Choice of the venuePre-registration and registration fasesFinancial issuesLanguage problemsHow to ensure attendance

For the European Commission:The need for trainingImproving the catalogue

The need for training

Training contents how to help participants to apply for a grant how to manage cultural differences in a group how to manage language problems how to take into account the diverse expectations of the

participants how to improve participants’ preparation and follow-up how to use evaluation methods for such courses which kind of certificate can be given how to use active working methodologies; how to enhance the

active involvement of the participants during the course how the pre-registration and the final registration are organised which the responsibilities of course organisers are how a balanced programme can be built how payments for the courses can best be managed

The catalogue

more efficient search functions ensuring the quality of courses:

European quality labels which would respond to specific criteria in relation to: programme methodology preparatory work and follow-up evaluation tools and materials used course organisation and administration.

Pedagogical and didactical work forms

Techniques aimed at developing key skills:CommunicationInformation technologyDebatesCritical analysisTeam workingProblem solving

Issues of foreign language competence

Course organisers can reduce linguistic problems by:providing preparatory documentation beforehandproviding course texts in other languageschoose two languages for the course (presentation in one language and slides in another one)allowing monolingual groups plus rapporteur providing a specialised glossary according to the contents of the course

EvaluationQuestions and answers

How do you assess the knowledge/ skills/ competencies acquired by the participants?(1)

There is no final assessment Through debates – workshops and

discussions run by the participants By work on-line By watching the progress of products (e.g.

websites in the countries of participants) By final practical tests By specific tasks during training

Pre and post course questionnaires By reading and evaluating the

papers produced by the participants Through diaries Through questionnaires Through materials produced later on

in the project By a piece of reflective writing

How do you assess the knowledge/ skills/ competencies acquired by the participants? (2)

Do you organise the evaluation of the course?

For the whole event at the end of the course

For the course programme Related to personal objectives and to

personal expectations For specific elements of the course On a daily basis On a group basis (or in sub-groups or

on an individual basis)

Of: ______________________________________

COURSE LOGCOURSE LOG

TRAININGEXPERIENCE

TRAININGEXPERIENCE

OPERATIONALEXPERIENCE

OPERATIONALEXPERIENCE

Example 1

Section a – LEARNING

(A1) What have I learnt, experienced and understood during the course?

(A2) What has facilitated my learning? How did I make it meaningful?

(A3) Will there be from now on new opportunities in the way I teach

(A4) What can I do in my daily work to be able to put into practice what I learnt?

Section B – CARE OF MYSELF AS A LEARNER

(B1) What did I discover about myself during this course?

(B2) What am I going to do to consolidate the new inputs of the course and to go on my own learning process? (interactions, activities, projects...)

(B3) What risks could I meet to put into practice my projects?

Example 2 Diary

Date ______________________

ACTIVITIES• What did you notice about the pedagogy and

methodologies used by the group?• How might it influence work with European

partners in a multilateral project?• What support might you need to use any of the

techniques you have experienced today in your own classroom or fieldwork locations?

ACHIEVEMENTS• Today I have observed .....• Today I have tried .......• Today I have learned ......• I was surprised by .....

How do you as a team self-evaluate the course?

daily course team meeting post-course meeting

What do you do with the evaluation outcomes?

The programme may be subsequently changedThe methodology may be subsequently changedIt is used to plan the next phase of the project and future course programmes

It is sent to all participantsIt is sent to all participants, to the Commission and/or to the NAIt is put on the web site of the project

From previous information we have learnt that evaluation:

is based on data collected regularly discussion, feedback, questionnaires,

logbooks partners’ awareness of evaluation

impact on the future development of the project/course

should be integrated from the very beginning

Types of evaluation

self-evaluation external evaluation cross-evaluation process evaluation product evaluation

Self-evaluation

conducted by the partners in the project and by the participants of the in-service training course

can range from very formal or very informal can range from the joint reflection of the group at

the end of a meeting or activity on what they have achieved, to the filling in of questionnaires they draw up themselves and answer regularly

The outcomes of such questionnaires may even be made available to an external evaluator.

Example of questionnaire

Comenius Freshwater Network – In-service Training Seminar

Wednesday June 19th – Tuesday June 25th, Newton Rigg Campus, Penrith, UK

COURSE EVALUATION1 What were your expectations of this course?2 To what extent have these expectations been met?3 Please award the following sessions a rating on a 1 to 10 scale where 10 is the highest rating.

Please also include a short comment if you wish

Wednesday, June 19thIntroductory Session and activity: Carousel workshopRATING

•_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday June 20th Introduction to the course and the projectRATING

•______________

Presentation of the Good Practice GuidelinesRATING

•________________________________________________________________________

The Ennerdale Water Treatment PlantRATING

• ________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday June 21st Chemical methods for water testingRATING ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Physical methods for water testing RATING

• ________________________________________________________________

• ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Display of school and project resourcesRATING

•_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday June 22nd The Little Frog and other projects as examples of good practiceRATING

•_____

_______________________________________

Introduction to BISEL fieldworkRATING

•

_________________________________________________________________• BISEL fieldwork

RATING •

_______________________________________________________________________________

4 Please comment on the course organisation and accommodation 5 Please add any additional comments here:

NAME PLEASE RETURN THE FORM AT THE END OF THE COURSEThank you

Self-Evaluation focus

Self evaluation has to focus on the following elements of the process and the products:

are the objectives outlined in the application met within the deadline or time scheduled?

how can the activities (and their eventual outputs) be improved in terms of quality?

how does the evaluation have an impact on the work plan and on possible changes in the activities of the course/project?

External evaluation

An external evaluator is a ‘critical friend’ who:

will follow the in-service training course in different ways

will feed back useful evaluation information to the project to bring about change for the better

should also have special expertise in European project evaluation and in European project management.

The external evaluator should: gather information by studying

documents, attending meetings, interviewing people and by looking at products or self-evaluation reports

analyse all the data and materials which lead to the drafting of a provisional evaluation report

present it to all partners who will have an open discussion with feedback.

External evaluation

Cross-evaluation

is carried out by a partner of a similar project/course. It is a full cross-evaluation if one person from each of the two projects acts as an external evaluator for the other project/course

the advantage of cross-evaluation is that the person involved receives direct feedback in terms of how to run meetings differently, how to organise or run a project/course differently and how to evaluate and disseminate

the beneficial impact on the projects/courses involved in the cross evaluation is much more rapid than in the case of a standard external evaluation

Accreditation and certification

Questions and answers

Do any official bodies recognise the course

If yes: Ministry of Education Universities Professional organisations

How do you undertake accreditation/certification/recognition

attendance certificate only giving hours of tuition

attendance certificate listing acquired knowledge/skills/competences

Accreditation or certification in the framework of Comenius 2.2 courses

It seems that neither accreditation nor certification currently occurs in the framework of Comenius 2.2 courses; accreditation is limited to a few countries such as Spain and Portugal where teachers involved in Comenius 2.2 in-service training activities receive credits for their participation in the in-service training, if they produce evidence that they have attended the course.

Most course organisers give a certificate at the end of the course issued by the course organisers and/or his/her institution and maybe signed by all participating institutions.

Such certificates do sometimes mention the number of hours invested but they do not usually refer to assignments carried out and the marks obtained on such assignments.

Accreditation or certification in the framework of Comenius 2.2 courses

COMENIUS 87042-CP-1-2000-1-C31This is to certify that_________________________________________has attended the COMENIUS 2.2 Course n. IT-2004-016 held in Viareggio (Italy) on 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th May 2004 “TEACHERS AS LEARNERS” that comprised the following topics:

• Introduction to the learning society: how we know we are learning• Leadership issues• Peer Observation• Learning Organisation• International competencies• “Ways of learning Ways of teaching”• The Italian School System• Learning with the orchestra• A visit to an Italian school in Lucca.

Viareggio, 16 May 2004

The project Co-ordinatorIsp. Giovanna Barzanò

COURSE TUTORSDaniele Agiman Rosangela BaggioGiovanna Barzanò Emanuela BrumanaMaria Do Carmo Climaco Jane JonesPalmira Juceviciene Gianfrancesco Musumeci

Example of certificate

In general the certificates issued have no legal ground and cannot be used for progression in the professional career. Teachers, however, very often add to their CV that they have attended such a European in-set course.

Accreditation or certification in the framework of Comenius 2.2 courses

Dissemination

Dissemination is at the heart of every European trans-national project and European activity. Dissemination is as important as attending a European course

Dissemination has the objective to value what has been achieved, to celebrate all the work done and to describe in which way the course has enabled the promotion of innovation.

Dissemination

Key elements of a dissemination strategy: dissemination of the outcomes and

products dissemination channels: newsletters,

publishers, internet … dissemination problems such as

copyright, ISBN numbering, co-operation with publishing houses

Dissemination

At different levels: institutional local regional National European

With different strategies: i.e. presentations, articles, organisation of

similar training activities

To include a session on possible dissemination strategies in the European course (collect idea from participants)

Dissemination

Dissemination and documentation

Pay special attention to the following elements:

the presentation or products should reflect the work of all the partners

the material should be available in all the languages of the partnership

all dissemination should be documented in a logbook or portfolio of the project/course

designing mechanisms to enhance knowledge of the supply of innovative projects/products

developing a multimedia tool to allow the supply and demand sides to meet online

organising promotional activities for innovations (conferences, publications — including electronic publication)

Valorisation

‘Valorisation’ * can be described as a process of exploiting project learning and outcomes (training products and processes, methodology, course materials) with a view to optimising their value and impact in existing and new contexts (target groups, companies, sectors, training institutions and systems).

* From the Leonardo da Vinci programme

Valorisation

To be effective, the process requires: a focus on end user/target group needs from

project inception dissemination of innovative training products

and results selection and analysis of their suitability for

transfer to meet identified new needs translation and adaptation to targeted new

contexts piloting and experimentation leading to full

integration into the new context.

Strategies for valorisation

identification of key issues to be valorised

description of the ways in which they can be used

adaptation of the product to the contents

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