VoiceS Newsletter Issue 6

VOICES OF EUROPEAN TEACHERS. 526613-LLP-2012-NL-COMENIUS-CNW You may freely use this book for educational purposes only; the use of this book in another way requires written permission of the coordinator of the project, Drs. Henny Oude Maatman, j.h.

2 Coo eration between Italian school and university of Derby Learning Together Method-based institutions: The world is a school More information: http://www.scuol arinnovata.it "Il metodo della Rinnovata vuole poche parole e molti fatti; vita attiva del bambino a contatto con molte cose e con molti fatti e con molte persone. A What is Learning Together ? learning project that involved both the Italian school “Rinnovata Pizzigoni” and the Universit of Derby, aiming at sharing teachin practices and experiences. Rinnovata Pizzigoni offered an internship opportunity to ten students comin from the Universit of Derb . This rou has been hosted by a number of Italian families. Rinnovata Pizzi oni welcomed them in Ma 2014 and during an intensive period of four weeks they have worked actively inside “Rinnovata Pizzigoni”. Ever student was linked to an English teacher. The students worked directl inside the classrooms ivin their own support to English classes. Therefore the pupils of the Rinnovata, six to ten years old, have had two English teachers during that period, one of them tongue native speaker. At the same time the staff of Rinnovata Pizzigoni supported the students with Italian teaching experience and tutorin . More than a coo erative ro ect it has been a “mutual learning action”. After this period Rinnovata ave En lish students a certificate rovin their experience. “Rinnovata Pizzigoni”: a brief presentation. The “Istituto Com rensivo Rinnovata Pizzi oni” is a member of VOICEs. It was founded on Se tember the 1st 2008 and com rises two rimar schools and one secondar school. The primary schools - s ecial method-based institutions - are entitled to the founder Giuse ina Pizzi oni, born in Milano in 1870. Her method rests on a fruitful insi ht which eventuall led her to develop her own method: “The world is a school… Ever fact derivin from ex erience is a Teacher ... Do not teach, ex eriment instead”. In this s irit the u ils as well as the teachers at Rinnovata still work ever da throu h a variet of s ecific ro ects that, bein supported b an a ro riate time schedule, allow a wa of learnin which is active, multifaceted and flexible.

VOICES OF EUROPEAN TEACHERS. 526613-LLP-2012-NL-COMENIUS-CNW Published by the partners of VOICES project. October 2014. You may use this book freely for educational purposes only, not commercial purposes; use of this book in any other way requires

The VoiceS of Teachers newsletter forms the bridge between the teachers, teacher trainees and teacher trainers for promoting activities of this Comenius Network

This collection of articles came about following a series of workshops at the Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic in March 2014. The delegates and participants were able to meet under the umbrella of VoiceS, a project supported by the European Union to promote understanding of what it means to be a European teacher. It is clear that each of these articles takes a different approach to understanding childhood and the context in which children are encouraged to develop. In Fisher (2002, 87), “teachers lay the foundations on which a child’s edifice is to be built”, but we take the view that teachers can only go so far in doing this. It is the responsibility of the teacher to provide children with the tools by which they can develop into confident and resilient adults. The final steps remain with the child. The role of the teacher appears to be to create to context in which children can develop: Bruce (2005, 41) explores the nature of the relationship between teachers and learners, stressing the importance of mutual respect and trust. Woodhead (1999, 18) defined this as the approach which recognises children as a “developing child paradigm”, which children as “projects in the making”. Each of these four articles explores the potential role of the teacher, with a recognition that the pedagogy of the context will be largely determined by the social and political constraints within which the teachers are operating. Goldson et al. (2002, 23) claim that “childhood is not a static biological phenomenon, but is shaped by wider social and cultural elements”. In this spirit, each of these four articles seeks to explore ways in which teachers can be better prepared to provide children with a positive experience at a time when there is some uncertainty regarding the skills needed by children in the world they will inhabit. With teachers who are prepared to empower their pupils in this way, it appears likely that Rousseau (1991) was predicting the future correctly when he suggested that the children will surprise us with their “resilience and ingenuity”. Our thanks go out to the teachers who have contributed to these articles and to their colleagues who have provided their support. Alena Jůvova & Jon White

From 23.03.2014 to 28.03.2014 the University College of Teacher Education Styria hosted the VoiceS In-service Course "VoiceS - Integrated competences for European Teachers. Giving voice(s) to professionalism and citizenship in school networking". Fourteen school teachers, two teacher trainees and nine teacher trainers from nine different countries participated in this course, all of them members of the VoiceS network (Reference: 526613-LLP-2012-NL-ComeniusCNW). This blended learning course consisted of three parts. The first one is an introductory approach to the main issues of the course; the participants are required to log in the course area, filling in their profile, and analyse selected readings and prepare their essays before the face to face sessions. The second part of the course consisted of six days of direct sessions with lectures, workshops, seminars, group work, cultural activities, school visits and the planning of further collaborative projects. One of the main outcomes of the VoiceS In-service Course is planning collaborative international projects that have then to be developed by the participant teachers in their own schools. These projects, inspired by the theoretical and practical input of the course, have to be implemented in the different countries- after the face to face sessions- within a maximum period of three months. Teachers, organised in international groups, carried out projects in their own schools; these projects were then shared, analysed and described including visual evidence of them in practice. A selection of them is published in this ebook: additionally, these have been uploaded to the webpage of European Teachers projects and are also available as paperback. The first section of this ebook contains theoretical input about the topic, descriptions of the network and of the in-service course followed by the documentation of the two school projects "European Dance & Song Book" and "A Day in the Life of ...". All authors and course members are described in its final chapter. Graz 2014, Susanne Linhofer Heiko Vog

VoiceS a continuing story... a success Starting the network with 10 partners in ten different European countries the network has grown to 15 universities (of applied sciences) and more than 100 members (primary/secondary schools and educational stakeholders) and more than 15.000 pupils that became involved in the activities of the network. The European Teachers network became an international platform for European Teacher knowledge sharing, acquiring and disseminating articles, project examples and research projects to promote high performance, innovation and to implement a European dimension in systems and practices in the field.

The VoiceS of Teachers newsletter forms the bridge between the teachers, teacher trainees and teacher trainers for promoting activities of this Comenius Network. This third issue aims to inform about the collaboration: projects, Thematic Fields and the Road to Milano.

2 Europe in the curricula of European compulsory schools Or: Is there a need for a European curriculum? Oliver Holz, University of Leuven, Belgium with contributions from: Maria Villanueva - University Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain Elisabetta Piedi - University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy Susanne Linhofer - University College of Teacher Education Styria, Austria Sasika Breutmann - University College of Teacher Education Styria, Austria Zahra Demirci – University of Uludag, Turkey 1. PISA, curricula und Europe Starting point In recent years, a wide variety of comparative studies on educational policies, economics and legislative situations in selected nation-states and, increasingly, on a global and international level have been performed worldwide. The last, and most famous study in many ways is being organized since 2000 in more and more countries around the world. This study known under the name PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) (is) aimed at assessing 15-year-olds in terms of their skills in reading, mathematics and natural sciences. Under the auspices of the OECD, a research design was developed in order to produce specified results and making records available, which up to now were not available for scientific comparison study. With the presentation of the first results, some European countries experienced the “PISA shock”! Politicians, teachers, parents, educators, scientists and other stakeholders were surprised and sometimes ashamed of the poor performance of the subjects. In all three tested skills, for example the German, Spanish and Greek students scored below average

2 Europa in den Curricula europäischer Pflichtschulen! Oder: Brauchen wir ein europäisches Curriculum? Oliver Holz, Universität Leuven, Belgien mit Beiträgen von: Maria Villanueva – Autonome Universität Barcelona, Spanien Elisabetta Piedi – Universität Milan-Bicocca, Italien Susanne Linhofer – Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark, Österreich Sasika Breutmann - Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark, Österreich Zahra Demirci – Universität Uludag, Türkei 1. PISA, Curricula und Europa Ausgangssituation In den vergangenen Jahren wurden weltweit unterschiedlichste Vergleichsstudien zur bildungspolitischen, bildungsökonomischen und bildungsrechtlichen Situation ausgewählter Nationalstaaten und zunehmend auch auf globaler und internationaler Ebene durchgeführt. Die letzte, und wohl in vielerlei Hinsicht bekannteste Studie, wird seit 2000 weltweit in immer mehr Ländern organisiert. Diese unter dem Namen PISA ( Programme for International Student Assessment ) bekannte Erhebung zielt(e) darauf, 15-jährige Jugendliche hinsichtlich ihrer Kompetenzen im Lesen, in Mathematik und in den Naturwissenschaften zu untersuchen. Dazu wurde unter der Federführung der OECD ein Forschungsdesign entwickelt, das spezifizierte Ergebnisse hervorbringen und Datensätze zur Verfügung stellen sollte, wie sie bis heute in einer wissenschaftlichen Vergleichsstudie nicht vorzufinden waren. Mit Vorlage der ersten Ergebnisse erlebten einige europäische Staaten den „PISA-Schock“! Politiker, Lehrer, Eltern, Erziehungswissenschaftler und andere Interessengruppen waren überrascht und teilweise beschämt über das schlechte Abschneiden der Probanden. In allen drei getesteten Kompetenzen erzielten beispielsweise die deutschen, spanischen und

NEWSLETTER OF THE VOICES NETWORK The newsletter The VoiceS of Teachers newsletter forms the bridge between teachers, teacher trainees and teacher trainers for promoting activities of this Comenius Network.

It is our pleasure to introduce the first newsletter to you. The VoiceS of Teachers newsletter forms the bridge between the teachers, teacher trainees and teacher trainers for promoting activities of this Comenius Network.