From School Education Gateway to eTwinning or through eTwinning to Erasmus+

Erasmus+ 2018-1-IT02-KA101-047693 Rethinking pedagogy for an inclusive 21st century school

IIS P. SRAFFA CREMA

a.s. 2018/2020

The project Erasmus+ KA1 Rethinking pedagogy for an inclusive 21st century school aims to give the school a fresh start and create a welcoming environment where students can actively experiment, plan, and be in charge of their learning. The knowledge society requires that everyone becomes a lifelong learner to keep up with a constantly changing labour market and society.

It’s a school’s mission to provide its students with the skills and competences with which to earn a living work and integrate into society.

In details the specific objectives are: - changing the learning environment - spreading new teaching methods - making inclusion the distinguishing feature of the school - tackling early school leaving and sustaining motivation - training teachers to work in collaboration with the local community and significant stakeholders - fostering entrepreneurship through education - internationalizing the school The participants to the project are the head teacher and 15 teachers.

Activities include onsite and online courses and the implementation of new approaches to teaching.

The expected impact on participants is a broad understanding of innovative student – centred methodologies. The school will have a wider range of teachers capable of creating modules not only in their respective subject but also in collaboration with the team of colleagues that work on a class according to an interdisciplinary perspective.

It is envisaged a positive effect on learners as well in terms of better acquisition of 21st century skills, entrepreneurial mindset and enhanced motivation.

This will contribute to reduce the rate of early school leaving so that they will have better chances to succeed in the labour market as well as in higher education. https://brunazzimariella36.wixsite.com/rethinkingpedagogy

Presented in 23 European languages, the School Education Gateway is an online platform for teachers, school leaders, researchers, teacher educators, policymakers and other professionals working in school education – including Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and Vocational Education and Training (VET). https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/ The platform allows teachers to: stay informed – with new content every week, including opinion pieces by experts, news articles, interviews, up-to-date publications, and examples of practices find resources – such as reports from recent research, teaching materials created in European projects and training courses, and the European Toolkit for Schools, with material on preventing early school leaving and a self-assessment tool to help them develop their own school actions develop themselves – with the Teacher Academy, offering free online courses developed by in-house experts, as well as webinars and teaching materials. get familiar with funding – through the Erasmus+ Opportunities, consisting of three practical tools (course catalogue, mobility opportunities directory and strategic partnership search) for schools to prepare their Erasmus+ applications.

The participation to an online course offered by School Education Gateway - Teacher Academy may provide tips and hints to create and start an eTwinning project and collaborate with colleagues from other schools in the same country and/or from schools in European or neighbouring countries involved.

An eTwinning project gives teachers the opportunity to:  implement student-centred approaches  plan interdisciplinary activities  support their students‘ development of 21st century skills  foster an intercultural perspective  promote tolerance and peace  boost international collaboration As for students eTwinning allows them to:  meet mates from all over Europe or neighbouring countries  gain knowledge of different cultures, languages and traditions  put communication skills into practice  take action for relevant global issues sharing ideas and collaborating online with peers from other schools  acquire the soft skills required by the modern world and the labour market  become better future citizens: open-minded, tolerant and respectful people who highly support democratic values.

Here follows an example of a link between a School Education Gateway - Teacher Academy online course and an eTwinning project. It is the work done by one of the participants to the Erasmus+ project Rethinking pedagogy for an inclusive 21st century school. Paola Mirelli, teacher of Italian Language and Literature, started her training path for professional development attending a course for beginners on the eTwinning platform, which she didn’t know yet.

Soon after she joined the course Open eTwinning: Project-Based Learning and the Community for Schools in Europe provided by School Education Gateway - Teacher Academy:

As a result she launched her first eTwinning project in collaboration with an Italian colleague from Sicily:

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/82023

The next examples shows how it is possible to capitalize on courses organised by School Education Gateway - Teacher Academy to work together with other colleagues and classes not only at national but also at international level. Mariella Brunazzi, teacher of English, took part to online training events and got inspiration for an eTwinning project:

Learning diary: https://www.sutori.com/story/learning-in-a-museum-2698

Learning diary: classsroom

https://www.sutori.com/story/embracing-language-diversity-in-your-

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/72021

The eTwinning project “Our awesome cities!” suggested a journey through the partners’ cities and visits to their museums to uncover and discover the local cultural heritage, and promote it across Europe. The learning path moved from inside the school to the outside community creating a significant link between them to provide formal and non-formal education, and significantly impact on the students’ growth. The educational activities were based on methodological approaches that promote active learning, the development of the students’ sense of responsibility, and entrepreneurship. In particular, the practice of learning in a museum was fostered by a set of preparatory activities to get the best from the museum experience, and of during the visit and post-visit tasks to capitalize on it. The classes commented on their European mates’ visits and collaborated with them in their post-visit activities. They also made a Flipgrid with short videos to promote their cities’ beauties and heritage.

OBJECTIVES - To enjoy with students/teachers from other European countries the adventure of learning in a museum - To make students understand the value and importance of cultural heritage - To leave the zone of quite passiveness students have during traditional lessons getting more confident while learning with other European schoolmates - To support the acquisition of 21st century skills in students by promoting problem solving and critical thinking activities, and boosting creativity and divergent thinking - To involve students in team work and boost their sense of responsibility and the ability to work in international groups - To improve communication skills in L2 and ICT skills - To valorize language diversity in the classroom

PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY The project was designed to implement student-centred pedagogical approaches to enhance their potential. The teaching and learning methods adopted were identified, discussed and shared among the partner schools since the beginning of the projects.

-Collaborative learning: students mostly worked in pairs or in teams on a topic, did researches, discussed and created products. They shared tasks and responsibilities and were aware of the fact that the work done by each member of the group was essential for the success of the team.

-Active learning: The project focused on enhancing autonomous work among students.

They were involved in planning, implementing, and assessing the various activities; -Project-based learning: Challenging driving questions stimulated the students to find their own solutions to fulfil their tasks.

- Museum Learning: Museums are important educational environments and offer a considerable learning potential. Collections provide pupils with a tangible connection with the past and allow them to experience the evolution of human history and cultural heritage and to understand the historical value of objects and the value of every culture. Moreover exploring museums gives students the ability to engage in the process of acquiring knowledge and to express thoughts and emotions besides boosting the development of critical thinking skills and the acquisition of lifelong learning skills. This approach was adopted in the project as a means of actively engaging students in the discovery of their cultural heritage.

- Inquiry-based learning: The students were required to answer questions by pointing to factual evidence after having identified useful trustworthy accurate resources. They were asked to examine evidence and analyse their findings checking their plausibility. In so doing they started developing the skills and knowledge necessary to be critical thinkers and citizens in a society which is saturated with media. Now more than ever before the students need to learn how to evaluate the information they encounter.

- Author visit: The students met an author who explained to them the main aspects of a story and gave tips on how to plan and write it. Meeting an expert is a good opportunity for the pupils to better understand the art of storytelling while talking to a person who has deep expertise in the field and to become more confident in dealing with it. _____________________________ If the eTwinning partnership works as expected and the collaboration is satisfactory, the partners may decide to design an Erasmus+ KA229 School Exchange Partnership and give their students the opportunity not only to collaborate online with European mates but also to travel, meet them and discover their countries, culture and traditions.

“Our awesome cities” has turned into the Erasmus+ project “Our awesome cultural heritage … Our awesome ties”.

Its implementation has been carefully scheduled from its beginning and regularly updated according to the needs of each partner school or unpredictable circumstances.

The new eTwinning project linked to it – TIES - works as a sort of diary and showcase of the activities which are being carried out.

“Our awesome cultural heritage … Our awesome ties” is aimed at: • • • • • • •

developing awareness of the value of European cultural heritage; fostering democratic participation; stressing the importance of taking action and making an impact; strengthening the sense of responsibility in attaining set educational goals; boosting 21st century skills and competences to enable students to get ahead in today’s society; recognizing the value of soft skills and validating them; improving foreign language knowledge and competent use.

The theme of cultural heritage which is the leitmotif will be analysed from varied perspectives and while working on its promotion the participants will contribute to strengthen the three dimensions of sustainable development (environmental sustainability, inclusive social development, inclusive economic development) as well as the fostering of peace and security. The integration of a sustainable development perspective will enable students to learn the importance of acting with social responsibility and grasp the meaning of democratic participation. Participation of young people as active responsible citizens can take many forms and have different degrees and, informally, it includes participating in cultural activities and in education among others (EACEA report Youth Participation in Democratic Life – 2013).

While exploring aspects of the local and national cultural heritage and comparing them with the findings of their partners, the students will become aware of the uniqueness of each legacy but even more of the ties that bind the peoples within the European Continent.

As a result the sense of belonging to a brotherhood of nations will be reinforced and they will realize it is high time to contribute to keep it working at its best since each individual’s action to improve it will be a relevant step. In addition after delving into and unfolding the various aspects of cultural heritage the students will collaborate to devise means for

protecting, preserving and promoting their cultural heritage together with the municipality, the tourist office, museums, libraries, environmental organisations, experts and relevant stakeholders. In so doing they will develop and/or enhance 21st century skills and will be readier to face the challenges they will encounter when they leave school and will be better equipped with the skills and competences required by the labour market. To testify the achievement of this goal the partner schools will design tools to assess and certify the degree of acquisition of set soft skills through the project activities. Among them communication and language learning will have a relevant role. The language of the project will be English, the 2nd language all students study at school except for the English speakers from the Isle of Wight. Anyway the languages of all the countries of the project will be promoted as part of the European cultural heritage. The basics of each language will be shared and their use in real contexts fostered. eTwinning TIES https://twinspace.etwinning.net/92482

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The work done shows how teachers at IIS P. Sraffa are trying to innovate their teaching approach and internationalize the school as a result of the implementation of the Erasmus+ KA1 project Rethinking pedagogy for an inclusive 21st century school!

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.