Tekst on inglise keeles, sest koostati partnerite ühisel jõul ja seega kõigil ühesugune.
| C.PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES |
Please note that section C of the application form must be completed jointly by all institutions participating in this Partnership.
Please answer on a separate sheet and follow the order of the questions hereafter. The complete description should not exceed 2 pages of text.
- Which Partnership activities have taken place so far in the school year 2006/07?
- Please describe briefly the results of your Partnership so far.
- Describe any changes from the Partnership as originally designed. Specify the nature of the changes, and their effects. Changes might concern, for example, your aims and objectives, workplan or the respective roles of partners.
- Which activities are envisaged for the remaining part of the school year 2006/07?
Please provide information on the activities taking place within and between the participating institutions, as well as the mobility activities – i.e. project meetings, teacher exchanges, teacher placements, head teacher study visits. In case there are major deviations from the initial plan, please explain why.
- How do you intend to evaluate the progress of the Partnership and its impact?
- How do you intend to disseminate and use the results, experience and end products of your Partnership amongst the participating institutions, other institutions and the local community?
1The vision for the project was discussed in a preparatory visit to Estonia in January 2006. Positive relationships were founded and an outline plan was agreed. The project started with a very successful workshop which took place of Finland. Participants from all partner schools met and gained insight into the work of the school and aspects of the culture in Finland. At that meeting the project was discussed in detail.
Information packs about each country had been prepared in advance of this meeting and were exchanged, each school giving a presentation about their school, including the sharing of web sites and photographs. The content of these packs and presentations have been used as learning materials.
We considered the requirements for creating a joint quilt at the planning meeting and the school in Finland has refined those requirements as they have agreed to be responsible for assembling the final quilt pieces which are to be sent from each individual country. Schools have started the design process within their classes for quilted sections to represent their own country.
There was initial consultation on the multi vocabulary list at this meeting which has been later refined through further contact between schools by electronic communications. Pupils in partner schools have started power point presentations which will be uploaded to the web site as the project progresses.
Links have been established through the internet by email, web cam and a joint web site based in Iceland which each school can access and amend. Pupils have also sent individual written communications between schools. Newsletters outlining progress were created by every participating school in November and have been shared between countries and at a local level schools have highlighted their project work in local newspapers and within their own school communities.
All schools are at present engaged in preparatory work in learning a local dance and games to share on CD.
2Through this project opportunity has been created for teachers to exchange professional experiences in both formal and informal settings. Teachers have been able to discuss differing methodologies and gain insight into each country’s culture.
Teachers returning to their respective schools have reported that the visits have been motivating to them within their own work place and a significant increase in teaching and learning activities taking place relating to the countries of their partner schools has been noted. This motivation has in turn impacted upon pupils’ experience and also as a result colleagues within participating schools have become aware of the project and become involved. The enthusiasm and involvement has also raised parental awareness. The positive nature of the project and educational advantages have been shared with colleagues in other schools.
3Some learning activities and opportunities not anticipated in the planning stages have arisen as the project has unfolded. One of these involves the time taken to research and learn about each country to extend the knowledge base of staff and pupils. This was not noted as a specific activity within the original plan. It was an expected outcome but the time management aspect of this outcome was overlooked. This along with each schools very full local programme and curriculum has resulted in our programme timescale being slightly altered by around a month to six weeks.
There have also been some challenges to overcome. Each country has found that differing restrictions on the use of IT within schools has caused time slippage. Activities which had been envisaged as easy tasks were sometimes hindered by corporate policy e.g. interface through web cam disallowed in certain ways due to firewalls, local email restrictions due to the age of pupils. Schools therefore have found that it has taken longer to establish access which if done at home would have taken minutes not months.
4Within the remainder of this session schools have still to assemble their quilt sections, film and send their dance and game via CD, upload their vocabulary power points to the joint web site and complete one more newsletter as a progress update. There is also to be a final meeting in Tallinn in June 2007 where a full evaluation of the project is to be made and the joint web pages updated and refined. Several cultural visits which relate to our project have also been planned. In particular, we will attend the traditional dance festival and also hear examples of Estonia’s rich singing heritage. This is a rare opportunity to attend this special event. At present a head teacher study visit between Estonia and Scotland is taking place. The head teacher in Estonia is studying for a PhD and will be using the experience to broaden her knowledge on her chosen subject.
5It is planned that the progress and impact of the project will be finally evaluated through collating the observations made of pupils’ work, the content of the newsletters, sharing of informal and formal feedback from parents and pupils, content of the web site inclusion of articles within media and discussion between partner schools at the meeting in Tallinn. 6Following the evaluation process a written evaluation will be made in the form of the final report. Participating schools will be expected to share the results through various means where they exist within the countries. These will include e.g. speaking at local management meetings, publications in local newsletters or newspapers giving reference to the project web site created with its URL.