Evaluation of Comenius school partnerships : Some ideas & suggestions WiMi conference, Tirrenia (IT), May 2011 Yves Beernaert

 Smart Growth  Digital agenda for Europe  Innovation Union  Youth on the move  Sustainable growth  Resource efficient Europe  An industrial policy for the globalisation era  Inclusive growth  An agenda for new skills and jobs  European platform against poverty 7 Flagship initiatives EU 2020

 1. Make lifelong learning a reality  2. Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training  3. Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship  4. Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of E &T. Strategy ET 2020

 Share of early leavers should be less than 10% ;  Share of year olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40%;  At least 95% of children should participate in early childhood education ;  Share of 15-years olds with insufficient abilities in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15% ;  Average of at least 15% of adults (age group 25-64) should participate in LLL. Benchmarks 2020

 Communication in the mother tongue  Communication in foreign languages  Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology  Digital competence  Learning to learn  Social and civic competences  Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship  Cultural awareness and expression 8 key competences for LLL

young people and educational staff  To develop knowledge and understanding among young people and educational staff of the diversity of European cultures and languages and its value basic life-skills and competences  To help young people acquire the basic life-skills and competences necessary for their personal development, for future employment and for active European citizenship Specific objectives of Comenius school partnerships

 Improve quality, increase volume of mobility involving pupils and educational staff  Improve quality, increase the volume of partnerships between schools (3 million pupils in LLP)  Encourage learning of modern foreign languages  Support the development of innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies and practice in LLL  Enhance quality and European dimension of teacher education (3 I’s)  Support improvements in pedagogical approaches and school management Operational objectives

DEMING CYCLE PLANDOCHECKACT EVALUATION : Deming Cycle Never-ending process

= recognize value of what has been acquired, achieved = see how far objectives have been reached = improve quality / value = improve implementation of the project = disseminate value = increase ownership of the project = contribute to Continuous Professional Development = recognize work, time & efforts (credits for teachers!) = increase legitimacy, accountability Why evaluate ?

 The impact, effect on the target groups: i.a.  Pupils  Teachers  Future teachers / trainers  School  Partnership  The Eur. dimension & the Eur. added value  The management and coordination of the project?  The involvement and commitment of the partners to the project?  The quality of the activities / products implemented  The dissemination  The networking  The evaluation  Etc. What do we evaluate?

 Relevance: contribution to specific needs : objectives at local, regional, nat. level versus objectives of Comenius  Efficiency: relationship input versus output  Effectiveness: match between results and the objectives  Impact: on pupils, teachers, schools, the partnership, parents, community, etc.  Sustainability Steps to keep the project going after funding Key elements of evaluation

 Internal evaluation or self-evaluation  External evaluation  Cross –evaluation  A combination of those  Evaluation is a process:  Formative and summative evaluation  Evaluation as element of action-research Forms of evaluation

 partners and co-ordinator of project evaluating themselves  within a project one partner can be in charge of this  during / after meetings / activities of the project  checking implementation of follow-up to meetings  using specific tools  Etc. Self-evaluation

 One project evaluating another project and vice versa  Similar or different thematic area  Experienced and / or inexperienced projects  Using same and comparable tools  Joint events between projects  Basis for further networking Cross-evaluation

 Evaluation by an external critical friend  Complemented by self or cross evaluation  External evaluator is not a passive observer  He / she is may be an ‘active’ (not passive) participant to project  He / she is not a controller  He / she is evaluated by participants  Basic competences as an external evaluator External evaluation

Effects on PUPILS (Professional) Effects on TEACHERS Effects on SCHOOLS Effects on PARTNERSHIP Subject skills Integration of project in various subjects Disciplinary skills Embedding in curriculum Objectives of the project Language skills / awareness Increased interest / useIncreased interest /School policy: e.g. CLIL Language policy partnership Intercultural skillsIn words and actions…In words and action…Diversity policy Intercultural mgt partnership Project-based learning skills Active learning environments Project-based teaching Cross-curricular approaches Pedagogical / didactical support MotivationMotivation of pupils Motivation of teachers Community involvement Commitment of all partners Social skillsTeam work School involvement Communication / Dissemination ICT skills ICT to enhance their learning ICT use in classroom and in communication School policy as to ICT ICT in communication within partnership Management skills Entrepreneurship of pupils In project Entrepreneurship of staff Managing international projects Partnership management skills European citizenship Pupils as active citizens Teachers as active citizens School (corporate) citizenship The network as a citizen Equal opportunities Equal opportunities for pupils: tutors.. Equal opportunities for all teachers Policy to enhance equal opportunities Equal opportunities all partners Euro : internat awareness Mobility of pupils / curriculum Mobility of staff: Eur. CPD, shadowing International school policy plan: flexibility Cooperation with other partnerships

 Communication Language skills  Problem-solvingIntercultural skills  Decision-makingConflict management  OrganisationTime management  PresentationTeam work / building  CreativityResearch & Analysis  Active learningProject Management  Inquiry-based learning etc. Eur. projects enhance basic competences & skills

 Co-operation / understanding / peace  Respect / openness foreign languages /  Tolerance / intercultural awareness  Empowerment / Self-esteem / confidence  Active Eur. citizenship / dialogue  Equality / social cohesion / inclusion  Awareness of history, memory, identity etc. Eur. Projects enhance attitudes

 It is impossible to evaluate everything.  SET PRIORITIES.  Effects can be short-term or long-term.  Always look for EVIDENCE:  “How do we know this?”  Create a special portfolio of evidence gathered  Document what you are doing !  This facilitates reporting to NA  Focus on the positive things. Key elements of evaluation

 QuestionnairesLearner’s report  BlogDrama / play  InterviewsDelphi Method  ObservationDiaries, logbooks  Level of participation Role play  Document analysisPresentations  Groups discussionsSimulation  Action-research Tools for evaluation

Support the creation of multifunctional partnerships / networks with various stakeholders in education  Political function: meeting with like-minded  Information function: exchange of relevant information  Psychological function: empowering of isolated individuals  A skills function: acquisition of skills not offered by peer learning Multifunctional partnerships / networks (Networking for innovation; OECD 2003)

 Involve the head / school management  Involve other colleagues/ parents / local community  Make tandems (back up!) within your school  A partnership shoul be inclusive, not exclusive!  Involve pupils up from beginning: WITH and FOR them!  Make the partnership tangible  Don’t overburden colleagues  Ask limited contribution focusing on their skills  Make a skills / competences’ assessment of the teachers involved  Make a skills / competences’ assessment of the partners  Evaluate the project activities!  Communicate about the partnership ! Some advice

Impact of the Comenius School Partnerships on the participant schools Final Report, DG Education and Culture, Kassel Comenius school partnerships: Handbook for schools (DGEAC): QAS: Quality and sustainability: MICE-T: Comenius 3 Network: I-Probe Net SEALLL: The art of networking: Networking.pdfhttp://archive.niace.org.uk/euroweaving/docs/The-Art-of- Networking.pdf References

Together we are building the European dream ! Evaluation is worth investing in! Good luck with your Comenius partnerships Thanks for your attention!

 acquisition new knowledge : Eur. perspective  acquisition of skills & competencies  forging attitudes  citizenship: intercultural, social, egalitarian, ecological, political, cultural  opening to other pedag. practice, systems  promotion reflective teacher Innovative achievements (1) COMENIUS for pupils, teachers

 team-building / team work  interdisciplinary & cross-curricular work  active use of (LWUTL) languages  use of NICT + virtual mobility / learning platform  Eur. in-set for teachers and staff  promotion of learning versus teaching teacher = learning counsellor / facilitator Innovative achievements (2) COMENIUS

 Eur. joint curriculum development  action-research + reflective teacher  expertise in project management  quality : extern. & intern. Evaluation  mobility teachers, heads, staff, pupils  links local community (industry, museums…)  new Eur. support structures in schools Innovative achievements (3) COMENIUS

 Collaborative learning  Peer education models for pupils  Peer review / shadowing / peer teaching  Eur. profes. learning communities  Intergenerational learning  Projectwork  Constructivist learning approaches Innovative achievements (4) COMENIUS

 enhance social + profess. status teachers  improve school climate + culture  enriches pedagogical project (mission, vision, values, goals)  creation of Eur. educ. space  contribution to active Eur. citizenship Study report 96: Challenging Europe through education and training Innovative achievements (5) COMENIUS

Effect on PUPILS Effect on TEACHERS Effect on SCHOOLS Effect on PARTNERSHIP SUBJECT SKILLS EMBEDDING IN THE CURRICULUM CLEAR OBJECTIVES FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS / AWARENESS FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS / AWARENESS SCHOOL POLICYCO-ORDINATION PROJECT BASED LEARNING PROJECT BASED TEACHING CROSS CURRICULAR APPROACH COMMUNICATION MOTIVATION COMMUNITY LINKSACTIVITY LIST SOCIAL SKILLS WHOLE SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT EVALUATION ICT SKILLS PROJECT VISIBILITY PRODUCTS, RESULTS ICT SKILLS MANAGEMENT SKILLS EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EXPERIENCED – NOVICE partners INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS FOREIGN LANGUAGE AWARENESS INTERNAT. AWARENESS NETWORKING