1. 15 year of Comenius 5 years of eTwinning
Comenius and eTwinning Conference
Prague, 30 September 2010 1

2. 2 Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670)
theologian, philosopher and pedagogue; “Didactica Magna”
believed that only through education could one achieve full potential and lead a truly harmonious life
one of the founding fathers of modern education
also a cosmopolitan and universalist who strove incessantly for human rights, peace between the nations, social peace and the unity of mankind 2 2

3. LLP: a four-pillar structure
Comenius
School
education
Erasmus
Higher education & advanced training
Leonardo
da Vinci
Vocational education and training
Grundtvig
Adult
Transversal Programme
4 key activities – Policy cooperation; Languages; ICT; Dissemination and exploitation of results
Jean Monnet Programme
3 key activities – Jean Monnet Action; European
Institutions; European associations

4. Lifelong Learning Programme (following Socrates 1995-2006 and others…)
Duration: January 2007 – December 2013
Budget: € 7 billion
31 Participating countries in 2007: 27 EU-Member States Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Turkey
Now, the LLP programme is also open to Switzerland and Croatia
Soon the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

5. Lifelong learning: Comenius for school education
Addressing:
Schools from pre-schools to upper secondary
Educational community in its broadest sense: pupils, teachers, schools,local authorities, parents associations, teacher training institutes
Specific target:
Involve at least 3 million EU school pupils in joint educational activities by 2013
EUROPE IN THE CLASSROOM (from the Europe for Lifelong Learning brochure)
Covering pre-schools through to upper secondary schools, the Comenius programme seeks to develop understanding of and between various European cultures through exchanges and cooperation between schools in different countries – these experiences foster personal development, skills and competences, and cultivate the notion of European citizenship.
The programme addresses the educational community in its broadest sense, including local authorities, parents associations or teacher training institutes.
Comenius aims to boost the quality of school education, strengthen its European dimension and promote mobility, language learning and greater inclusion. It supports partnerships between schools in thematic fields of common interest and multilateral projects to develop new pedagogical methods or curricula. It also funds education
networks, as well as the on- and off-line twinning between schools.
More specifically, Comenius has the objective of promoting the participation of at least 3 million pupils in joint educational activities by It supports transnational mobility, school partnerships, European projects and networks.
COMENIUS
Czech-born theologian and philosopher Johann Amos Comenius ( ) was one of the founding fathers of modern education who believed in bringing education to all. 5

6. Comenius actions Centralised: managed by EACEA Multilateral projects
Networks
Decentralised: managed by National Agencies
Mobility (In-Service Training, Assistantships, Pupil mobility)
School partnerships
Regio partnerships
eTwinning: EACEA and National Support Services
Art. 18:
“The following actions may be supported by the Comenius programme:
(a) mobility of individuals as referred to in Article 5(1)(a). In arranging for or supporting the organisation of such mobility, the necessary preparatory measures shall be adopted and care shall be taken to ensure that adequate supervision and support is available for people in mobility. Such mobility may include:
(i) exchanges of pupils and staff;
(ii) mobility to schools for pupils and placements in schools or enterprises abroad for pupils or for educational staff;
(iii) participation in training courses for teachers and other educational staff;
(iv) study and preparatory visits for mobility, partnership, project or network activities;
assistantships for teachers and potential teachers.
(b) development of partnerships as referred to in Article 5(1)(b) between:
(i) schools with a view to developing joint learning projects for pupils and their teachers (‘Comenius school partnerships’);
(ii) organisations responsible for any aspect of school education, with a view to fostering regional cooperation (‘Comenius-Regio partnerships’);
(c) multilateral projects, as referred to in Article 5(1)(c), in particular those aimed at improving school education systems through the transfer of innovation and good practice;
(d) multilateral cooperation projects as referred to in Article 5(1)(e). They may include projects aimed at:
(i) developing, promoting and disseminating educational best practices, including new teaching methods or materials;
(ii) developing or exchanging experience on systems of providing information or guidance particularly adapted to the learners, teachers and other staff concerned by the Comenius programme;
(iii) developing, promoting and disseminating new teacher training courses or course content;
(e) networks as referred to in Article 5(1)(e). They may include networks aimed at:
(i) developing education in the discipline or subject area in which they operate, for their own benefit and for that of education more widely;
(ii) acquiring and disseminating relevant good practice and innovation;
(iii) providing content support to projects and partnerships set up by others;
(iv) promoting the development of needs analysis and its practical applications within school education;
(f) other initiatives aimed at promoting the objectives of the Comenius programme as referred to in Article 5(1)(h) (‘Accompanying Measures’).
The operational details of the actions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be decided in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 10(2).

7. New Comenius actions

8. Comenius Regio Partnerships
Bilateral Partnerships between regional or local authorities
with a role in school education

9. Comenius Regio Partnerships
To promote joint co-operation activities between regions and municipalities in Europe.
To provide them with the opportunity to work together on one or more topics of mutual interest.
Examples of activities that can be carried out in Comenius Regio partnerships:
• Project meetings between all institutions involved in the partnership
• Exchanges of staff involved in school education (e.g. teacher exchanges, study visits of staff working in the local/ regional school administration)
• Action research, small studies
• Job shadowing, peer learning activities and common training sessions
• Exchanges of experience and good practice with partner regions / municipalities abroad
• Conferences, seminars and workshops
• Summer schools
• Awareness raising, campaigns
• Drafting, publishing and disseminating documentation related to the co-operation activities
• Linguistic preparation of staff participating in the partnership
• Co-operation with other projects in related subject areas (including Comenius Networks), including mobility to network events if relevant, sharing experience with other institutions in the region
• Joint self-evaluation activities
• Dissemination of project experiences and outcomes
Already at application stage, applicants should consider in concrete terms how to ensure the sustainability of the outcomes. This could be the support of future bi- or multilateral school partnerships, the establishment of regular teacher exchanges or study visits, as well as the implementation of new methods and practices.
In the case of cross border regions, it is expected that the participating regions demonstrate their intention to develop sustainable forms of cooperation.
Comenius Regio Partnerships shall disseminate their results and support other regions or institutions to profit from their experiences. At application stage they are asked to provide a dissemination plan as well as ideas how results could be used by themselves and others.
Comenius Regio Partnerships can be combined with already existing activities in Town Twinning or other European educational programmes, but should clearly create additional cooperation activities as well as a deepening of already existing cooperation in the field of school education. 9 9

10. Individual Pupil Mobility
Introduction phase - in 2010 with 13 countries, in 2011with 17 countries
A European learning experience for secondary school pupils
3 – 10 months exchange of pupils between schools involved in common Comenius School Partnership 10 10

11. Impact of Comenius actions

12. Individual Mobility in Comenius - figures
In-Service Training (up to 6 weeks)
Teachers and other school staff
Training courses, job-shadowing/placements,
and conferences/seminars
Assistantships (3-10 months)
Future teachers and
fresh graduates
2007
2008
2009
YTD 2010
Total EU
8.700
10.200
10.600
7.700
37.200
2007
2008
2009
YTD 2010
Total EU
1.128
1.186
1.200
1.100
4.614

13. Impact of Comenius Individual Mobility actions
In-Service Training
teachers’ professional and personal development
learning processes of pupils
internationalisation of home institutions (e.g. often starting international co-operation)
Assistantships
Assistants: professional and personal development, strengthened maturity and intercultural awareness, increased motivation to learn a new FL, higher motivation to teach, the longer the duration the higher the professional skills growth
Host schools: strengthened European dimension in the daily school life, increased interest of pupils/teachers in learning foreign languages, improvement of content and methods of teaching, establishment of co-operation with schools/organisations from other countries

14. Comenius School Partnerships - figures
Multilateral partnerships
Joint cooperation activities between schools
Bilateral partnerships
Class exchanges
2007
2008
2009
YTD 2010
Total EU
8.628
5.674
5.341
5.570 (tbc)
25.213

15. Impact of Comenius School Partnerships
Impact areas and benefits (above 70%)
Impact on pupils
Increase of interest in other countries and cultures
Foreign language competence: improvement of knowledge and enhanced interest
Improvement of social skills and abilities (team-work)
Raised self-confidence
Enhanced motivation towards learning and knowledge acquisition
Impact on teachers
Appreciation of education/school systems in partner countries
Readiness to work in (interdisciplinary) teams
Exposure to new subject matters, teaching methods, concepts

16. A new Comenius action for the future?

17. Objectives of a future long-term staff mobility action
To improve the quality and European dimension of schools by increasing the knowledge of teachers, improving teaching skills and enhancing awareness of teachers and other school staff of the variety of methodological approaches in Europe.
This should be achieved through offering teachers the opportunity to work in an educational institution in another European country over a substantial period.
EP pilot action planned for 2011

18. www.etwinning.net A community for schools in Europe
Tools, support and recognition rather than funding individual projects
No bureaucracy
More information on
eTwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It provides support, ideas and tools to make it easy for schools to set up partnerships and start collaborative projects in any subject area.
eTwinning assists schools at both European level, through the Central Support Service (CSS), and at national level, through the National Support Services (NSS).
The Central Support Service provides the European eTwinning portal, offers a helpdesk for teachers, publishes pedagogical and information materials on eTwinning and organises periodically European teachers' professional development workshops. It also works in close collaboration with the National Support Services to ensure shared practice and a coordinated approach to eTwinning on a European level.
The European eTwinning portal is a fully multilingual website offering collaboration tools and services through which teachers register, find partners and work together with them.
The National Support Services (NSS) are organisations appointed by the ministries of education who promote eTwinning at a national level. They organise specific training sessions for teachers and ensure that eTwinning approaches fit the particular needs of the local schools.
Participants:
Schools (institutions providing general, vocational and technical education - from pre-school education to upper secondary).
Teachers of any subject area, headmasters, librarians and other school staff.
Funding: Individual projects do not receive direct funding but teachers benefit from the services, training, recognition and tools provided by the eTwinning national and European Support Services.
Application: Every school education teacher, headmaster, librarian and other school staff through the eTwinning portal. No formal application is required. 18 18

20. eTwinning so far 98,616 active members in 2,460 active projects
high rate of retention: cca 10,000 teachers have taken part in 2 or more projects
a well functioning support network
a proximity assistance network: eTwinning ambassadors
going beyond projects: teacher professional development, networking and community building

21. Impact of eTwinning
Supports sustainable co-operation of schools in Europe
Supports professional development of teachers
Increases motivation and creativity of all involved
« Impact on professional and personal life, on pupils and colleagues at school. »
« eTwinning has enabled me to:
Get to know teachers, schools, educational systems, cultures, countries…all over Europe; learn from other teachers,
Have my work acknowledged (conferences, prizes),
Change my teaching methods (ICT, Web based tools, collaborative work); my teaching gained quality,
Engage my pupils in their teaching-learning processes
Add quality and innovation in the school’s educational projects – more teachers are becoming involved in eTwinning each year. »

22. eTwinning so far Visits to the portal

25. eTwinning in the near future...
more involvement of teachers in communities
more peer to peer assistance
more interaction among pupils
greater involvement of headmasters and of the school
improvement and consolidation of the platform

26. Some examples of synergies between eTwinning and (the rest of) Comenius
joint Comenius Partnerships-eTwinning events
joint information meetings and regional workshops
regular meetings between the NA and the NSS
information about eTwinning/Comenius decentralised actions in NA or NSS newsletters and publications
Comenius schools encouraged to use eTwinning in their projects
Comenius partnerships and eTwinning presented together at events and meetings with teachers
preparation of eTwinning pedagogical kits for individual pupil mobility and assistantships
and many others...

27. Further ideas for synergies between Comenius and eTwinning
over to you...
Kateřina Kapounová Bavorová
DG EAC School education;Comenius