primary education
UNESCO (IITE) study on ICT in primary education
The UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) situated in Moscow is conducting a study on how ICT is reshaping the teaching and learning processes of children in primary education.
With respect to the expectations, requirements and challenges of the 21st century, the team of nine UNESCO experts from around the world will work for 3 years, beginning in 2011, to analyze different approaches, priorities, obstacles and strategies for integrating ICT into the everyday work and play of primary children and their teachers.
On 17-18 April 2011 an opening meeting of the project was held in Poitiers, France, co-organized by CNED, the French National Centre for Distance Education. In the meeting the project expert team was established together with mechanisms of coordination among the team members. The role of each expert was discussed and project’s strategy and implementation plan was defined.
Goals of the project
Analyzing changes in the teaching and learning processes in primary education due to the integration of ICT is a challenge: there are many different factors, strategies, and approaches, as well as positive and negative experience to examine. Through the project’s work on existing literature, policy reports, empirical studies, and contact with sample schools, we want to support primary teachers and school policy makers in all countries and regions to learn more about the process – while either trying to initiate it or promote it further in their schools. They plan to:
- Collect, analyze and document local idiosyncrasies and shared approaches to the complex process of integrating ICT in primary children’s learning experiences,
- Demonstrate why governments should invest in integrating ICT into the learning processes of children and why many of them do,
- Investigate reasons why teachers and leaders use ICT in their everyday pedagogy and what for and, especially, why they should use it in primary education,
- Study the roles of the teachers, children, parents and school leaders in this process,
- Study and document opportunities provided by ICT for teaching and learning (supporting the development of literacy, numeracy, science, 21st century competencies in primary schools,
- ollect and share a range of learning outcomes reported, identify learning outcomes that could be planned and expected because of ICT,
- Disseminate the experiences of the leading primary schools IITE will collaborate with during the project,
- Examine the limitations of ICT and the associated concerns in primary education.
Universidade de Aveiro lança projecto Geometrix
O Projecto Geometrix, inserido no Grupo Álgebra e Geometria do Centro de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Matemática e Aplicações (CIDMA), é um projecto interdisciplinar agregando matemáticos, informáticos, educadores e desenhadores gráficos, dirigido aos diversos graus de Ensino com o objectivo de desenvolver novos ambientes de aprendizagem assistidos por computador.
Este projecto abrange duas vertentes, uma ligada à investigação nas áreas de Matemática, Inteligência Artificial e Educação Matemática tendo em vista a concepção de metodologias, arquitectura de sistemas e desenvolvimento de ferramentas computacionais para o ensino e a aprendizagem da Matemática, com ênfase na Geometria, e outra associada à produção de software educativo. Aglutina os seguintes sub-projectos:
- Ecotoons: software educativo de Matemática para o 1.º ciclo do Ensino Básico
- TexMat: livro interactivo de Matemática para o 2º Ciclo do Ensino Básico
- LpMat: software Educativo para Crianças com Necessidades Educativas Especiais decorrentes de surdez, perturbações do espectro do autismo, cegueira ou baixa visão, deficiência motora e mental
- IntBooks: plataforma agregadora de diversos tipos de tecnologia web para criação de documentos digitais
- Jogos: colectânea de jogos lúdico-educativos
- SGC – Sistemas de Gestão de Conteúdos
Um outro objectivo do Geometrix é o desenvolvimento de projectos em parceria com instituições nacionais e internacionais.
A equipa do Geometrix realiza a pedido de instituições, seminários referentes às suas actividades e sessões presenciais e experimentais com grupos de alunos. Os pedidos devem ser enviados por correio electrónico para o endereço dmat-geometrix@ua.pt
Canada International Conference on Education (CICE-2012)
The CICE is an international refereed conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practices in education. The CICE promotes collaborative excellence between academicians and professionals from Education. The aim of CICE is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various educational fields with cross-disciplinary interests to bridge the knowledge gap, promote research esteem and the evolution of pedagogy. The CICE 2012 invites research papers that encompass conceptual analysis, design implementation and performance evaluation. All the accepted papers will appear in the proceedings and modified version of selected papers will be published in special issues peer reviewed journals.
Koulu 3.1
Hankkeen keskeisenä tavoitteena on etsiä ja löytää pedagogisesti perusteltuja ratkaisuja yhteisöllisen median välineiden ja ohjelmistojen hyödyntämiseen perusopetuksessa. Koulu 3.0 -hankkeen myötä on saatu kokemuksia monenlaisista tekniikoista ja mahdollisuuksista hyödyntää niitä luokkaopetuksessa ja verkko-opetuksessa sekä monimuoto-opetuksessa. Nämä on koottuna Koulu 3.0 -hankkeen työtapapankkiin. Koulu 3.1 -hanke syventää aiemmin toteutettujen hankkeiden tavoitteita.
EU countries discuss challenges for schools and pupils
EU Education Ministers and high-ranking civil servants in charge of school education met in Gdańsk, Poland, on 10-11 October to discuss EU policies for pre-schools, schools and language learning, in particular ways of improving young people's basic skills in reading, maths and science.
Directors General for Schools in the EU Member States held talks on 10 October focused on such issues as how to ensure universal access to high quality education and care for young children and how to improve language learning at an early age. They also had an initial exchange on the role of schools in the EU's next support programme for education and training from 2014, for which the Commission will present its proposal in November.
At their informal meeting on 11 October, Education Ministers debated the importance of language skills for lifelong learning and pupils' future job prospects. They also discussed the question how EU countries can better exploit the diversity of their different education systems to raise overall levels of competences among pupils in the basic skills of literacy, maths and science.
Background
In May this year, Ministers backed the Commission's plans to help Member States ensure generalised access to high quality early childhood education and care.
In July 2011 the Commission published a Policy Handbook on Early Language Learning with useful orientations on how to develop language awareness and second or foreign language learning in pre-primary education.
EU countries have agreed on a set of shared education targets to be achieved by 2020. They have pledged to reduce the share of low achieving 15 year olds in literacy, maths and science to less than 15% (currently 20%) and to ensure that by 2020 at least 95% of children between 4 years old and the starting age of compulsory education should participate in early childhood education.
To know more
- European Commission: School policy
- European Commission: Education targets (including country by country figures)
- European Commission: Languages
Change in Education - Call for Papers! - ESSIE Annual Convention 2012 - Leuven Belgium
CALL FOR PAPERS: CHANGE IN EDUCATION
Official ISBN publication: "ESSIE Annual Convention 2012: Change in Education”.
PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
- 31 January 2012
THEMES I
• Innovation Ecologies and Learning Ecosystems
• Digital Learning Resources and Learning Clouds
• Transformational Educational Leadership
• Alternative and Diversified Learning Spaces
• Shifts in Teaching, Learning and Assessment
• Web 2.0, Wiki and Social Technologies
• Open Access, Resources and Standards
• Internet Security, Privacy and Safety
• Breakthroughs in Learning and Neurosciences
Visit the Website: Call for Papers
Submit your paper THE LATEST on 31 January 2012
Informatique scolaire à l'école primaire: Spécificités et devenir du groupe professionnel des animateurs TICE
Cet ouvrage propose une étude sur les acteurs de l'informatique scolaire du premier degré de l'école française, les animateurs TICE (ATICE). Ces acteurs, réunis en communauté de pratique en ligne, expriment leurs intérêts et valeurs, controverses et consensus à propos de leur rôle. Constitués en communauté de pratique, ils s'engagent dans un projet de professionnalisation, interrogeant leur identité professionnelle.
Examination of the National Reform Programmes 2011: Policy Conclusions
Improving the provision, adequacy and quality of education and training systems and addressing skills mismatches, both for young and adult population, remains high in the reform agenda of almost all countries and is necessary to achieve productivity growth.
Focus is being put on improving accessibility to lifelong learning opportunities and attractiveness of vocational education systems and apprenticeships schemes. In this respect, partnerships between education and training institutions and social partners could improve the appropriateness of these schemes to labour market needs. Further action is also necessary to reach out to more early school leavers through further education or vocational training opportunities.
Ministers back Commission's action plan to fight early school leaving
Statement by Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Sport, at the meeting of Education Ministers (20 May 2011)
"Today we are taking an important step forward in the fight against early school leaving in Europe and in achieving one of the Europe 2020 headline targets. This task is a vital one - Europe cannot afford to leave six million young people without a clear perspective for their further education and employment.
This Council Recommendation signals our commitment to fight one of the main causes of poverty and social exclusion.
We are all well aware that early school leaving is a complex problem. There is no easy solution which fits all circumstances and conditions.
There are many reasons why young people interrupt their education; reasons which need to be taken seriously and which require an adequate answer. Young people may need social, financial, emotional or educational support; they may need a new cause or motivation for continuing education and training.
A complex problem such as early school leaving requires strategies which address its multi-faceted and cross-sectoral nature. We need to shift from uncoordinated individual measures to more comprehensive and strategic approaches, which involve all the relevant stakeholders and policy sectors - not just education. Our strategies should be based on evidence and targeted sufficiently to the concrete situation within a Member State or a region.
I am confident that this Recommendation will boost the development of such comprehensive policies.
A European level expert group which the Commission plans to establish will facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practice and help to further develop effective and efficient policies to reduce early school leaving.
The Commission will support this work also by monitoring developments in Europe, by supporting comparative research on early school leaving, and by identifying trends and providing feedback to the Member States in the context of 'Europe 2020' and 'ET2020' [Education & Training 2020].
The Report on Progress in meeting the European Benchmarks for Education and Training (IP/11/488) sets out the most recent comparable evidence about early school leaving but also covers our shared objectives for education more generally, including early childhood education and learning mobility. I commend it to you as a valuable source of information which can help guide your important work in this and in other educational fields. "
Prevention policies aimed at children with a socio-economic disadvantaged background including Roma
"The particular situation of early school leaving among Roma children needs specific, sustained and targeted attention. In the Commission's Communication on Roma Integration Strategies adopted in April (IP/11/400), we have highlighted that in Member States with large Roma populations, the emphasis may need to be placed first of all on ensuring completion of primary education – only after addressing this challenge can early leaving from secondary school be tackled.
As a concrete contribution to help deal with the profound educational problems of Roma children, I want to inform you of my intention to launch, jointly with the Council of Europe, a programme to train, over the next three years, 1,000 Roma people as mediators. The aim is that they should work to bridge the gaps that exist between Roma children, families and communities and the schools and other services which are meant to serve their needs. I will sign the agreement to launch this process with the Council of Europe in July."
Background:
One in seven young people in Europe quit education or training without adequate qualifications and this harms their personal development and job prospects. The measures proposed by the Commission will help EU countries to achieve their joint target of reducing the share of early school leavers in Europe from 14.4% now to less than 10% by 2020. This would mean at least 1.7 million fewer early school leavers. Member States have set national targets to reduce early school leaving, taking account of their relative starting positions and national circumstances.
Commissioner Vassiliou presented the action plan on early school-leaving in January (see IP/11/109).
To find out more:
Early school leaving in Europe – questions and answers (MEMO/11/52)
Share of early school leavers by country
By 2020 a share of early school leavers of no more than 10% should be reached.
Trends: In EU 27 the share of early school leavers (population 18-24) declined from 17.6% in 2000 to 14.4% in 2009 (females: 12.5%. males: 16.3%).
Best EU performers: Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia
ESSIE Proceedings and Video Impression available
ESSIE´s Annual Assembly 2011 successfully attracted a wide range of participants, from universities, colleges, institutions, professional education, vocational education, primary and secondary education, as well as public and private organisations, networks and multipliers!
This truly expresses the transversal and complementary nature of Systemic Innovation.
ESSIE would like to thank all the Assembly participants, such as the Society members, volunteers, professionals, academics, interestees, invitees and article reviewers, who have all worked so hard to make the Assembly a big success, both in terms of organisation and scientific content!
The ESSIE Annual Assembly always is a definite mark on the calendar. It is an energetic event, providing the stage for many presenters to reflect on their research and practice, as well as on their struggles. The Annual Assembly brings together all distinctive individuals from the ESSIE Society, allowing them to participate in the Mission ESSIE has embarked on.
View the Video Impression and have open access to the proceedings and presentations.