Transnational Learning Network Ein Schulentwicklungsprojekt im Comenius-Förderprogramm

Ploiesti 2003

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE PLANNING CONFERENCE - 27 September – 1 October 2003

DELEGATES:

Lancaster
David Prescott, Fr. Jonathan Hemmings, Michael Davies
Pupils: Thomas Gibson, Philip Machin

Tampere
Jari Aarnio, Sarra Maala

Rendsburg
Andreas Borrmann, Jorg Ritterhoff
Pupils: Sina Greve, Hauke Lammers

Ploiesti
Gabriel Taga, Daniela Lambru, Anca Trif, Gheorghe Calcan, Doina Dumitrache, Daniela Cornea, Mihaela Georgescu, Roxana Boldijar, Fr. Bogdan Georgescu, Simona Mazilu, Mihai Morar, Vali Pana, Alina Ranefir, Ortansa Giurgiu
Pupils: Oana Oproescu, Daniel Preotiuc, Mihai Dumitrescu, Ioana Dumitru, Ruxandra Ion, Alexandra Stefan

Biecz
Represented by Jari Aarnio (Finland)

Montargis
Gilbert Baumgartner,Gardenia Martinez
Pupils: Isalsel Garcia-Pimentel, Cindy Fernandes

Monday 29^th September

Session 1

The opening session was held in the newly refurbished school. The new director, Gabriel Taga warmly welcomed delegates from the link schools all of whom were present except for those from Biecz. The director introduced the Inspector, Anca Trif and Doina Dumastrescu who spoke about the coultural benefits of the exchange programme. Students from National College “Mihai Viteazul” were invited to speak, followed by Andreas Boormann, who expressed the importance of:

• Student participation
• The Romanian Contribution to the project

He went on to outline the programme alterations, suggestions as to how we might proceed with the discussions and added some views regarding the future of the partnership.

The International coordinators were then invited to report:

Finland and Poland:
Jari Aarnio first represented Biecz. Unfortunately, Poland had problems with funding and baurocracy and apologies were offered for the lack of delegates this time. Finland also mentioned the absence of student delegates due to the late arrival of outline notification of funding by the authorities. However, on a happier note, Biecz would continue to welcome delegates on European week and to follow the project even though they would not be in a position to send any students to the partner schools. This gesture received appropriate audible gratitude. He then conveyed greetings from Tampere and Biecz.

In Finland the participation in the project had included responses to “Attitudes to War”, Traditions and Art and Culture – this had been published on the web site. The Maths Challenge had also been successful as had responses to the sports initiative, national cuisine and exotic/extreme sports. European week, as always, had been a great success and he reiterated the importance of face-to-face contact.

France:
Gilbert Baumgartner mentioned the need for the project to support other languages in addition to English.  Once again the responses to the “Attitudes to War” initiative had been positive with much discussion following – pupils in France had been mostly against. Many teachers had been involved in the production of the magazine. A wide group of pupils and colleagues had also embraced the maths contest. Gilbert also stressed the need to use paper as a means of reporting and not to rely on the web as the only way of communicating and reporting and there was general agreement.

Germany:
Andreas Borrmann followed with his report and once again it was evident that the “Attitudes to War” question had been a major success here too. The students’ magazine had been fruitful and had also been distributed and he agreed with the earlier point about paper being important. Face to face was also important but this would come later. There had been positive outcomes with the Arts and Culture initiative and also from the responses to the Philosophy questionnaire. European week was once again greatly enjoyed. Andreas stressed the importance of this not only for those directly involved but also in the wider ‘whole school’ context, and this outreach – to parents etc. – was a very valuable dimension.

Great Britain:
David Prescott began by offering apologies for Shaun Corrigan who was ill and by passing on greetings from the school especially from Robin Thompson. Although there had been many ideas used within individual departments once again the biggest collective response had been to “Attitudes to War.” Arts and Culture and the Maths Challenge also received mention. A short report on new satellite projects not directly related to the project but originating within it was given. In particular a visit in December by over forty members of ‘Lira Prahova’ the choir of Colegiul National “Mihai Viteazul” had been a great success as had a new idea initiatiated by Fr Bogdan Georgescu and Fr Jonathan Hemmings to hold an International Summer Camp in Romania. There was a lot of interest in learning more about these initiatives.

Romania:
Doina Dumitrache reported on a very full follow up programme within school. A debate on “Attitudes to War” was subsequently published in the Comenius magazine. Work was also undertaken on the cross-cultural guidebook. Art and Culture had looked at monuments and this was written about also. Other areas included Philosophies and the Maths Contest in November. European week had made a great impression on all who took part. From the teachers point of view this was also a good opportunity to learn about different education systems. The British Council had approached the school and subsequently produced a CD about the schools links, in particular about the use of ICT in learning. This may be possible in other countries. Doina expressed some concern over dissemination of information via the web. This had been exacerbated by the lack of a computer expert within school but there is hope that things will improve soon.

After a short summing up session, the meeting adjourned for coffee.

Session 2(a)

Doina opened this session with the question of new topics. Andreas then introduced the seven existing topics:

• Attitudes to War 

• Lifestyles

• Art and Culture

• Maths Contest/Challenge

• Philosophy

• Exotic National Sports

• Guide Book (Cross cultural)

A plethora of new ideas from the students followed. So many in fact that it was later suggested by Jari Aarnio (see later session for teachers) that these topics would be best allocated under two headings:

inter disciplinary / extra disciplinary

• Environmental topics – pollution – alternative sources of energy

• Israeli – Palestinian conflict

• Favourite (formative) books from childhood

• Wide spread fears – e.g. weapons of mass destruction

• Europe and the American influence

• Common European roots

• European Calendar to include phrases, monuments, proverbs, poems etc.

• Legalising drugs (debate)

• Technological innovations – influences of internet and media

• National Anthems.  Write a Comenius Anthem?

• Globalisation. Immigration and human rights issues

• Interactive Creative Writing see later outline

• Music Exchanges – satellite projects

• ‘Closer to Mars’ – modern tech developments

• Church and Society

• National and Regional differences in behaviour

• A typical day in the life of our countries

• Values and their development past, present and future

• Differences in school life – Timetable, homework etc.

• Stereotypes – prejudices within our own countries and against foreigners

• How to behave in a foreign country

• Great personalities/National figures in European history

Gilbert made the point that in order for work to flourish it is necessary at the start to have a coordinator in each country. This could be a willing teacher or student but needs clarification from the outset. There were some excellent suggestions here but the students must now decide on favourite topics. The students and teachers then divided to discuss this further.

Session 2(b) Teachers

Clearly many of the suggestions are not new to the project but they are new to the students. Why not, therefore, repeat some topics, especially where we already have successful practices and outcomes and could therefore offer a working format. The idea of school coordinators  (teachers or pupils) was further discussed. Some topics can be covered very easily i.e. in a short magazine article whereas others were more suitable for longer development and for international teamwork. Yet others could form a basis for European Week activities and could be completed and reported then. For convenience all the topics were cross-referenced for suggestion to the whole group later. Discussion took place on the suitability of each as school based curriculum activity or as extra curricular – see above.

Session 3

The students reported on the chosen topics and Andreas then collated these. They were condensed as follows:

1. Legalising Drugs

2. Europe and the American Influence

3. Cross-cultural guide book

4. Today’s conflicts – Israeli/Palestinian

5. Technological innovation

6. Stereotypes

7. Church and Society

8. School life differences

9. A typical day in ……

10. Globalisation

11. National/Regional lifestyles

In order to facilitate further group discussion and to provide a convenient working framework, the topics were placed under three umbrella headings as follows:

MAGAZINE             1, 4, 5, 7
GLOBALISATION 2, 10
CULTURE                3, 6, 8, 9, 11

The students decided which of these topics they would like to discuss further and some clear guidelines about responsibilities (coordinators), timescale and reporting etc were offered. The groups then retired to plan the way ahead. The teachers worked on a fourth idea suggested by Gilbert, for Creative Writing/ role-play.

Session 4 – Reporting

Each group reported as follows:

MAGAZINE

• Publication – once a year; early in the winter seeing first ideas for final publication.
• By the end of March – each school produces its own magazine
• Beginning of May – workshops – editors are chosen in order to finalise the Comenius magazine that gathers ideas and articles from every magazine.

TOPICS

1) Legalising drugs

• Local editors: Monica Vrabiuta (Romania)  Cindy Fernandes (France)

• Survey: legal drugs (coffee, alcohol)     Illegal drugs

• Topic should not be too tightly governed

• Articles written by persons who have already taken drugs

• Possibilities of solving somehow the problem

2) Today’s conflicts

• Local editor: Alexander Dimitru (Romania)

• e.g. War in Iraq   Israeli – Palestinian conflict

• Impact upon the entire world

• Relations with the culture

• Religious dimension of the conflicts

• Psychological interpretation

• *Minor conflicts in schools

• §         *National/International level: political conflicts

3) Technological innovations

• Local editors: Teachers: Bogdan Georgescu, Roxana Mihai (Romania)

• Computers

• Globalisation includes the systems of detecting the locations of persons, for example:

• Is the development good?

• Ideas from the old project

• New materials and pictures

• Topic connected with “Hopes and Fears” XX1 century

• Cloning – “where is the soul and where is the clone”

4) Church and society

• Local editors: Ioana Dumitru, Andreia Petcu (Romania)

• The effectiveness of the church in the perception of our pupils

• Demographic survey: “How many people are Lutherans, etc.?”

• What does the church think about cloning?

• The issue of abortion.

 Contact details for the responsible project managers is published as a separate table as follows:

GLOBALISATION – Report MED
This topic was the single word summary of a number of ideas that sprang from the shared concern among delegates about the way in which our individual national cultures, languages, and economies, and political systems are in some ways becoming merged, or perhaps subsumed inside an American vision of the future.
We recognised that there is a paradox here; one of the goals of European week and the Comenius project is the breaking down of nationalism by developing mutual understanding through visiting each others countries, and of course increased travel and tourism is both cause and effect of globalisation.
We divided this large topic into three strands; economic globalisation, language globalisation, and political globalisation. Each strand was given a ‘lead’ country, which committed in the first instance to explore their assigned topic and report back to the whole group via the Internet. We also appointed a technical advisor to coordinate efforts to present this information on a web page.
The first phase of information gathering and reporting back is to be completed by January 31^st, 2004. The next phase is for questions, discussions, and the development of our understanding, and this will be completed by the beginning of European Week, 6-13 March 2004. The third phase of debate and conclusion will take place during European Week at which time the three strands will be brought together.

We also agreed that where possible we would seek out opinions and input from schools in the USA.

CULTURE
Guide Book – To be completed before European Week and posted on the Internet.
The group considered it important to include a basic “survival guide” for each country and the themes should be relevant to young people. Examples included:

• Basic phrases
• Legal restrictions e.g. for alcohol/smoking
• What weather can be expected
• National dishes/typical foods
• The routine of a typical day
• Daily schedules

The guide should be fun to use and could include pictures and graphics to break up the text. It might also be useful to include a list of what could be purchased in each country for a set sum of money.

School life difference – All participating nations should complete the same survey. The results should then be displayed on the net. Examples suggested included:

• What sports are played at school
• Where do students eat?
• How many subjects are studied and at what age?
• Do students have options (subject choices)?

Stereotypes – Once again it was suggested that this should be assessed using a survey. In particular students about to participate in European Week should complete the questionnaire a week or so before leaving. The questionnaire should ask what the students think “stereotypical foreigners” are like and also attempt to discover ideas about the country as a whole.
It was suggested that the survey could be anonymous so that people could be frank and there would be no embarrassment.
During European Week, the students should compare the actual country and the people with their answers to the survey.

Typical day – This could be a school based activity since it should only take a few minutes to complete. Additionally, those students taking part in European Week should record what they usually do during the day, and also maybe at the weekend.

This information should then be available on the internet and it was agreed that Christmas 2003 or soon afterwards would be a reasonable timescale.
Philip Machin and Thomas Gibson would be responsible for this in Lancaster. Names of those responsible in the other schools were not recorded and it would be useful if these could be added to the minutes.

CREATIVE WRITING
Gilbert reported back on an initiative which would take the form of a reputed art theft. The initiative, commencing on 1^st November would be sent by Montargis with the headline “This art object was stolen in the museum of …” (or similar). The statement would invite link schools to help locate the missing/stolen object – eyewitness accounts to be sent to Montargis.
The articles and responses would be multilingual in the languages of all the partner nations. It might also include photos/picures so developing IT skills. The project would reflect imagination, deception and truth and the interplay of cultural and moral values. The outcomes could be brought together in the form a novel.

Tuesday 30^th September – Teacher session

Andreas opened the meeting at 9.15 a.m. when future dates were discussed. The following were agreed:

6 -13 March   2004    European Week
2 – 6 May       2004    Final Conference in Rendsburg for coordinators

Andreas distributed the document “Transnational Learning Network – Problems and possible solutions – A Guide for learning in transnational networks” and discussion followed. This represents a great deal of work but is important if we are to fulfil our aims. It was suggested that the guide should be written in all languages.

Doina Dumitrache spoke of her recent visit to Slovenia for MICE (Model Instruments for Comenius Evaluation) and after an outline general discussion followed. Self evaluation programmes are new within the Romanian education system. There may well be parts of the document that could be effectively used by our network. Might we establish the key indicators and perhaps use some of the questionnaire?

Much discussion followed on the future of the Comenius Programme generally. Possible problems with future funding, especially in countries where there is now a broad take up for the initiative or where individual schools have already enjoyed a lengthy period of funding was mentioned. A model for possible future development was outlined with central funding from Brussels. This kind of networking would involve existing schools guiding other schools new to the initiative. One such suggestion might look like this:

There was some suggestion that human resources were already stretched in running the present network and that acting in this way might not be easy. Jari Aarnio asked about links to tertiary institutions – Tampere University for instance and the link between LRGS and S. Martin’s College. Would it be possible to include these (backing) links within the above framework?
Fr. Jonathan used the example of Networking through bringing in a Greek school with the backing of the Hellenic Society at Lancaster University.
Jari thought it important to engage in further research on the whole networking process before taking this further. This would receive dissemination at a later date.

The session closed at 10.30 a.m. to allow delegates to attend lessons.

These minutes are an unconfirmed record of the meetings held in Ploiesti, Romania and for which David Prescott takes full responsibility for any errors or omissions. Please feel free to add or adapt where necessary.

DJP Oct/Nov 2003

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