Saturday 29 January 2011
PARALLEL SESSIONS
SATURDAY 29 JANUARY at 10.30 – 11.30
D1 Why and how leadership in schools can be learnt
Presenter: Felix Russwinkel, Foundation of German Business, Berlin, Germany
Lecture. Target group: General; Adult education
The Foundation of German Business (Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft) aims to provide young people with the best possible conditions for a good start to a successful and fulfilling professional career. Therefore, we need a high quality educational system and a continuous training of the institutional leaders of the system. In the area of School & Business, we train management skills of future and actual headmasters. Professional qualification, consultation with CEOs and coaching are elements of developing leaders in schools. The contribution will give an overview of the experiences after 100 headteachers have passed through the program.
D2 Positive networking in the kindergarten
Presenters: Tatjana Prešern and Tina Merčnik, Vrtec Hansa Christiana Andersena, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Workshop. Target audience: Pre-school and Primary school
We work at a kindergarten/pre-school with over 140 employees and 750 children and their parents. Leading this kind of kindergarten is a big challenge for the principal and her team. On the conference we will present our kind of leadership on different levels of the kindergarten. Our best practice is positive networking between employees, parents, grandparents and others involved into the kindergarten. With this kind of leadership we increase our quality in all sectors. We get new people that are helping us to make our kindergarten stimulating to our children and with our work and enviroment we are giving our children new opportunities to develop.
D3 Release the teachers - Leading through high performance teams
Presenters: Bjarne Schuricht, Anne Buhl Jørgensen, Kenneth Højland and Rita Mindested, Egebjergskolen, Horsens, Denmark
Workshop. Target audience: General
In a hyper complex society with more and more diagnosed children included in the classroom, the limits of normal teaching are extended to a degree never seen before. Our teachers are met with demands of larger specialising as regards to professionalism, teaching and flexibility to other pupils/students and their parents, while navigating in a public debate often very critical as to the idea of inclusion. Through examples, theories and statements we would like to show how we have succeeded in generating new energy to the teachers and through coaching and mentoring have gained a high performing team and thereby optimized the effort in this particular area in the school. The method is recommendable in all relations as regards to leadership and collaborators, where the modern leader wishes to optimize to self leading teams. The form of the session will be introduction and round table discussion.
D4 Measuring educational effectiveness for ensuring sustainable development
Presenters:
Dr. Bernhard Ertl, Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany
Renia Papanastasiou, IACM/FORTH, Greece
Catherine Lockhead-Strzepka, University of Information Technology and Management, Poland
Open session. Target audience: General; Adult education; Higher education
The session focuses on educational effectiveness for ensuring sustainable development. The key issues relate to the evaluation of innovation on policy level as well as on a practice level. This aims at discovering long term effects of innovation which are the key to sustainability. The open session will comprise of thematic inputs regarding the evaluation of innovation, evaluation methods, and an outlook on how evaluation can facilitate sustainable development. These inputs guide an open discussion between the presenters and the participants to exchange experiences and best practices.
D5 Internationalization of teacher education programs in the US: One example and and discussion of issues
Presenter: Ass. Prof. John E. Kesner PhD, College of Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
Open session. Target audience: Higher education
With both the US and the Europe dealing with an ever increasing multicultural environment, promoting understanding between the peoples of different cultures and improving the quality of their interactions is paramount. In order to meet this challenge a new generation of globally literate educators and educational leaders is needed.
Faced with a rigidly proscriptive teacher education program and a mandate to create more globally literate teachers, one teacher education program in the US has created an innovative new program which will prepare students to become effective teachers and equip them to be able to understand and appreciate a global perspective.
The Department of Early Childhood Education in the College of Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta , Georgia USA is designing an undergraduate teacher education program in which students complete all required courses and school practices while spending a significant portion of their program overseas engaged in coursework and school practice. In an “Open Session” discussion format, this new program will be described and discussed. Feedback will be solicited from session participants. In addition, a general discussion about internationalization of teacher education programs in the US and the unique problems involved will be held.
D6 Moving towards a European Global Learning Journey
Presenters: Christer Torstensson and Johanna Lund, the Global School, Sweden
Workshop. Target audience: General
Imagine participating in a European multilateral group of schools teams, travelling on a journey to a third-world developing country to study poverty related issues, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue, while at the same time developing the own school-curricula, in cooperation with the other teams.
The project has been running for ten years in Sweden, for Swedish school teams, with very positive results. But is it feasible on a European level? The workshop will discuss aims and objectives, methods and benefits.
PARALLEL SESSIONS
SATURDAY 29 JANUARY at 11.45 – 12.45
E1 Collaborative learning in rural locations
Presenters: Bill Houldsworth, Devon Learning and Development Partnership, Exeter, England UK
Robert Cross, Stokeinteignhead Primary School, Stokeinteignhead, England UK
Ian Hemelik, Manor Primary School, Devon, England UK
Lecture. Target audience: General
The South West UK region of Devon constitutes a large number of small rural primary and secondary schools and has for a few years promoted the concept of system leadership and collaborative practice through a variety of different models of leadership. This seminar will explore the findings of some of the sustainable models from current practice as well as investigate the emerging themes from a bilateral Regio project engaged with the similar rural region of Galicia, Spain, where ICT pedagogy development is being used as the vehicle for collaborative learning. Universities of Santiago da Compestella and Marjon, Plymouth are also engaged in the Regio project.
E2 Education concentrated to multi-sided personal development
Presenter: Ewa Szadzinska, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Lecture. Target audience: General
The theory of many-sided education W. Okoń in didactics was formed over many years (1965-2010). Research verifies that didactic strategies focus on emotional, practice, intellectual activites to allow personal development. Only development can support emancipation in society.
E3 Leadership challenges in music education
Presenters: Margaretha Grahn, PhD, and Christel Öfverström, PhL, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden
Lecture. Target audience: General
At this session will be presented an article about leadership in general, classroom leadership and leadership challenges in music education. One classical question is if leadership comes naturally or if it can be learned? Many authors mean that it is both. We have used ”The Leadership Diamond” by Koestenbaum (1991). One of the great issues in leadership is the balance between chaos and order, structure and creativity, planning and spontaneity. Denhardt & Denhardt (2008) compare being a leader with dancers and musicians and emphasize the importance of having theoretical knowledge connected with practise and the ability of improvisation. Another important aspect is time to reflect.
E4 LEGO® System for Learning
Presenters: Hasse Højland and Jesper Just Jensen, LEGO Education, Billund, Denmark
Workshop/lecture. Target audience: General
Why are LEGO bricks so pertinent to a 21st century classroom?
The LEGO system is unlike many other systems for learning because it offers endless possibilities for students to explore, combine and transform things. Systems that allow students to do this, to simultaneously make sense of the world and give form to their imagination, facilitate creativity and innovation like no other. We call this systematic creativity.
E5 Learning to live together in peace: The central axis of early childhood education for a sustainable world
Presenter: Osagie A. Egbe, World Association of Early Childhood Educators, Nigeria Chapter, Benin City, Nigeria
Lecture. Target audience: Pre-school and primary school
It is well demonstrated that the first years of life are the most relevant to the development of the human being at this stage the fundamental basis for the development of personality are established on which the following phases of life will be consolidated and improved. For this reason we have established this project to educate from childhood in the noble art of living together in peace. To provide school teachers with elements that will help them educate the youngest children in love and respect for their fellow man for leadership and sustainable world.
E6 Education for sustainable development - More than just waste disposal
Presenter: Petronella Odhner and Hans Ljungqvist, The Global School, Sweden
Workshop. Target audience: General
In this seminar The Global School presents the depth and variety within the concept of ESD where teachers from all kinds of levels, from Pre-school to Upper Secondary School, can benefit and contribute. Many examples from different schools in Sweden are discussed in this seminar.
PARALLEL SESSIONS
SATURDAY 29 JANUARY at 14.00 – 15.00
F1 Leadership or management?
Presenters: Herman Hoedemaker and Pieter Oosterhof, Instituut Service Management at Stenden University, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
Workshop. Target audience: General
A lot of school organisations are struggling in leadership. How can we motivate and inspire people, to bring the best up and how can we get good results?
In this workshop we will discover, from the inside, our strength in (personal) leadership. Your own biography is leading in this session.
In other words, by telling your own story you will discover your strength in leadership.
Multiple intelligence is leading in the form of this workshop.
F2 Gender Mainstreaming
Presenters: Marianne Nilsson and Staffan Stråhle, Kronoparkens skolområde, Karlstad, Sweden
Lecture. Target audience: General; Pre-school/Primary; Secondary/upper secondary school
The City of Karlstad has the comprehensive goal to be one of the best cities in Sweden to live in regarding gender equality.
Regarding education, the municipality has employed two gender educators as support to all schools and preschools to achieve this goal. Together with head teachers and teachers they help to make sustainable structures and new patterns for the teachers and children to fully understand what equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys mean. The lecture gives an overview of Gender Mainstreaming in schools.
F3 School democratic governance and sustainable development
Presenters: Marie-Odile Nouvelot-Gueroult, AgroSup Dijon, Dijon, France
Lena Leducq, Education for sustainable development, Pays de Loire, France
Nathalie Droyer, AgroSup Dijon, Dijon, France
Open session. Target audience: Secondary/Upper secondary schools; Higher education
How to implement democratic governance in secondary schools in concrete terms? We shall present the first results about a « New school governance » experimentation that we are leading for one-year now, based on reflective practice and research to manage better the processes of school projects with all the stakeholders, including the students.
This action research has been designed in 2009 to meet the needs of School Headteachers and the key assumptions of sustainable development. We are exploring the perception that staff and students have of the implementation of sustainable development in their school and the way in which it could be developed to gain in effectiveness, coherence and empowerment. During the session we shall present our theoretical framework and a concrete example of the impact of this action research on the governance of the agricultural college of Nantes-Saint Herblain (FR)
F4 Social networks as a tool for diversity
Presenters: Valère Awouters, Dries Palmaers and Veerle Schuyten, Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg, Hasselt, Belgium
Lecture. Target audience: General; Higher education
In this project Facebook is used to inform future students of the teacher training college. We started a group on Facebook where current and former students and teachers give a realistic image of studying at the teacher training college: the members of the group post comments, pictures, videos…
On Facebook there is a link to a website that allows future students to test the level of their native language. They can also make exercises in order to be well prepared when they start studying.
We give special attention to boys and immigrant students because they are underrepresented in the teacher training college. In this way we want to use facebook as a social learning network, supporting informal learning.
F5 Economic stability for inclusion by using paraprofessionals in education
Presenters: Nancy K. French, PhD, Para Educator Training Resources, Colorado, USA, and Ann Morrison Clement, PhD, Colorado, USA
Lecture. Target audience: Pre-school/primary school; Secondary/upper secondary school.
Education for sustainable development must consider economic efficacy when developing models for inclusion of students. A conceptual framework which focuses on the hiring, training, and employment of paraprofessionals will be proposed which can provide for long term stability for students, staff and schools.
The goal of the session is to provide knowledge from an economic perspective regarding theory, research, training and best classroom practices of how to implement a model for economic stability in an inclusive program.
F6 Yes we can! How to become a committed leader for ESD
Presenters: Mathias Dementriades and Anna Lindahl, The Global School, Sweden
Workshop. Target audience: Pre-school/Primary school; Secondary/upper secondary school; Adult education
This seminar shows how The Global School addresses leaders and teachers in various municipalities so that they come on board and realize the significance of ESD and urgency to act. The mandate for ESD is discussed for instance in Swedish curriculum and other central national and international documents such as the Millennium Development Goals.
PARALLEL SESSIONS
SATURDAY 29 JANUARY at 15.30 – 16.30
G1 How pupils explore their lifestyles and their approach to sustainable development
Presenters: Michaela Leitner and Anja Christanell, the Austrian Institute for Sustainable Development, Vienna, Austria
Lecture/paper. Target audience: Secondary and Upper secondary schools
In the project “MY LIFE – MY STYLE – MY FUTURE” pupils of two 6th forms of two Viennese schools analysed their own lifestyles and those of other teenagers by using social research methods. This paper presents insights in juvenile lifestyles and in quantitative and qualitative results of the pupils' (self-)exploration. It highlights how the teenagers became aware of differences in lifestyles, what they learned about (the connection of their lifestyle to) sustainability and how they expressed their own ideas about sustainability via social media and graphic design.
G2 /No session/
G3 The leadership role of the principal in inclusionary practice
Presenters: Ann Morrison Clement, Educational Consultant, Colorado, USA
Lecture. Target audience: Pre-school/ Primary school
The principal must create a leadership role in the school in order for students with special needs to be included in the regular classroom. The leadership role needs to focus on the following areas: philosophy, laws, best practices, systemic organization, staff and parent training, and adaptation and modification of standards, curriculum and materials.
The principal can develop a conceptual framework to integrate research and theory, best educational practices, and personal and professional development into a model for sustainable development for students, teachers and parents.
G4 Can transformational learning enhance leadership in schools?
Presenter: Francia Kinchington, School of Education and Training, the University of Greenwich, England UK
Lecture. Target audience: General
This session explores how ideas about Transformational Learning can make a positive contribution to the learning and development of school leaders, supporting their evolution from novice to expert practitioners. It will explore the role of experience in a dynamic and changing educational field characterised by conflicting tensions, examining the contribution and learning that emerge from critical incidents; critical reflection; affective learning and sustained post graduate professional development, drawing them together to show their impact on shaping leaders' learning, understanding and identity.
G5 Learning by walking. A model for sustainable field trip learning
Presenter: Anna Mogren, The Global School, Sweden
Workshop. Target audience: General
Learning through immersion into everyday circumstances in rural life. Staying with a village family, spending your days slowly walking around in the local rural setting is a very efficient model for learning about the reality for hundreds of millions of people. The example of The Global Journey to Bangladesh is exposed.
G6 Generations Up! How generations work and learn
Presenter: Roxana Mocanu, ITOL Institute of Training and Occupational Learning, Romania
Workshop. Target audience: General.
Generations Up! 1. How do various generations co-exist in the organizations? 2. How do they learn and work together? 3. What are the success receipts? 4. Why do generations misunderstand each? 5. Creating a winning strategy. The topic is based on a research made by CIPD, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and HBR Harvard Business Review on international level, and by ITOL Central Eastern Europe on a local level.
POSTER PRESENTATION
SATURDAY 29 JANUARY
Customer Guided Services' Quality Assurance Methodology for Rural Extension
Presenter: Gunta Grinberga-Zalite, Latvia University of Agriculture, Latvia
Knowledge and timely access to information are significant preconditions for the life quality of rural population. Rural extension centres have an important role in the rural and agricultural development, as they facilitate profitability and competitiveness of the farms reducing rural population's dependence on support payments in scope of the national support policy.
In the present situation, when the effectiveness of the national budget subsidies’ use is especially activated, it is important to search for possibilities how to make reasonable use of rural advisory centres’ resources.
The poster describes methodology for the evaluation of rural extension services and presents authors’ adopted composite model for the assurance of customer guided services’ quality.
