Teaching Beyond The National Curriculum
17 August 2010
Dutch students on a visit to Derbyshire with academic Jon White.
Derby's FACE IT project leader Ann Kenny.
Support to help put UK teacher trainees at their ease working in European school settings, is the focus of a European Union funded project involving the University of Derby.
The FACE IT project - Focus on Awareness of Culture and Education for International Teachers - includes learning resources and helps teachers to understand the many cultural and political differences between education systems across Europe.
The initiative is just one of numerous research projects which feature in the University's annual Research Review publication which has just been published. It showcases the cream of research from the University's 14 research centres and groups.
The Comenius-funded FACE IT project has developed a website and a 30 ECTS (EuropeanCredit Transfer and Accumulation System) European Teacher Training course with four modules geared towards students and teachers.
The £372,000 scheme is led by the Dutch Hogeschool Edith Stein and has 11 European partners. Project Leader Dr Froukje Bakker says the course modules provide relevant resources, tools and an e-learning environment to enable future teachers to develop their EU-related knowledge and skills.
The project's Derby lead is Senior Lecturer in Education Ann Kenny, who has been working with Jon White (Senior Lecturer in Education Studies).
The modules are organised around the following themes:
- European Identity and Cultural Heritage - facilitate awareness within teachers so they can identify some of the important cultural differences between the countries of Europe.
- European and World Citizenship - encourages a positive relationship with the students own culture and an openness towards other cultures.
- European Professionalism - ensures that students have an education to equip them to teach in all countries, and able to exchange ideas and curriculum details with colleagues in other European countries.
- European Diversity and Multiculturalism - has a positive relationship with his or her own culture and open towards other cultures.
Ann said: "The partners in this initiative, which are all teacher training colleges, have taken up the challenge to develop course materials and a methodology to help their students develop the competences needed to become European teachers, with an open mind toward the world as a whole.
"This work will also benefit children who move schools to another country to help them settle in more quickly if their teacher is aware of the school system they have come from. It also promotes increased mobility among European teachers."
Derby's involvement in FACE IT builds on existing links developed by Dr Bakker at Hogeschool Edith Stein and the University's external moderator Dr John Dolan, who helped set up initial teacher training links between the two institutions.
The University has an Erasmus Exchange programme for BA (Hons) Education Studies programme students who have the option of spending a semester in Holland on an International exchange programme taught in English. Students also get the opportunity to take part in placements in Montessori, Steiner and Dalton schools.
FACE IT supports issues raised in the European Commission's Education and Training 2010 - the success of the Lisbon Strategy Hinges on Urgent Reforms report, recommending that common European principles for teacher competences and qualifications should be developed as a matter of priority.
It stated that teachers are key players in how education systems evolve and in the implementations of the reforms, which can make the EU the highest performing knowledge driven economy in the world.
Some other key trends at different European schools which differ from the UK include:
- Many European schools don't let children start school until the age of seven
- Sweden has a strong emphasis on early years' education with children starting state nursery at six months
- Holland and Germany favour a system where children choose either an academic or vocational route of study.
The FACE IT Partners are:
- Hogeschool Edith Stein (Teacher Training College Edith Stein) - The Netherlands
Read more about the FACE IT initiative: www.european-teachers.eu/
You can read more about this and other projects in the 2010 Research Review at www.derby.ac.uk/research/research-strategy-and-reviews
For more information about this news release, contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or 07748 920038 or email s.redfern@derby.ac.uk
