CONTENT
DON’T GIVE UP AND CATCH YOUR DREAMS (ESL)
Reducing the average European rate of early school leavers to less than 10% by 2020 is one of the education headline targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy1. Investment in the educational achievement of young people is essential for the employment prospects of every young person. It is important for the growth of our economy and for social cohesion, especially at a time when the current financial and economic crisis is having a serious impact on young people and their families. Investing in education helps to break the cycle of deprivation and poverty leading to the social exclusion of too many young people across Europe.
In June 2011, the Education Council adopted a Recommendation on policies to reduce early school leaving (ESL). It highlights the need for evidence-based and comprehensive policies to reduce ESL. To be effective, policies against ESL need to address all levels of education. They should be cross-sectoral and involve stakeholders from different policy areas such as youth, social/welfare, employment, and health. They should focus on prevention, intervention, and compensation:
– Prevention seeks to avoid the conditions from arising where processes leading to ESL can start.
– Intervention addresses emerging difficulties at an early stage and seeks to prevent them from leading to ESL.
– Compensation measures offer opportunities for education and training for those who have dropped out.
Learning Outcomes:
All the participants will:
- Discuss on the definition of ESL and the challenge of defining ESL.
- Overview of the current situation in Europe.
- Recognize the key challenges, the scale of the problem, and the main factors leading to ESL across Europe.
- Familiarize the concept of ’comprehensive policies’ to reduce ESL
- Discuss the key characteristics of successful policies.
- Develop a vision on how to prevent early school leaving
- Get knowledge/skills/attitude of teachers, trainers, and administrators of the students who tend to give up their training process.
- Know comprehensive way requiring a critical revision of the entire education and
training system
- Get a collective sense of responsibility and action for the benefit of the individual, of Member States, for Europe and for financial and social reasons.
- Gain experience in an international learning environment.
- List the needs and problems in the ESL
- Develop a sample of new international school policy related to the subject matter
- Be acquainted with and know how to support and encourage some other skate holders to reduce early school leaving
- Set up and maintain cross-curricular cooperation
- Coach colleagues about fostering quality improvements of their teaching style and dissemination of good practices and developing school policy
Objectives of the Course:
- Responding to the needs of teacher’s personal and professional development skills in
prevention of early school leaving
- Improving trainees’ knowledge in National policies to reduce ESL in many European Countries
- Ensuring a coherent, systemic, and coordinated approach, the exchange of good practices, and the efficient use of resources
- Understanding strong coordination and cooperation between national, regional, and local actors
- Getting aware of important elements of a sustainable and comprehensive strategy including a coordinating body, a progressive approach, local and national adaptation, awareness-raising and training, sustainable funding, monitoring, and evaluation
- Getting familiar with the strategies of active involvement and cooperation of stakeholders at the national, regional, local, and school level
- Learning about the important elements for successful cooperation within the context of ESL including Inter-agency or inter-institutional arrangements, Central role of schools, Involvement of pupils and parents, Learning Cooperation
Methodology:
- Practical and skills-based -interactive learning,
- Immediate feedback,
- Hands-on activities and
- Inspiring discussions on best practices.
- Role-playing the sample situations to understand the psychological factors of ESL
- Designing sample school policies by brainstorming in group dynamics.
Target Group:
- Teachers, trainers, educators, school administrators, etc.
Preparation:
Before the course,
- A detailed pre-course questionnaire to indicate their level of experience, teaching backgrounds, and training will be completed by participants.
- They will also prepare a presentation to reflect their own teaching method.
Validation:
- A course participation certificate will be given to all participants.
- A Europass Mobility Certificate will be given if the participant demands it, as well.
DAILY SCHEDULE
1st Day
Ice-breaking activities and introduction of the course program
Getting to know each other – Presentation of participants (a five-minute presentation)
The possible reasons for ESL depending on the cultural or social background of the countries
Representing the key challenges, the scale of the problem, and main factors leading to ESL across Europe
Comprehensive policies to reduce ESL
- A discussion on the key characteristics of successful policies.
2nd Day
A checklist on comprehensive policies as a self-assessment tool
Focusing on the needs of teacher’s personal and professional development skills in prevention of early school leaving
Discussion: Extra-curricular and out-of-school activities to enrich the learning offer Understand strong coordination and cooperation between national, regional, and local actors
Discussion: Observing and discussing participants’ school policy about ESL
Discussion: Observing and discussing participant’s curriculum against the ESL
3rd Day
2012 ESL rates in the EU based on Eurostat data.
Presentations of practice examples from European countries represented
Define intervention measures such as: Early Warning Systems (EWS)
Systemic support frameworks within schools
- Focus on the needs of the individual pupil
Ensuring a coherent, systemic, and coordinated approach, the exchange of good practices, and the efficient use of resources
4th day
Extra-curricular and out-of-school activities to enrich the learning offer
- Understand strong coordination and cooperation between national, regional, and local actors
Discuss the possible results of ESL in the growth of the economy and the social cohesion
Support to teachers
- Empower families and parents to support their children's education
Raise parental awareness of ESL
- State the targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy 1 about Early School Leaving
Understand strong coordination and cooperation between national, regional and local actors
5th day
Get aware of important elements of a sustainable and comprehensive strategy including a coordinating body, a progressive approach, local and national adaptation, awareness-raising and training, sustainable funding, monitoring and evaluation
Overview of the course program
Evaluation of the course program
Filling the feedback forms
Europass Mobility Certificate, Participation Certificate
Course Related
