Comenius

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Comenius
Providing opportunities for schools and colleges
to introduce or strengthen the European dimension
in their curriculum
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Comenius

• Comenius School Partnerships
• In-service Training
• Comenius Assistants
• Comenius Regio Partnerships
• eTwinning
• www.britishcouncil.org/comenius
• www.globalgateway.org

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Aims of Comenius

• To enhance the quality of European education
• To encourage the exchange of ideas and experience
  within the education systems of European
  countries
• To broaden the outlook and widen the experience
  of young Europeans
• To encourage a greater awareness of a shared
  European heritage
• A part of the EC-funded Lifelong Learning
  Programme managed in the UK by the British
  Council

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What does Comenius support?

• Comenius is part of the EU Lifelong Learning
  Programme and provides funding for
• Partnerships for schools and colleges
• Professional development
• Comenius assistants
• Comenius Regio partnerships for local authorities
• Preparatory visits and contact seminars

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Benefits

• Increase motivation and enthusiasm
• Raise intercultural awareness
• Professional development for teachers
• Raise standards
• Strengthen community links
• Promote languages
• Meet the aims of the DCSF international strategy
  for education

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Eligible countries

25 EU Member States
Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta the
Netherlands
Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland
Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sw
eden UK
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech
Republic Denmark Estonia
EFTA/EEA Iceland Liechtenstein Norway
Accession States Turkey
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Comenius School Partnerships

• Two Project Types
• Bi-lateral Projects - language focus
• Multi-lateral Projects curriculum pupil based
  and/or developmental focus
• Funding providing for trans-national travel,
  subsistence and general project costs
• Next application deadline 19 February 2010

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Bi-lateral Projects

• Bi-lateral curriculum project
• Last two years
• Focus on language
• Funding for reciprocal exchange for minimum of 10
  days
• At least 10 students aged 12
• Collaborative work before, during and after
  exchange
• Opportunity to promote MFL learning in context

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Multi-lateral partnerships

• At least three partners/ countries
• Last 2 years
• Integrated into the curriculum/cross-curricular
• Measurable outcomes/end products

• Focus
• Pupils
• Emphasis on implementation, dissemination and
  evaluation
• Management and pedagogical approaches

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Benefits of Comenius school partnerships

• A survey of 200 school partnerships in the UK
  reported that
• 92 of pupils showed increased interest in other
  cultures and countries
• 70 of pupils increased their knowledge of their
  own cultural heritage
• 81 of pupils became more tolerant of other
  cultures
• 73 of pupils had improved social skills and
  self-confidence
• 70 of pupils showed increased motivation for
  learning

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Benefits of Comenius school partnerships

• It isnt only students who benefit
• 71 of teachers had increased motivation in
  teaching
• 78 of teachers expanded their subject knowledge
• 66 of teachers experienced new pedagogies
• 69 of teachers improved team-working skills
• 86 of teachers made lasting friendships with
  colleagues in other countries
• 76 of schools reported improved internal
  co-operation between staff

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Partner finding

• Contact seminar
• National agency partner finding event
• www.britishcouncil.org/comenius-events.htm
• Preparatory Visit
• School organised event to meet your partners and
  plan your project
• Apply min. 6 weeks before intending to travel
• Find partners using the following partner-finding
  websites
• www.globalgateway.org.uk
• www.eun.org
• George.wright_at_britishcouncil.org or
  james.Atkinson_at_britishcouncil.org
• Tel [phone]

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Comenius in-service training

• Professional development courses
• Courses on Comenius website
• Training must have methodological content
• Language and non-language courses with a
  pedagogical focus
• Job shadowing creates opportunities to
• Refresh linguistic skills
• Develop teaching and learning strategies
• Gain insight into leadership and management
• Develop links into full Comenius Partnerships
• Partner Schools, can be found at
  www.globalgateway.org

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Comenius in-service training

• Funding
• Funding up to 2000 for 1 week 2500 for two
  weeks up to 3000 from 2 to 6 weeks
• Course fee comes from this lump sum amount

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Comenius in-service training

• Application deadlines
• Three per year next deadline likely to be 15
  January 2010 for training activities starting on
  or after 1 May 2010
• Further information will be provided on the 2010
  deadlines in late 2009.

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Comenius Assistants

• Work across the curriculum to provide cultural
  and linguistic experience
• 3-10 months/12-16 hours per week (including 2
  hours native language teaching)
• At secondary level language must not be taught on
  curriculum
• Often offer more than one language
• Cluster application up to 3 schools can share an
  assistant
• Expected application deadline January 2010
• comeniusassistants_at_britishcouncil.org

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Comenius Regio

• New Comenius action supporting links between
  local education authorities
• Partnerships will involve local authorities, at
  least one school and another local partner, such
  as a museum, art gallery, hospital or NGO
• Officially launched in November 2008

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Comenius Regio Partnerships consist of 2
"partner regions".

• Each partner region must involve
• The local or regional authority with a role in
  school education
• At least one school
• At least one other relevant local organisation or
  institution (e.g. youth or sport clubs, parents
  and pupils associations, local teacher training
  institutes, other learning providers, VET
  institutions and local employers, museums and
  consulting services/ advisory boards)

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Examples of possible activities

• Exchanges of school education staff, job
  shadowing, study visits etc
• Action research, small studies
• Exchanges of experience and good practice
• Peer learning activities and common training
  sessions, conferences, seminars and workshops

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Examples of possible activities

• Summer schools
• Awareness raising campaigns
• Co-operation with other projects in related
  subject areas (including Comenius Networks)
• Joint self-evaluation activities, dissemination
  of project experiences and outcomes

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Funding

• Grants cover costs related to mobility, the
  implementation of project activities and the
  dissemination of results.
• Staff costs are NOT covered
• The funding is based on a lump sum for mobility
  and real costs for additional project costs.
• Possibility to fund up to 500 regions

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Next steps

• Deadline for submitting project proposals
• 19 February 2010
• First projects shall start in August 2010
• More information onwww.ec.europa.eu/education/com
  enius

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eTwinning

• Enables you to work with other schools in Europe
  using ICT
• Lets you find partner schools across Europe
  quickly and easily (currently more than 50,000
  schools registered)
• Provides you with online tools, project ideas and
  support to let you work effectively
• Range of support, accreditation and professional
  development opportunities

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Key features

• Tools to share and exchange resources and develop
  joint web pages (TwinSpace)
• European community of practitioners linked
  through ICT, sharing experience
• Comprehensive support package (online and
  face-to-face)
• No application form and no administration
• Focus on how ICT can enrich all areas and stages
  of the curriculum

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eTwinning key features

• TwinSpace
• The heart of your project
• Shared, secure online space
• Upload materials, presentations, video clips, etc
• Keep it private to your partnership, or publish
  online
• TwinBlog
• Project blog
• Means of easily sharing progress with the British
  Council and others

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How do eTwinning and Comenius relate?

• eTwinning is a great toe-in-the-water.
• eTwinning can help with partner-finding
• eTwinning is a great introduction to
  collaborative curriculum projects with European
  partners
• eTwinning can lead to a funded Comenius
  partnership
• eTwinning can enhance the ICT dimension of an
  exisiting Comenius partnership
• eTwinning can be used to continue a Comenius
  partnership once the funding has ended

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Further information

• www.britishcouncil.org/comenius
• www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning
• www.etwinning.net
• http//etwinninguk.typepad.com (UK eTwinning blog
  with regularly updated news and information)
• http//www.sintamandusmeulebeke.be/zooproject/zoo.
  htm