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The project
brings Institutes for Parental Education together with schools
of 3
European countries in order to create a new course for parents
and teachers of pre- and adolescent children (10 – 15 years).
The main
objectives of the course are:
·
to stimulate
the dialogue and to reinforce adequate communication between the
teachers of the schools concerned and the parents.
·
to improve
the knowledge and abilities of teachers and parents on how they
can collaborate to help the adolescent child overcome his
negative attitudes and develop a well-structured personality.
For this new
tool we have used the case-method. This innovative method helps
both parents and teachers discuss very actively on common
problems described in the cases, and thus helps them express and
understand their mutual points of view. The outcome is
that teachers and parents collaborate and educate in a
mutually reinforcing way to help the adolescent children
overcome those most difficult years.
The past
year teachers and parents of the participating countries
have deepened and exchanged their knowledge of the specific
needs of adolescents in workshops and seminars.
We launched
the partnership with an international exchange in Warsaw on 28th
October 2006, to which we had an attendance of 14 participants.
Amongst them were several teachers from the partnering school
from Poland. Belgium and Spain sent four delegates. We kicked
off by introducing the case-study method, as this was brand new
for most of the teachers present. Following the case, we had a
very successful brainstorming session about the topics that
should be raised in our training cases. An extensive list of
target themes was established.
 From
the 16th to the 18th of February
2007 a
second international project meeting was held in Madrid, to
which we had an attendance of 15 participants from all three
partnering countries. At this meeting we tried three of the
cases of the new course and discussed additional strategies and
goals that we want to embed in our course materials. The second
part of the meeting was centred around fine tuning the list of
topics, for which the cultural variety and
insight of the three countries proved to be most
fruitful. We even took the international exchange of knowledge
one step further by visiting the Instituto Tecnológico y Gráfico
Tajamar ( ITGT), our Spanish partnering school. Here we gained
direct information of the Spanish methodology and cultural
approach of the secondary education system. Tajamar is situated
in a very poor and socially deprived region of Madrid, which was
an exemplatory opportunity for all participants to
witness their enormous efforts in the field of social inclusion.
One of their initiatives for example is the opening
of their sports facilities during the weekends, making them
available to both students and their parents to recreate in a
safe environment in their spare time.
Our third
international meeting was held in Belgium on the 2nd
and 3rd of June 2007 in Mechelen. We had an
attendance of 12
participants. At
this meeting the final drafts of the cases where approved and
the list of topics rearranged and reduced to a final of 10
themes. Our next action plan consisted of drafting additional
guideline questionnaires for each of the cases, as well as a
suitable bibliography for both parents and educators.
The 50-hours training module for moderators of the
case-study method that was completed three years earlier in the
framework of the Grundtvig programme of 2001-2004 was adopted as
a base for the new course training in the second year. Finally
we established the planning of the agenda and division of tasks
for the next year.
We closed the meeting with an informal brainstorming session
about the future dissemination and marketing of our course in
cooperation with a delegation of the Damiaan Instituut from
Aarschot.
Following the exchange of the minutes of this meeting, a
daughter of one of our learners volunteered to produce a folder
for our course, in the framework of a school project.
In Belgium
we have launched a cooperation with the Damiaan Instituut from
Aarschot. The head of the school Maria Eeckhout and 5 teachers
have committed to participate in this project. So far we have
had
four national
meetings, on the 7th November, the 23rd
November, the 19th
December 2006 and the 26th January 2007.
And of
course Belgium participated actively in all three international
meetings.
On the 7th
of November 2006 we explained the project in full detail to the
teaching staff of the Damiaan Instituut, and
presented a case-study. The response was very positive
and the teachers were amazed by the degree of recognition that
can be found in the situations described in the case. They
immediately committed to writing several cases for our project.
We finished off with an initial brainstorming session on further
themes that could be addressed in our course material.
We set out
the 16th of February as a deadline to present the
first drafts of the cases to the other participants.
The
following meetings on the 23rd November,
the 19th December 2006 and the 26th
January 2007 have been mostly working groups around drafting the
cases. This was accomplished in three stages: first, an in-depth
profile of the pre-adolescent and adolescent of today and his
challenges was established. This resulted in an extensive list
of problems and hurdles they face in this fast-changing culture.
Today’s teenagers are confronted with violence, drug-abuse,
mobbing, social pressure, changing family situations ( e.g.
divorce, abandonment). Some are living with their grandparents,
or are being left dependant on themselves from a very young age
with both parents working outside the home for long hours. Then
there is the added challenge of finding their way in the new
social climate of internet dating and chatting, a cyber world
where rules and regulations are still to be set out.
With this
information as a starting point, we drafted the cases for the
new course and exchanged them several times with the other
countries.
In addition
to the cases, a start was made in drawing up a series of
questions that can help with the discussion of the cases, as
well as a relevant list of reading material already available.
The end result is now a
fully new 10-cases course for parents and teachers , written in
collaboration with each of the countries, translated into
English, and taking into account the variety in expertise of our
participants.
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