First Italian Multiplier Event: perspectives on the futures of education
The first Italian INCLUDE Multiplier Event, initially planned as a participatory conference with panel discussions in May 2020, took place online due to the COVID-19 pandemics.
The event was entitled “Officina 2020: Education and Futures”, to give a sense of continuity with previous initiatives – the “Officine” - that the research group Social Studies of Science, Education, Communication of the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies of the National Research Council of Italy – CNR-IRPPS organizes annually together with the Italian Ministry of Education to promote a reflection on strategic issues of education and educational policies. Instead, the introduction of the word “futures” in the title is due to a partnership with the “Futures of Education” initiative developed by UNESCO, expanding the temporal perspective up until 2050.
The goal of the INCLUDE first Multiplier Event was to foster the participation of stakeholders and school communities in a process of exchange of experience and co-creation of knowledge since the early stage of the project, enhancing a debate on the INCLUDE approach to CLIL in developing key competences – with particular reference to citizenship competences - and in rethinking, in the short and long term, the issues of europeanity and planetarity to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Given the COVID-19 emergency situation, the role of Information and Communication Technologies and virtual schooling was considered as central, too.
The Officina 2020 consisted of panel discussions - “virtual tables” – on these issues and, more widely, on the aims of education and competences, considering the dimensions of uncertainty linked both to the fragility, complexity and interconnection of each element of our planet - which can arise in crises and emergencies - and to the peculiarity of “post-normal” knowledge, characterized by uncertain facts, values called into question, high interests at stake and the urgency of the decisions to be made.
The virtual tables took place on April 28, May 5 and 8, involving a total of about 40 participants as selected panellists, plus 4 CNR researchers as coordinators and facilitators: the first table was composed by 14 students from the secondary school students of the Provincial Council of Rome; the second table by 6 researchers, 1 teacher, 2 school directors, 1 policymaker from the Italian Ministry of Education, 1 student; the third table by 3 policymakers, 3 researchers, 4 teachers, 3 from NGOs, 1 from the Goethe Institut.
A fourth virtual table, on May 13, was added to promote a connection with another European Erasmus + project, the Global Science Opera leverage students participation and engagement in science through art practices (GSO4SCHOOL), giving value to the issue of integrating science and art in the educational field to develop scientific citizenship.
The participatory process started before the virtual meetings, collecting panellists’ tacit knowledge in terms of first reflections and keywords, that were shared among the participants, and ended after the meetings, with their contribution in the reports collecting the virtual table results.
Moreover, the virtual tables were transmitted via streaming and, for the public, it was possible to send contributions that were taken into account in the summary of the results as well.
Considering the need of working at a distance and, at the same time, reaching a wider public, a proper website was developed for the Officina 2020 (https://www.officinaeducazionefuturi.it/en/), with the aim of gaining visibility and involving scientific and educational communities.
The website, which embeds a link to the INCLUDE website, was conceived as a virtual space to promote debate and exchange of experiences also after the end of the event. It represents an interactive space for the INCLUDE Italian community, fostering connections with the wider communities linked to the CNR “Officine” initiatives. Through the website, a wider public could, and can, have access to shared documentation, the virtual table recordings and final reports, but also actively contribute, sending materials and reflections to be shared.
Besides being available on the Officina 2020 website, the reports collecting the virtual table results have also been acquired by the UNESCO Futures of Education initiative and by the wide “Officine” network via mail.
Second Italian Multiplier Event
The event was organized in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Education and the UNESCO initiative Futures of Education. Table 1 debate was aimed at exploring conceptions of Europeanity, which is a crucial transversal theme in our project, from the point of view of students from extra-European countries; Table 2 debate was aimed at eliciting reflections about possible futures of education in high school students, with some concrete proposals emerged; Table 3 debate started from selected INCLUDE educational scenarios to explore the relationships between knowledge and competences and the issue of multimodality in education.
Summaries of the work table debates were put in the form of reports and shared with UNESCO, and are available on the website: https://www.officinaeducazionefuturi.it/en/ Moreover, the event was organized in collaboration with the Multiplier Event of the European Erasmus+ project OLA
Third Italian Multiplier Event
The conference was held, as usual, in the framework of the OFFICINA EDUCAIZONE FUTURI annual event. This edition was held in presence c/o Palazzo Merulana in Roma.
The events started with a plenary session focused on the issues of inclusion and democracy in educational contexts, expanding to a wide and more integrated perspective and in view of the sustainability of the INCLUDE approach, the INCLUDE crucial issues of europeanity, the European framework of Key Competences and the specific issue of accessibility and multimodality in education as inclusion assets. We invited guest speakers including a representative of the Italian Ministry of education, scholars, the National Agency Erasmus+ INDIRE, NGOs (Save the Children), cultural associations (Coop culture), Provincial Student Councils from Lazio Region. Some selected literature pieces related to these issues were read by an invited journalist.
The 3 tables reflected about urgent inclusion/democracy objectives in educational context and identified possible facilitators/barriers/resources to reach them. Reports of the tables are available on the event website.
INCLUDE Multiplier Event in Greece
First Multiplier Event
The first Multiplier Event in Greece was co-organized by the two Greek partners of the INCLUDE project, that is the 1st Experimental Junior High School of Athens and the NTUA. Initially, it was scheduled to be held in the premises of the 1st Experimental Junior High School of Athens in May 2020. However, due to the COVID emergency, the event took place online using the Webex Event platform on the 18th of June 2020.
After a brief introduction of the INCLUDE project, crucial aspects of the project were discussed, namely the design of educational scenarios, CLIL implementation, aspects of Europeanity, enhancement of the educational material by using non textual resources (multimodality), transversal skills and how to promote them through specific scenarios. The participation of the British council was crucial in the event as it provided insights of the international experience of CLIL implementation, as well as similarities with other projects being currently implemented.
After a short break, participants took part in a workshop in which they had the opportunity to access the INCLUDE moodle platform and study the case of an INCLUDE scenario. First, they were guided through the INCLUDE moodle platform to understand its structure and then they explored an exemplary INCLUDE scenario. Afterwards, they were asked to evaluate the extent to which this scenario meets the INCLUDE scenario requirements using a Likert scale (1 to 5). Before closing the event, future plans of the INCLUDE project, including the educational repository that will be created next year, were discussed.
In total, 55 teachers and other stakeholders participated in the event. 17 of the participants were members of the staff of the organizing institutions and 38 were external. The majority of them were teachers (27 out of 38) but there were also Education policy makers (5 out of 38), researchers (5 out of 38) and one member of the Staff of the British Council.
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Presentations of the 1st Multiple Event in Greece
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Structure of an educational scenarios, S. Markantonakis
- Program of the 1st Multiple Event in Greece
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- June 2020
Second Multiplier Event
The second Multiplier Event in Greece was co-organized by the 1st Experimental School of Athens and the NTUA. Initially, it was scheduled to be held in the premises of the 1st Experimental Junior High School of Athens in 9 June of 2021. At the beginning of the theoretical session, a short presentation about the INCLUDE programs was conducted by Mr. Kostis Kontogiannis, Director of the 1st Experimental School of Athens . Afterwards, Ms Kalogerakou Cleopatra, teacher of the1st Experimental School of Athens told about the structure of an INCLUDE scenarios while a presentation with title "Evaluation criteria for web resource" was conducted by Sofia Mougiakou, teacher of the 1st Experimental School of Athens. Finally, Paraskevi Tzouveli and Costis Alexandris from NTUA told about open educational resources, creative commons and INCLUDE repository.
Third Multiplier Event
The third ME took place 23.05.2022 on the Webex. The ME had two session: the theoretical and the practical. At the beginning of the theoretical session, a short presentation about the INCLUDE programs was conducted by Mr. Kostis Kontogiannis, Director of the 1st Experimental School of Athens . Afterwards, Mr. Panagiotis Piliouras, a policy maker of Greek Ministry of Education, told about the pursuit of new Programs at Greek School to Include the soft skills. Then, a presentation with title "What do the INCLUDE and OLA programs leave in the educational community?" was conducted by Maria Boubouka, teacher of the 1st Experimental School of Athens. Finally, Paraskevi Tzouveli and Costis Alexandris from NTUA told about open educational resources, creative commons and INCLUDE repository.
In the practical session, four digital rooms were created, with the rooms' presenters were INCLUDE scenarios' creators. They presented one of their scenarios and discussed how the participants could include these scenarios to their lessons..
2021 Multiplier Event
The 2021 Multiplier Event in Spain, held in April 2021, consisted of an extensive program of conferences and work-tables, in which we have been able to invite international references in CLIL methodology, including key policymakers from our Department of Education, beyond our city administrators. Prof. Do Coyle, from University of Edinburgh contributed with an insightful presentation about CLIL challenges for the 21st century.
We were fortunate to count with Montserrat Montagut, Head of the Foreign and Heritage Language units at the Catalan Ministry of Education who gave a complete overview of CLIL evolution in Catalonia in the last 20 years.
We expect to put our school and the Erasmus+ project on the map and reach the interest of numerous teachers from different levels, just as administrators, in exploring and using the INCLUDE Moodle Platform.
The ME gave us a unique opportunity to expand our own ideas about how CLIL-style programs can be implemented in so many different learning environments, from primary school till University courses. Presenters were able to share with us their challenges and concerns and also their success stories. On our work-tables teachers from different levels and systems got together to debate the best conditions to facilitate best practices and also they stated what they benefit from other levels to launch their own educational curricula. It is also worth noting that organizing an online event for so many people in many different places was an incredible experience. We learned so much about online platforms and how to create community although we were not able to meet in person.
2022 Multiplier Event
The 2022 Multiplier Event in Spain took place in May 2022. We were very fortunate to hold the event in person as we were able to invite everybody from the previous ME. Firstly we presented our project for participants who were not present the year before. We explained in depth all the phases of the program and specifically the IOS. We also took the opportunity to introduce and contextualize the concept or Europeanity. We organized a discussion panel so our own teachers could share their first hand experiences with the Scenarios: either designing, or doing heavy or light evaluations throughout these 3 years.
As a continuation of last year ME, we were able to put our school and the Erasmus+ project on the map and reach the interest of numerous teachers from different levels, as well as administrators, in exploring and using the INCLUDE Moodle Platform actively: we enrolled our guests as “students” and they were able to discover plenty of Scenarios.
This event gave us a very interesting opportunity to see so many teachers, from different specializations and backgrounds on their first look at the scenarios. That experience became the
foundation for a debate about approaches to CLIL-style programs that can be implemented in our local different learning environments. On our work-tables teachers got together to debate the best conditions to facilitate best practices and also they stated their doubts and concerns in using the Scenarios and other CLIL and digital materials in their own educational curricula.
First Multiplier Event in Romania: CLIL – between theory and practice
The first Multiplier Event in Craiova was organized on-line on the 27th of May 2020 by Mircea Eliade Secondary School, involving various local stakeholders.
Among the participants, there were two university professors from the University of Craiova, specialised in education sciences, two inspectors from Dolj County Inspectorate, two guests from Craiova Prefecture and the City Council. We also had one guest from our local county library - Alexandru and Aristia Aman Dolj County Library, as well as teachers from other major cities in Romania. Students of different ages took part in the event, from both secondary school and B.A. university level.
The event was structured in three sections.
Section 1: After the welcome address given by Mircea Eliade School’s Principal, Genoveva Ioana, followed a brief presentation of the project by the coordinator Lidia Cazacu, there were two keynote speeches delivered by Prof. Titela Vilceanu, PhD and Lecturer Alexandru Strunga, PhD from the University of Craiova. The representative from the Prefecture, Marina Andronache, offered a speech on Europeanity and European Projects, while the delegate of the School Inspectorate, Ani Draghici, talked about learning strategies that support CLIL. Mrs Madalina Bailesteanu from the Alexandru and Aristia Aman Dolj County Library presented a wide range of materials that the library can provide for teachers to design the scenarios.
Section 2: There were four breakout rooms in which the INCLUDE scenarios, designed by Mircea Eliade teachers, were presented: Every drop counts, EU-ID Card, I am a child, I have rights, Neoclassicism in ar-kid-tecture, Water - importance, uses and protection measures.
Section 3: There were open discussions on the scenarios with feedback and suggestions.
The event involved a total of 18 participants on-site and 45 participants on-line.
It is possible to watch the video recording of the event (in Romanian language) here.
Second Multiplier Event in Romania
The second Multiplier Event within the INCLUDE Erasmus+ Project (Integrated Content and Language via a United Digital Environment) 2019-1-IT02-KA201-063224 was organized in person on the 28th of May 2021, involving 66 participants: educators, students, researchers and policy makers.
The venue chosen for the event was University Halls in Craiova.
Among the participants there were university professors from the University of Craiova, inspectors from the Dolj Inspectorate, guests from the Local Council and Prefecture. Also we invited representatives from Alexandru and Aristia Aman County Library as well as teachers from Craiova and nearby cities. Undergraduate students and also high school students took part in the event. The Multiplier Event began with the welcome speech given by Mircea Eliade School’s Principal, Genoveva Ioana, followed by a presentation of the project and its development during the second year given by the coordinator Lidia Cazacu.
An ample description of the working plan 2020-2021 (the first testing phase of the scenarios) was made by Lidia Cazacu who highlighted the next steps for the second evaluation phase, insisting on the learning strategies that support CLIL. A presentation of the Moodle platform was held by Mrs Diana Vancica and of the scenarios uploaded to the platform by Mircea Eliade teachers. The guests were also informed about the evaluation and Europeanity questionnaire that the students completed when the scenarios were implemented in Mircea Eliade School. There were also open discussions on the scenarios and about the way they were implemented in class, pointing out the strengths of using CLIL. The conclusions and recommendations were agreed by all the participants and it is hoped that the second Multiplier Event has laid a cornerstone for the continued sharing of practical experience and lessons learnt about different approaches using CLIL.
Cyprus 2021 Multiplier Event
The Cyprus 2021 Multiplier Event took place on 17th of April, 2021 under the title The INCLUDE project: applying CLIL at schools. There were six presentations, discussions and plenary sessions in this conference. These presentations addressed different aspects of the INCLUDE project, namely the nature of INCLUDE, what it brings to CLIL and to schools, learning session on an example of an INCLUDE scenario. This was followed by presenting INCLUDE skills and competences with input from the first scenarios created. Another aspect of INCLUDE activities concerns the Evaluation of the INCLUDE scenarios using self and peer evaluation.
Especial attention was given to the innovative aspects in INCLUDE, tackling an example of this innovation by presenting the Europeanity aspect of INCLUDE and the sixth presentation dealt with is INCLUDE and the University of Cyprus, in particular addressing the present status of CLIL in Cyprus, presenting the prospects and challenges of this very important approach to learning/teaching and how INCLUDE could be applied to lower and upper secondary schools in Cyprus. There were 52 participants in this Multiplier Event including researchers, teachers (of different subjects and from different secondary schools), policy makers, educators, etc. from all over the country. The conference ends with fruitful discussions where several important issues and comments were raised and crucial questions were posed by most of the participants. These issues and questions were addressed and answered by the speakers.
PROMOTING SKILLS AND COMPETENCES: THE INCLUDE APPROACH Claudia Pennacchiotti and CNR TEAM
The Europeanity aspect of INCLUDE - Bogiatzis Vasilis
Cyprus 2022 Multiplier Event
Cyprus 2022 Multiplier Event took place on 14th of May, 2022 under the title The INCLUDE project: CLIL scenarios for the Digital School. There were six presentations, discussions and plenary sessions in this conference. These presentations addressed different aspects of the INCLUDE project, namely What we learned from INCLUDE, in which the presenter talked about the benefits of INCLUDE in the online education.
The second presentation was about The big picture: an overview of the scenarios created, in which presented describes in details how INCLUDE scenarios were created and developed and how they were uploaded on INCLUDE platform. Anther example of INCLUDE scenarios was presented by one of 1st Experimental School of Athens INCLUDE member. In this presentation, a thorough description of the scenarios developed and implemented in Greece. The fourth presentation was given by an INCLUDE team member, namely from Romania, in which the presented talked about the INCLUDE scenario created and developed and also implemented in Romania. The fifth presentation was given by a researcher from UCY (non-INCLUDE member) where she gave a very important aspect of Critical digital literacy: beyond the scenarios.
There were 35 participants and audience in this Multiplier Event including researchers, teachers (of different subjects and from different secondary schools), policy makers, educators, students, etc. from all over the country. The conference ends with fruitful discussions where several important issues and comments were raised and crucial questions were posed by most of the participants. These issues and questions were addressed and answered by the speakers.