eTwinning Teacher Training Pilot: a bet for the European future school
During the school year 2012/13, a Pilot Project began to show students different new didactic strategies on eTwinning platform, during the initial stages of their training.
The Teacher Training Institutes from different European countries worked together to achieve two main goals: to raise awareness of the processes and possibilities offered to their students by eTwinning and to involve their students in a short eTwinning project partnership. This new experience was a success and the second step was the meeting in Manchester in May 2014 that covered such topics as: overview of eTwinning and its opportunities for teachers; lessons learnt from Pilot Phase 1; partnership models for future partnerships.
Two years ago our Genoese University adventure started as well. In 2013 I cooperated as training teacher in a course about European Union teaching: “ Europe for very young people (L’Europa per i piccoli)”. This course was born thanks to a collaboration between “Centro in Europa” and Disfor (Department of Education) in Genoa. The University Professors, involved in the course, were very interested in the eTwinning Platform so the Professor Mrs Fausta Cacciabue organized a Laboratoty about eTwinning platform and its potentialities.
In 2014 the eTwinning lab started with forty students divided in two groups, they collected their lab activities in an ebook . Ten students of them participated in two Pilot Projects:
1) a group of Genoese students and a group of Florentine students shared their ideas during and after their training labs
2) three students planned an etwinning project with their tutors and they worked with classes (from January to June). Two students worked with primary pupils and one student worked with pre-school children.
I was the tutor of Irini Koustas Murcia, a Spanish University student who was in Italy thanks to an Erasmus+ project . We collaborated in a very interesting project about stereotypes “Respecting diversity and break down stereotypes”, which has just received the National Quality Label .
Irini, Mrs Cacciabue and I, talked about it during the second meeting on ” Teacher Training Pilot “, held in Brussels from May 26 to 27, whose outcomes were: the integration of eTwinning in the initial training of teachers in some Italian and European universities, the creation of pilot projects with the students’ direct participation in eTwinning projects in Europe and the formation of a European network of universities concerned to continue and expand more and more eTwinning platform.
Twenty universities exchanged methods and practices about eTwinning integration in the various initial teachers training. Students brought their experience in eTwinning projects, showing a great enthusiasm and motivation . For the National Support Services has been an excellent opportunity to develop, together with European Universities, a common strategy for monitoring the trial and plan future steps, looking for a sustainable way over time to allow for a greater number of universities to participate in this project.
The University of Florence, Genoa, Palermo and Milan Catholic cooperated with the Universities of United Kingdom, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark, Iceland and Flemish Belgium. In October 2015 the Teacher Training Pilot started again and other Italian University are planning to join it.
Armanda Magioncalda, Italian Ambassador- Primary School Teacher at “ Istituto Comprensivo Staglieno” , Genoa
Tags: activities, conference, Denmark, italy, pilot project, spain, testimonies, united kingdom, workshops
Thanks for a nice article on the importance of bringing eTwinning into initial teacher training, but also to foster that teacher students at Teacher Training Institutes (TTI) around in Europe, and their teachers, indeed have something to contribute to the eTwinning community.
One comment though: The text says ‘Teacher Training Institutes in four countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Denmark)’. There were actually TTIs from five countries initially when we started the pre-pilot project in 2012; i.e. Denmark and UK, but also Belgium (Flemish), the Netherlands and Norway already . Spain and Italy however didn’t take part, as far as I remember, until later in phase 1, or was it even the phase 2? 🙂
Warm regards,
Claus, eTwinning NSS Denmark … and initator and facilitator of the first pilot
Hi Claus, you are right, the very first Phase started with Denmark, Norway, UK and Flemish Belgium and Italy joined end of 2012 beginning of 2013. I am confused thought, I don’t remember Netherland being part of the Pilot, are you sure? 😉
Dear Alexandra,
Thanks. Actually there were two participants from the Netherlands in the very first event we conducted in phase one. That was in the multilateral seminar in Esbjerg, Denmark. The two NL folks were teacher students from Hogeschool Inholland, and it’s probably true that NL as such was not formally taking part. However the NSS-NL had supported their attendance. //Claus 🙂
Hi Claus, thank you for your accurate comment. As Alexandra, eTwinning NSS Italy, underlines Italy joined the pilot during the school year 2012/2013. I have just updated the article written by the Italian Ambassador to present her personal experience in the Pilot
Thanks 🙂