3.5. Learning and assessment

Beanstalk, a Children’s Literature Charity in England, was founded in 1973. Working closely with partner schools, they recruit, train and support volunteers to provide reading support for children between ages 3 and 13
The volunteers work one-to-one with children (with each volunteer working with one to three children), coming to the school for three hours each week over the course of a school year. To help build the child’s confidence and create trust, they may read, play and talk with the children. The Beanstalk book box is an important resource with appropriate books and games
Volunteers are asked to make a commitment to work with children for a full school year. Over time, the volunteer and the child build a trusting relationship, and the volunteer is able to learn more about the challenges children experience as they are learning.
The Charity currently reaches approximately 11,000 children across England annually.

This example describes innovative approaches in an upper secondary school in Sweden - Beda Hallberg. The school offers a range of programmes that provide the foundation for personal development and active participation in society. The school also aims to provide continued support to learners and reduce the risk of drop-out by working hard to minimizes the closing times of the school with the view to staying open during some longer holidays. A team of health professionals are also well represented and includes social and psychological counsellors available to support the needs of young people.

Dannewerkschule Schleswig, Germany is a comprehensive lower secondary school offering grades 5-10, a quarter of which have a migratory background and learning German as a second language. The school aims to be a place of learning where students with different talents and personalities are welcome and can use a wide blend of learning environments and tools.

Essunga, a Swedish municipality, transformed the ranking of its schools from the bottom to the top of the national school league tables between 2007 to the top in 2010. Essunga has three elementary schools and one lower secondary school (grades 6-9). With 5,500 citizens, it is one of the smallest municipalities in the country. The increase in levels of achievement is attributed to a research-based approach of inclusive education. For years, the three elementary schools in Essunga had consistently experienced low educational levels. An increasing number of students were refugees or in “family placements”. In 2007, only 76% of students were eligible for upper secondary school and 20% of these were placed in special education classes. These results compelled political and school leaders and school staff to identify targeted measures to address these challenges. The municipality focused on interventions at school and in the local community to prevent school absence and increase attendance.

E-EVALINTO aims to promote peer mentorship to reduce early school leaving among migrant students and to acknowledge the value of interculturality, as well as develop an ICT framework for assessing, managing and developing activities for intercultural contexts. The Erasmus+ funded project focuses on decision-making processes and the identification of different patterns in the situations analysed.

In order to prevent drop-out, the Godalen and Thor Heyerdahl Upper Secondary Schools in Norway have focused on improving and strengthening their school leadership strategies. The schools have established a range of measures to support teachers and young people alike.

Interactive Groups is one of the Successful Educational Actions (SEAs) identified in the research project INCLUD-ED. INCLUD-ED analysed educational strategies that contribute to overcoming inequalities and promote social cohesion, and those generating social exclusion, particularly focusing on vulnerable and marginalised groups. Interactive Groups are used to improve the education of children and youth in different contexts. They consist of grouping students in a class into small heterogeneous groups, each of them supported by an adult. Each of these groups is organised around four or five students, in a heterogeneous way regarding ability level, gender, culture, language and ethnicity. This example provides an understanding of IG and the results of their practice.

In the school year 2015/16 the Schulzentrum Ybbs (a school center consisting of three vocational upper secondary schools) introduced a concept called IndY, which involves that 20% of the teaching time is intended for individualized learning. IndY aims at improving students’ expertise, motivation, self-responsibility, self-management, collaborative skills, emotional intelligence and learning methods.

The Joaquim Ruyra Elementary School is located in a disadvantaged suburban district of Barcelona. In the 2016-2017 school year, 92% students were immigrants representing 28 different nationalities (including Pakistan, Morocco, Georgia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Senegal, and the USA) or from minority background (Romani). The school has a 40% mobility rate.  

National and international press have referred to the school as the miracle school as it had achieved academic outcomes above the average in the Catalan standardised tests, outperforming elite schools in the Catalonia region.

All classes in the school feature group work 40% to 60% of the time. The groups mix students of different abilities, genders and nationalities.  The small groups are designed to ensure that no one is left out, and students are encouraged to participate actively.  Each group is facilitated by an adult (e.g. a classroom assistants, a parent).  Psychologists and special education teachers may also work in the classrooms, and they support volunteer parents, teachers and the students.  The extra support and student interaction are considered as essential for supporting and reinforcing children’s learning.