5.3. Partenariats - Employeurs et entreprises

L’année de transition proposée par un certain nombre d'établissements scolaires irlandais permet à des élèves (âgés d’environ quinze ans) d’acquérir une expérience éducative étendue afin de parvenir à une plus grande maturité. Elle a lieu après le premier cycle de l’enseignement secondaire et avant le passage au niveau d’enseignement supérieur et/ou à la préparation professionnelle. Elle sert de passerelle entre le premier cycle de l’enseignement secondaire, où les élèves évoluent dans un environnement très structuré, à un environnement où ils seront davantage responsables de leur propre apprentissage et prise de décision.

Afin de réduire le décrochage scolaire, la Finlande a travaillé à la mise au point de méthodes et de procédures pédagogiques innovantes pour répondre aux besoins individuels au moyen de l’apprentissage par l’activité, de l’enseignement en petits groupes, de l’apprentissage par la pratique professionnelle et de différents environnements d’apprentissage.

My education, my job, my future is a project that aims to prevent early school leaving and to encourage and inspire students to continue school.

In this project, students had the opportunity to learn about various jobs that exist today in their country and in Europe, as well as to learn about future jobs. Various workshops had been organised to help them discover their skills and to help them to choose the right path for their future career. Students learned the basic steps of how to start up their own business. Through this project students were encouraged to develop their 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking & creativity and understood how important education is for their future career as well as for their development and personal life.

The aim of the report Nordic Projects to Combat School Dropout is to improve and inspire new initiatives for young people, and to create enriching contacts between actors and organisations in the Nordic region.
The Nordic Web Resource on Dropout from Upper Secondary Education was a project commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and run by the Nordic Welfare Centre between 2012 and 2015. The aim of the project was to compile good examples of initiatives aimed at increasing the proportion of young people in the Nordic region who complete upper secondary education.
On the Nordic web portal, a large range of successful projects from the Nordic countries were presented. The initiatives had been evaluated externally, and showed positive results. Some activities were specifically chosen because of their innovative character or value as sources of inspiration.
Despite bureaucratic and cultural differences between the Nordic countries, the situation regarding young people at risk of dropping out of school is strikingly similar. The differences are sometimes greater between municipalities and schools than between countries. By learning about successful initiatives in the Nordic countries, it is possible to find inspiration and tools to improve the work on helping all young people to complete their upper secondary education.
In this publication, ten projects are described that were presented on the Nordic good practice web portal. Some of the projects have been completed, while others continue. Some activities have been incorporated in ordinary work.

The school’s approach to teaching and learning is based on attaining educational excellence and achievement for all students. The school developed a stimulating curriculum which seeks to provide its students with an understanding of the learning processes in which they are involved (meta-cognition) – and to build their self-belief. The provision of specialist teaching in certain subject areas (science, music, art, physical education) is a key element in this process, as is the development of maths teaching throughout the school (for 6th graders). The teaching of philosophy to all students is also a vital element in developing students’ thinking skills, resilience and self-confidence. Curriculum innovation is undertaken on the initiative of the school, working in co-operation with its Federation partners at Whitmore Park Primary School. All staff, the governing body, students and parents are regularly consulted and made part of the process of curriculum development, and the school is strongly engaged with community partners in developing broader learning activities.

The overall objective of the project is to reduce the drop out rates of learners in vocational education and training, by providing materials and tools for counsellors and trainers to develop their own skills in working with groups, to detect potential dropouts and the special characteristics of learners’ groups, provide support adjusted to individual needs, and thereby improve the quality of their vocational education systems.

The ‘Talk of the Town’ (ToTT) intervention was developed by The Communication Trust and ICAN – two UK-based speech, language and communication NGOs. ToTT was piloted across a small federation of schools (secondary and primary) in Manchester in an area of social deprivation in 2011- 2012 to address developmental delays in children’s speech language and communication (SLC). It is an integrated, community-led and systematic approach to supporting SLC in children and young people. The importance of detection and support of learners with learning difficulties before the problem is translated into school absenteeism is essential. Research has pointed to the need to identify at-risk learners and rapidly intervene at the appropriate level, in this case a targeted approach being the most applicable. ToTT follows a systematic process to embed strategies and achieve measurable positive outcomes. It was piloted with four key aims: 1. Early identification of children and young people with SLC needs 2. Joint working between parents and practitioners across health and education 3. Positive outcomes for children and young people with improved SLC skills 4. A sustainable approach, so that policy and practice continues to support positive outcomes.