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.

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. 

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.

Manchester Communication Academy (MCA) works to improve outcomes for children, families and the community. This secondary academy opened in 2010 to serve one of the most disadvantaged inner-city neighbourhoods in England. From the outset, the academy’s sponsor, a large employer in the city, wanted the school to help to contribute to a vibrant and sustainable neighbourhood, and committed to addressing the many inter-related economic, social and physical challenges which characterise the neighbourhood. This mission has directly shaped the academy programme, which places equal importance on ‘teaching and learning’ and ‘social investment’. The school’s social investment department is a highly distinctive feature of its overall strategy for addressing the impacts of disadvantage on young people’s education and wider life chances.

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.

Au Royaume-Uni, le contrat jeune cible les jeunes de 16-17 ans qui ne travaillent pas, ne suivent pas d’études ou de formation (NEET) ou qui présentent un risque de basculer dans cette catégorie. Ses trois objectifs clés sont: objectif 1: l’objectif principal du programme est de soutenir les jeunes de 16-17 ans qui ne travaillent pas, ne suivent pas d’études ou de formation et qui présentent un risque de désengagement sur le long terme à réintégrer l’enseignement, une formation ou un emploi avec formation, et de garantir la durabilité de ce résultat. objectif 2: améliorer l’expérience et les qualifications de ces jeunes pour qu’ils aient la possibilité de poursuivre leurs études et de décrocher un emploi, réduisant ainsi le pourcentage de ceux qui perdent leur emploi à l’âge adulte. objectif 3: éprouver des méthodes de rémunération et de prestation locale en fonction des résultats, ce qui améliore l’efficacité de ces modèles et développe de bonnes pratiques.

In the past, the Dutch School Inspectorate notified the Warande school about their students‘ low results. The school staff, however, were very much hesitant towards the test-driven-accountability-approach established by the Inspectorate. Therefore, the school team decided to re-define and interpret test-driven accountability in their own way. Instead of emphasising the learning results per se, they wanted to focus on the process of learning itself – starting from children’s needs and guiding them in their own development.

To be able to focus on children’s continuous development, the school also felt the need to integrate the child day care, kindergarten, elementary education and after school care. These issues ignited the need for organisational and pedagogical changes. Overall, the school has been innovative during recent years, and latest innovative approaches represent a continuity of this process and reflect the school’s innovative culture.

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 school has been developing innovative practices of informal learning for six years (since 2011). The main aims of these innovative approaches were to improve the educational level of pupils and school performance, to promote their social competences and sensitivity to the surrounding community and to enhance cooperation between teachers. As the first step of the informal learning approach, the school aimed to create informal learning environments by renovating the school yard and make it suitable for the learning purposes. As a second step, the school designed various learning approaches connected to the yard and broader school community (e.g., focusing on environmental education, natural sciences, reading). In this process the school cooperated with external stakeholders (scientists, artists, craftworkers, museums, etc.).