1.1. Kultura organizacyjna szkoły i atmosfera w szkole

To improve the school climate, a group of schools from the Learning Communities project decided to create the Brave’s Club. It is based on a “dialogical model of conflict prevention”. Since the Club started in 2014, it has made progress in eradicating school violence in both primary and secondary schools. This strategy is making it easier to bring together effective evidence-informed practices on preventing violence in classrooms in general, and more specifically, gender violence.

UNICEF Serbia and the civil society organisation Centre for Education Policy with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Republic of Serbia  implemented the project “Combating Early School Leaving in Serbia”.

This project aimed to contribute to decreasing drop-out and early school leaving of children and adolescents through development, establishment, and implementation of the school-based model for early identification of children at risk of dropping out and intervention in situations where dropping-out is taking place.

Combating drop-out and ESL in Serbia has been recognised as a policy priority area.  The Strategy for Education Development in Serbia 2020 (SEDS 2020) calls for the provision of high-quality education for all, an increase of students’ coverage and attainment at all levels of education by maintaining the relevance of education and increasing efficiency. The Strategy implementation is primarily focused on the development of human capital in Serbia, thus underlines importance of the inclusion of pupils from vulnerable and marginalised groups (Roma and children from poor families, children with disabilities and from rural areas etc.).

The Danish Production schools were created in the 1980s with the aim of combating youth unemployment. Production Schools offer alternative education opportunities to improve labour market integration. The fundamental aim of this type of school is to create a practical learning environment to support young people to complete and earn qualifications in general and vocational upper secondary education and/or maintain a job. The students are offered the opportunity to develop professional, social and personal skills through counselling, participation in practical work experience and production in different workshops ranging from areas such as metalwork, carpentry and textile work in theatre, media and music-based workshops. The focus is on social, personal and physical skills which are complemented by more formal knowledge and skills. Learning processes are organised through workshops and classroom teaching, but every young person is free to organise an individual course where they may challenge themselves and build their confidence.
The most significant challenge for production schools is to prepare and motivate “non-academic” students for the ordinary school system. The last legislative change in 2006focused the aims of Production Schools so that its most important task has been to build a bridge to vocational education and training through relevant practical and academic qualifications. In 2009, there were over 6,000 students in production schools. The student capacity at each school can vary from 20-25 to over 200. Generally speaking the schools are small, with half of the schools accepting fewer than 50 students. Today there are 78 Production Schools in Denmark.

The project goal is to provide a comprehensive analysis of best practices for preventing ESL in partner countries in the areas: of ESL monitoring systems; and, methods of counteracting ESL and reintegrating students.

Project partners were from Poland, the UK and Italy. Outputs include a report on ESL monitoring systems, a report on prevention and reintegration methods, and a training pack.

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.

Projekt ten ma na celu wspieranie rozwijania umiejętności społeczno-emocjonalnych u dzieci w wieku 11–14 lat, a także promowanie wzajemnego wsparcia, aby radzić sobie z tym zjawiskiem i działać na rzecz jego zmniejszania. Programy w tym zakresie służą doskonaleniu umiejętności związanych z uczeniem się oraz umiejętności społecznych i emocjonalnych, przyczyniających się do rozwoju bardziej prospołecznego zachowania oraz pozytywnej postawy wobec siebie i innych, jak również obniżanie poziomu stresu. Wzajemne wsparcie ogranicza negatywny wpływ nękania na ofiary tego zjawiska i sprawia, że łatwiej im zaakceptować zgłaszanie takich przypadków. Program przyjmuje podejście obejmujące całą szkołę – młodych ludzi, pracowników, rodziców oraz szerszą społeczność. Dzięki programowi odchodzi się od dwuwymiarowego podejścia do nękania uwzględniającego tylko osobę nękającą i ofiarę. W zamian za to analizuje się dynamikę społeczną i grupową w szkole lub w czasie wolnym, aby zająć się szeregiem czynników, które leżą u podstaw nękania. W ramach ENABLE przeszkolono zespół „ambasadorów” w każdym uczestniczącym kraju, którzy na życzenie szkoły lub organizacji służą informacjami i doradztwem.

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.

InnoOmnia, in the city of Espoo, Finland, was founded in 2011. It is the first multi-sector vocational education centre in Finland where entrepreneurs may run their businesses jointly with students and teachers. Work and vocational education are part of a blended learning approach. One of the key aims of the programme is to improve the appeal of vocational education, and to offer “21st century learning” opportunities.
Services include:
1. Entrepreneurship support for current and aspiring entrepreneurs, primarily in arts and crafts or the service sectors.
2. Work-based/on-the-job learning programmes
3. Innovation and piloting of new teaching methods in the context of vocational education, g, e.g. gamification, mobile learning, entrepreneurial teaching methods
4. Teacher and school leader professional development for K-12 and vocational sectors

The project focuses on the role of school leadership in actively structuring the educational process for learning and equity.

The project builds on the achievements of the Comenius Network “European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL, 2011-2014)”.

The project involved two intense job shadowing activities in Vienna and Berlin. Good practice and obstacles were identified though feedback forms, and solidified in collaborative analysis and evaluation.

Tools to support leadership action were developed and tested by the two school principals in everyday school life, and analysed through questionnaires/surveys and subsequently evaluated and summed up in bilateral groups.

The film produced by the partners can be found here:

https://youtu.be/UJR9Opwg4QM