3.5. Aprendizagem e avaliação

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.

O presente exemplo descreve as abordagens inovadoras adotadas numa escola do ensino secundário superior da Suécia. A escola oferece uma série de programas direcionados para o desenvolvimento pessoal e a participação ativa dos alunos na sociedade. Além disso, procura prestar-lhes um apoio contínuo e reduzir o risco de abandono escolar, esforçando-se por diminuir o mais possível os períodos de encerramento e permanecer aberta durante algumas férias mais prolongadas. Conta também com uma vasta equipa de profissionais de saúde e com assistentes sociais e psicólogos disponíveis para atender às necessidades dos jovens.
Beda Hallberg, um estabelecimento do ensino secundário superior localizado em Kungsbacka, na Suécia, abriu portas em 2013 como uma pequena unidade centrada no aluno. Para alguns jovens adultos entre os 16 e os 20 anos, o ambiente físico e social de muitas escolas pode ser difícil e constituir um obstáculo à sua permanência no sistema educativo. A escola de Beda está aberta aos jovens que procuram uma escola pequena onde se possam sentir seguros e confortáveis.

A fim de prevenir o abandono escolar, as escolas secundárias Godalen e Thor Heyerdahl na Noruega concentraram-se na melhoria e no reforço das estratégias de liderança das suas escolas. As escolas criaram uma série de medidas de apoio aos professores e aos jovens.

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.

Os Grupos Interativos constituem uma das Ações Educativas de Sucesso (AES) identificadas no projeto de investigação INCLUD-ED. O projeto analisou as estratégias educativas que contribuem para superar as desigualdades e promover a coesão social, bem como as que conduzem à exclusão social, com especial incidência em grupos vulneráveis e marginalizados. Os Grupos Interativos são utilizados para melhorar a educação de crianças e jovens em diferentes contextos. Consistem no agrupamento de alunos numa turma em pequenos grupos heterogéneos, cada um dos quais apoiado por um adulto. Cada um destes grupos é organizado em redor de quatro ou cinco alunos, de forma heterogénea em termos de capacidade, sexo, cultura, língua e etnia. Este exemplo permite compreender os Grupos Interativos e os resultados da sua prática.

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. 

Com o objetivo de assegurar o sucesso escolar de todos os alunos e prevenir o abandono escolar precoce, este projeto levado a cabo na Flandres, Bélgica, está especificamente centrado na introdução de uma cultura escolar e de várias medidas para evitar a repetição de ano.

The learning hub was implemented at the TGM (an upper-level secondary technical college) as a school experiment in the school year 2016/17. It has been implemented in the school’s Information Technology (IT) Department in two of the four classes in the first year (i.e. grade 9).

In the learning hub students study self-regulated 20 hours per week. Of these 20 hours, 9 hours relate to general education subjects (German, English and Mathematics) and 11 hours involve vocational education subjects (Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Media Technology, Network Technology). The other 6 school subjects (Geography, History and Political Education, Natural Sciences, Religion, Sports, Computer Workshop), which encompass 13 hours per week, are still taught by using traditional methods of teaching.