5.3. Partnerskap: arbetsgivare och företag

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. 

Finland har utarbetat innovativa undervisningsmetoder och förfaranden för att tillgodose enskilda elevers behov genom att använda aktivitetsbaserad inlärning, undervisning i mindre grupper, arbetsplatsstudier och olika inlärningsmiljöer för att minska avhoppen från skolan.

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.

Min utbildning, mitt arbete, min framtid är ett projekt som syftar till att förebygga att elever lämnar skolan med enbart grundskoleutbildning och till att uppmuntra och inspirera dem att fortsätta i skolan.

Syftet med rapporten Nordic Projects to Combat School Dropout [har endast utgetts på engelska]är att förbättra och inspirera till nya initiativ för ungdomar, och att knyta givande kontakter mellan nordiska aktörer och organisationer.
”Nordisk kunskapsbank om skolavhopp” var ett projekt på uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådet som drevs av Nordens välfärdscenter mellan 2012 och 2015. Syftet med projektet var att samla in goda exempel på initiativ som syftar till att öka andelen unga människor i Norden som slutför sin gymnasieutbildning eller utbildning på motsvarande gymnasienivå.
På den nordiska webbportalen redovisades ett stort antal framgångsrika projekt från de nordiska länderna. Initiativen hade utvärderats externt och uppvisade positiva resultat. Vissa aktiviteter valdes särskilt ut för att de ansågs vara innovativa eller värdefulla som inspirationskällor.
Trots byråkratiska och kulturella skillnader mellan de nordiska länderna är situationen för unga människor som riskerar att hoppa av skolan påfallande likartad. Skillnaderna är ibland större mellan olika kommuner och skolor än mellan olika länder. Genom att ta del av framgångsrika initiativ i de nordiska länderna är det möjligt att få inspiration och verktyg för att förbättra arbetet med att hjälpa alla ungdomar att avsluta sin gymnasieutbildning eller utbildning på motsvarande gymnasienivå.
I publikationen beskrivs tio projekt som presenterades som exempel på god praxis på den nordiska webbportalen. Vissa av projekten har slutförts, medan andra fortfarande pågår. Vissa aktiviteter har integrerats i det ordinarie arbetet.

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 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.).   

The school practices several innovative initiatives:

- The ‘Exercise company’ supports students to go through all the steps of setting up a company, from the creation of its administrative structure to its daily management, supporting students’ entrepreneurship competences. This project is regarded very positively by the whole school community and national authorities.

- The ‘Different school’ (‘Şcoala altfel’) programme significantly changed the relationship between students and teachers, thanks to its flexibility. Coupled with the participation in trainings of non-formal education by the teaching staff and practices acquired during Erasmus+ projects, it helped to reshape the educational process at the school.

- Teachers have been involved in curricular innovation dedicated to their particular field of study (tourism and economics) while members of committees set up by the Ministry of Education and the National Centre for the Development of Vocational Education (CNDIPT) contributed to the renewal of the national curriculum.

Skolans strategi för undervisning och lärande syftar till att uppnå hög kvalitet i undervisningen och goda resultat för alla elever. Skolan utvecklade en stimulerande kursplan som syftar till att ge eleverna en förståelse för den inlärningsprocess som de deltar i (metakognition) och att stärka deras självkänsla. Specialiserad undervisning i vissa ämnesområden (naturvetenskap, musik, konst, idrott) är ett viktigt inslag i denna process, liksom att utveckla matematikundervisningen i skolan (för sjätteklassare). Undervisning i filosofi för alla elever är också en viktig faktor för att utveckla elevernas tankeförmåga, motståndskraft och självförtroende. Nya kursplaner utformas på initiativ av skolan i samarbete med dess partner i Whitmore Park Primary School. Alla anställda, ledningen, elever och föräldrar har regelbundet konsulterats och deltar i processen för utveckling av kursplaner. Skolan samarbetar intensivt med lokala partner för att utveckla bredare inlärningsaktiviteter.