Internationalt samarbejde

Senest opdateret: Mandag, 22. februar 2010 11:24

Denne side bliver løbende opdateret med information om det internationale samarbejde Projekt Uddannelsesløft udvikler.

 Presentation of Project Uddannelsesloeft

Project Uddannelsesløft (Project Competence Enhancement) is a 5 year long institutional effort to raise the educational level primary addressed to bilingual youngsters. The effort is made possible through cooperation between secondary schools, vocational educations and upper secondary institutions in Aalborg. Project Uddannelsesløft is based on the believe that, we, together and across the auspices of studies, can increase the effort with inclusion of the bilingual students. Project Uddannelsesløft takes the bilingual students as their starting point, but is to a great extent directed towards all students in realization of a positive spillover effect on the ethnic youngsters. The project is strengthening the teaching skills of the employees, which can induce a quality boost of the entire institution.
The project is financially funded of both private foundations, among these: Det Obelske Familiefond, public authorities and the participating educational institutions.

The Background of Project Uddannelsesløft
The challenges of the future – a joint affair. Education is important to each individual, to the economic growth and to the social cohesion of society. To youngsters with another ethnical background than Danish, it is demonstrated that an extra effort educationally is needed, to secure a better integration and this prevent drop-out. In the next few years there is going to be big societal challenges, as new studies finds:

• That 49% of bilingual students leave the municipal primary and lower secondary school without the academic skills to start an upper secondary education.
• That the drop-out rate among the bilingual at vocational educations is 60% - To the ethnic Danes the rate is 30%.
• That the bilingual students account for 10% of the student basis in the municipal primary and lower secondary school, while at the upper secondary school in Aalborg, they only account for 4%.
• That 8 of 10 descendants are younger than 20 years.
• That the number of 16 to 24 year old descendants will increase threefold during the next 15 years.
• That the teachers in the municipal primary and lower secondary schools, at technical colleges, and at upper secondary schools, feel poorly equipped for teaching bilingual students.
  
  UNG Aalborg education center has over several years achieved great results, through their work with bilingual youngsters. UNG Aalborg is behind an integration effort, which involved 950 bilingual youngsters, from the period 2000 – 2008. Through this period the bilingual youngsters had several necessary skills, which raised their standards in final examination, AVU tests and Danish education.  The effort has furthermore resulted in the development of several tools, including student plans, planning, evaluation etc. moreover, the effort has increased the collaboration and network establishment. Overall this has specifically led to more youngsters receiving the state education grant, fewer getting social security and approx 70% is maintained in an upper secondary education. These are some of the experiences, which are the root of Project Uddannelsesløft.
  The Objective and the Target Group

More specifically to Project Uddannelsesløft is the effort goal

• To raise the grade point average for bilinguals at the final examination in 9th form with minimum 0, 2 grade points – improvement of the technical premises.
• To reduce by half the drop-out rate of bilingual students at the technical colleges – Reduce the drop-out rate from 60% in 2008 to 30% in 2014.
• To double the number of bilingual students at upper secondary schools. – Increase the share from 4% in 2008 to minimum 8% in 2014.
  
  Through the 4 year long teaching- and guidance effort roughly 1700 students are involved, and about 240 teachers and counselors, from respectively 11 basic schools, 8 upper secondary schools, 4 technical schools and UU (see appendix 2 for clarification of participants).
  The criteria for success for the project, is to diminish the marginalization by strengthening the results of the youngsters. It is about results on both the technical and personal level, through repeatedly success, higher self-esteem, the sense of feeling included in the lessons and social communities.
  The specific target group to Project Uddannelsesløft is the 8th – 9th year group in the participating basic schools in the years 2010 – 2013, plus selected year groups/classes/teams in the participating upper educational institutions and technical colleges.

Central Elements
The underlying basis of Project Uddannelsesløft is existing knowledge about completion – and dropping out factors, international and national research plus local experiences.
The foundation of Project Uddannelsesløft is based on three “items”;
    1. Experience and evaluation – local experiences.
    2. Theory and research – existing knowledge from national and international research.
    3. Everyday teaching practice and tasks of the employees.

The project is aiming at the development of pedagogy, teaching, guidance and collaboration by strengthening the link between inter alia praxis and theory, teaching and guidance, the effort in the basic schools and upper secondary educations, the effort of the management and the employees, plus the research and experiences of everyday life.

The central elements:

• Development of an inclusive learning environment – which recognizes, identifies and makes use of the difference of the students plus ensuring motivation and well-being.
• Competency development of teachers and counselors through educational courses and study groups. Education, collaboration, knowledge sharing.
• Affiliation of “resource teachers” with a view to method-development in particular.
• Development of the guidance-effort. Strengthen the option-capability of the youngsters, plus strengthen the guidance of transition – and completion.
• Collaboration across the educational institutions.
• Management forum with collaboration, knowledge sharing and competency development.
• Knowledge center for coordination, sparring and quality development, which unifies and systematizes experiences and continuous method-development.
• Special activities and parent information for participating students.

The Pedagogical Mindset
Competency development of the employees is the central factor in Project Uddannelsesløft. The competency of the employees is developed through education, collaboration, knowledge sharing and practice-testing with an eye to implement methods that works, and to develop new ones.  The competency development procedure will centralize around inclusive learning environments, and develop pedagogical methods and forms of practice, which meets all students and their possible perspective in the general teaching.
The content of the competency procedure for employees is developed in collaboration with the educational institutions. To each employee the competency development will consist of a 60 hour long education procedure for the first year and a 30 hour long study group procedure in the following year. It is the idea that the education procedure will take-off from the teachers and counselors specific student groups, subjects, and tasks. Especially during the study group procedure, with a fundamental basis of the content of the course and the tasks of everyday life, will be engaged on development and exchanging of teaching and guidance procedure across auspices of education.

Competency Development – 60 Hours Education Procedure
The competency procedure takes the current student groups and tasks of the teachers and counselors, as a starting point.
- Youth pedagogy and inclusive learning environments.

• Identify the excluding factors which teachers outplays (unconsciously).
• Tools during the cultural encounting in a multi-cultural educational institution.
• Inclusive communication and pedagogy.
• Developing methods for recognizing, identification and how to make use of the diversity of the students. (Technical, linguistic, socially and culturally).
• A recognizing and multi-cultural pedagogy.
• Developing methods to secure the well-being of the individual within the structure of the community.
• Involvement of parents.

- Danish as a second language as a dimension in subject teaching.

• Developing pedagogical methods and practice forms, which consider all students and their possible perspective during basic teaching. 
• Developing methods for working with the linguistic dimension as an integrated element in all subjects and in the guidance.
• Identification of and working with the linguistic register in the subject areas.
• Functional linguistic, genre pedagogy.
• Technical reading in a second language, language based reading and writing pedagogy.

Competency development – 30 Hours Study Group Procedure
The 30 hour long study group takes the content of the course, and everyday teaching as a starting point.
- The project employees schedules the exchange of;

• Teaching- and guidance procedure.
• Methods.
• Materials.

To employees across auspices of education.
- In different groups:

• Trade groups: humanistic, scientific and practical/musical subject areas plus guidance.
• Team division: basic school, technical college and upper secondary education.

Documentation and Disseminating
A significant angel of Project Uddannelsesløft is documentation and disseminating. It is important to the future process of the project, that results are documentated and evaluated. Project Uddannelsesløft is rooted organizational at UNG Aalborg educational center, but is a development in the joint school system. In the light of the research centre, project Uddannelsesløft functions as a general research centre compared to the educational institutions work with inclusion of bilingual students in general teaching. At the same time anchoring is central, because the project is based on knowledge and competency development. The development benefits several people, bilingual students, ethnic Danish students, co-workers etc. The research centre is expanding concurrently with more experiences with inclusion of the youngsters. The research centre collects and communicates knowledge about, amongst other things; teaching environment, Danish as a second language as a dimension in subjects and subject areas, parent collaboration, student- and teaching plans etc. At the same time courses and skill development procedures are offered to all schools concerning Danish as a second language in all subjects. As far as possible (relating to resources) the intent is to affiliate research with a view to disseminate via conferences and publications.

Success Criteria

• To secure an overall administration, sustainability, local ownership and anchoring. The implement for this purpose is dialogue meetings with all involved parts regarding description of the project content. Furthermore through establishment of a joint management forum which will function as development knowledge – and management space.
• To secure sharing of knowledge, synergy effect, development of methods and material. The implement to do so is the establishment of a research centre, which will be the dynamic rotation axis.
• To advance an inclusive learning environment in the educational institutions. The implement to do so is establishment of a knowledge center, where attached function teachers interact with the educational institutions.
• To support the establishment of a study-aid / home work cafés on all upper secondary educations in Aalborg. This can happen in interaction with the resource teachers attached to the knowledge center.
• To communicate experience and results locally, regionally and nationally. The implement to do so will be conducting dissemination conferences and the establishment of a web portal linked to the knowledge center. Furthermore, as far as possible, passing on through publications from printed, as well as computerized sorts.