Description
The project is to promote academic cooperation between the universities of our faculty and a partner in Trondheim. The research problems are for instance the role of ICT, drama, neuroscience, environmental protection and multilingualism in early childhood education. The major objective of the project is to promote the scientific understanding. The principal aim of the project is to enable information sharing between the two institutions. One of major expectation of this project is to gain reflections to early childhood issues. Furthermore, professional discussions could stimulate cooperation in common research and publication. The intention is to visit and observe seminars and lectures at the host institutions whilst also intended to visit some local kindergartens and schools. The Hungarian system of teacher training focusing on the training of kindergarten teachers will also be instroduced. The target groups are the visiting delegate and the fellow scholars and students of the host institute; and indirectly the teachers of the affiliated kindergartens. The role of the donor partner in the project is to organise the workshops, seminars and lectures for us. This partnership makes our trainings unique from several angles and perspectives. The outcomes will be the strengthening of student, staff and teacher mobility, establishing scientific and training relations between the institutions, enhancement of the European dimension and getting information about good practices.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to develop cooperation between institutions, which had already been started before the visit. The research problems addressed in the mobility programme were the most relevant educational challenges of the 21st century, i.e. the role of environmental education, sport and health care, ICT and multilingual-multicultural education in the early years. Due to careful preparations the project’s objectives were achieved to a great extent. ‘Completely’ would not be an exaggeration either, but it is not easy to foretell the exact outcome in the long run. Nonetheless, participants gained invaluable insights into the targeted research fields via visiting educational institutions and via professional discussions with colleagues. A wide range of activities were offered by the host institution and the actors of the mobility programme were keen on catching the opportunity to be active participants. They made a presentation on their own context as an introduction and with the aim of fostering mobility in the future. They also observed university lessons on academic writing, social and health issues, and discussed timely questions, according to their own education and research interests, with Norwegian colleagues. The backbone of the programme was the observations in the kindergartens (‘barnehage’ in Norwegian), which gave a special picture of Norwegian pre-school education with their very close relation to nature, environmental and health-conscious behaviour. Cultural activities served to get participants acquainted with the Norwegian past and present among historic and climatic challenges. The study visit revealed a pre-school policy unknown to the beneficiaries before the mobility programme. It was beneficial to experience how kindergartens work in a Northern European country. With the help of discussions, participants formed an authentic picture of pre-school teacher training as well. They made comparisons and from now on they are able to embed their knowledge into their curricula. Four kindergartens were visited, among them, Lohove barnehage with a special stress on environmental education and Moholt barnehage with a multicultural background. In Åsveien primary school head teacher Anne Margerete Guldahl gave insight into the challenges of transition from kindergarten to school. Additionally, a research interview on internationalisation was conducted with a group of five foreign students who visited Trondheim within the frame of the Erasmus programme.
Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation was established in Olomouc in 2014 when a three-member Hungarian delegation took part in an International Erasmus Week organised by Palacký University in The Czech Republic. There, Anne Sine van Marion, the international coordinator of Queen Maud University College, Trondheim and the Hungarian representatives initiated a bilateral cooperation between the two pre-school teacher training institutions. Its first result was Ms van Marion’s visit in Hungary in September 2016. At the same time, a Hungarian student started her mobility programme at Queen Maud. In January 2017 the second Hungarian student went to Norway. She was also job shadowed in Moholt barnehage by the Hungarian beneficiaries of the present programme. In this way, the idea of cooperation became a tangible reality. Strengthening bilateral cooperation was the topic of a meeting with Anne Sine van Marion, Marianne Schram and Gjertrud Stordal. While Ms van Marion started the preparations for sending two Norwegian students to Hungary, Ms Schram and Ms Stordal introduced their project carried out in the field of multicultural education. It coincided with the Hungarian delegation’s interview topic and a way of cooperation was looking for during the discussion. Cooperation has already continued. In April 2017, three Norwegian colleagues participated in the Erasmus+ International Week and The 10th Jubilee Conference of Training and Practice Pedagogical Journal at Benedek Elek Faculty of Pedagogy of the University of Sopron. At the Erasmus+ International Week in Sopron, the Norwegian delegation managed to extend their networking with American, Thai, Greek, Polish and Ukrainian colleagues, just to mention a few. At present we are looking for an opportunity to carry out our common research project of a series of publications and conferences on the development of ELT (English Language Teaching) in Western and Eastern Europe. After the appropriate preparations, if sources can be found, the project might have wider effects as comparative studies usually do. All this is the consequence of the job shadowing programme in Norway. Besides, each colleague can disseminate their new knowledge to colleagues and students via writing articles, making presentations and teaching at the university. Moreover, they might use their experience as an authentic source concerning for example environmental education, sport and health care, ICT and multilingual-multicultural education in the early years.