More information
Description
The project Education 4 Change aims to innovate the working methods and techniques with fifth grade students for the curricular area Counseling and Guidance.
The specific objectives of the project, in accordance with the needs identified, concern:
- forming a group of seven school counselor teachers, within CJRAE Mures
- transfer of best practices in activities of Counseling and Guidance, collaborative, multidisciplinary approach
- promotion, among as many teachers as possible, of interactive experiential methods
Participants in mobility are specialized in psycho-educational counseling and assistance, with key skills and responsibilities on counseling secondary school students.
The main activities of follow-up of the project:
- Education 4 Change Conference - Education 4 change Seminar - aimed at disseminating information and experiences to all school counselor teachers (CJRAE Mures)
- Carrying out activities of Counseling and Guidance in secondary schools
- Guide of best practices Education 4 change – will propose a set of activities for the classes of counseling and guidance
- Education 4 Change Roundtable - sharing work experiences with other representatives of CJRAE
- Workshop during Annual Conference of CJRAE
Project results: 7 educational experts participating in mobility, 21 school counselors of the CJRAE network, and 30 form teachers will improve their ability to work in a team and to employ interactive, experiential methods in their classes of Counseling and Guidance
- 28 secondary schools, and 900 fifth grader students will benefit from an innovative approach to classes of Counseling and Guidance
- Guide of best practices Education 4 change could be taken as a basis for designing classes of Counseling and Guidance, by any form teacher in the country.
Summary of project results
The Education 4 change project aimed to innovate the working methods and techniques with the 5th grade students, for the curriculum area Counseling and Guidance.
This target was set following the finding that admittance into the 5th grade is an important threshold for students, and the activities carried out by the head teachers, during the classes of Counseling and Orientation, could offer them the necessary support in their emotional and social development. If in grades I-IV students are accustomed to a reference teacher, respectively the primary-school teacher, who provides both the emotional support and the comfort of initiating learning by adapting their methodology to the profile of the students, the adaptation to the 5th grade is an essential one. The entire course of the student''s education in the secondary, and even high school cycle, depends on the way in which this adaptation takes place. A too sudden diversification of the relationships that the pupil must develop with each teacher, entering the gymnasium, adaptation to different teaching styles, inhomogeneous requirements, predominantly expository methods can overwhelm the pupil, his family, leading to intrapsychic conflicts, low self-esteem, learning difficulties, etc. The Education 4 change project aimed the specialization of seven school counselors from CJRAE Mures by participating in The Teacher is a Change Agent course run by New School (Oslo, Norway), in order to implement the methods of experiential learning in 5th grade students. These working techniques have been implemented in 30 secondary schools in Mures County.
The follow-up activities of the project included: Education 4 change conference (40 participants), Education 4 change seminar, addressed to 23 school counselors from the CJRAE Mures network, an interactive workshop addressed to head teachers of 5th graders (19 participants), 200 hours of Counseling and Guidance addressed interactively / experientially, the Round Table with CJRAE / CCD / ISJ guests from all over the country, as well as the elaboration of a guide of best educational practices addressed to the head teachers.