Description
"The educational system should be up to date with the general trends in society, preparing cheildren for the reality outside the school. School should be open and guarantee an equal access to educational materials. The project's objective is to persuade the decision-makers to guarantee in an act of law the full access to free school textbooks and other educational materials financed from public funds. In cooperation with teachers, parents, decision-makers and experts we will prepare a proposal for the relevant regulation serving our purpose. We will lead advocacy activities for the cooperation between experts, teachers, parents and the government education institutions to jointly develop public policy concerning equal access to education, taking into account changes proposed by us. We will publish articles and animate debate intended to show the general public the importance of the problem and advantages of the proposed solutions. Our partner will present Norwegian experiences in this field during a study visit to Poland - we will use their knowledge and examples of good solutions. Polish partner will share contacts with media, schools, teachers."
Summary of project results
In the recent five years, in Poland the state has been implementing policies of openness of public resources, allowing for open access to and using them. The most important initiative has been the program of e-handbooks implemented by the Ministry of National Education since 2015. The aim of the project was to encourage decision-makers to guarantee by an act of law the openness of school handbooks and all other education materials financed from public resources. Such legal regulation should secure a permanent nature of the reforms introduced in this field so far. The aim was partially achieved - as a result of advocacy activities, the government implemented the policy of openness of educational resources financed from the European Social Fund which will have bearing on a broad group of projects financed from European funds (on central and regional levels) of a total budget amounting to over 40 bln PLN. The principles for amendments to the act on education system were also prepared and advocacy activities were led for their presentation among officials and politicians. Equally important result of the project were activities for networking and raising awareness of key stakeholders, addressed mainly to education organisations. The cooperation also included teachers, parents, business (mainly publishers and companies from the information and communication industry) and academic experts. The key beneficiaries were education organisations, teachers and education workers, as well as decision-makers.Under the project, the following activities were conducted: a questionnaire survey and a case study survey, three expert opinions on the openness of educational resources, principles for amendments in the act on education system, a series of five webinaries, the workshop scenario ""Open lesson"", reunion of the Coalition for Open Education, and a workshop and a debate under the Education Congress.The Norwegian partner (NDLA) participated in the study visit organised under the project, helping to exchange knowledge on building Internet repositories of contents for open educational resources. The experiences of the partner helped in preparing recommendations on technical aspects of the proposed solutions.The Polish partner of the project, the Centre for Civil Education supported networking and promotional activities through their project School with class 2.0.
Summary of bilateral results
A study visit to Norway (including a training session) was organised with intent to strengthen co-operation and further experience exchange in order convince decision-makers to introduce statutory guarantees of access to free of charge educational supplies funded from the public purse. The Partner's representatives delivered a booksprint workshop resulting in the drafting of a toolkit for non-governmental organisations active in the area of access to open educational resources.