The PEERS project (Partnerships of teacher- researchers and students in social networks) is an initiative to increase the quality of teacher training and the development of the teacher-researcher network. Our initiative aims at promoting international projects which integrate the aspects of research and knowledge construction in the students’ educational pathway. Many students and future teachers who wish to benefit from a mobility experience have sometimes difficulties in finding the right equivalences during long stays. Furthermore, there is a significant tendency in the curricula to develop the international mobility and the use of ICT technologies as well as to strengthen the links between research and training. The PEERS project meets these contextual elements in authentic learning situations. The main goal of the PEERS project is to strengthen the acquisition by future teachers of new skills in the fields of interculturality, citizenship and ICT technologies. The PEERS projects aim at encouraging the acquisition of ‘soft skills’ (tolerance, empathy, efficiency, flexibility, teamwork, …) while developing research skills and scientific writing abilities. The methodology is based on projects which will be carried out in the course of one academic year, alternating in situ collaboration with remote collaboration via ICT technologies. The PEERS groups will be composed of 6 students from two partner institutions supervised by two teacher-researchers. The research led by a PEERS group will focus on a topic related to pedagogy and/or didactics. Between the meetings in situ (autumn-spring) and in parallel with the remote collaboration, the students will apply their methodological solutions in their own educational context (in primary or secondary education classes). On basis of the experience acquired during the project, the students will be brought to draft an article formalizing a reflective feedback on their practice. At the end of the academic year, a staff training event will be organized to spread the PEERS methodology to new groups and to share its results. As far as the expected impact and results are concerned, a collective book will be published, which will be composed of: 1) an analysis of the challenges of the internalization of teacher training within the European Union, 2) a methodological guide to ensure the dissemination of PEERS methodology, 3) a critical analysis of the productions realized by the PEERS groups, 4) the evaluation of the PEERS project and its impact. This publication will be the central subject of the international 2017 PEERS conference which will gather 150 people, 50% of whom will come from non-participating potential partners who would like to join the PEERS approach. The conference, the book and creation of a website stem from the partners’ desire to promote the results of the project so that it can be undertaken at a European or even international level. 312 students and professors will be impacted by the PEERS projects at a European and international level. 990 students, primary and secondary school teachers will be indirectly impacted. A referenced website and a collaborative platform will be provided to the participants and to the public to ensure the sustainability of the project. In summary, this project aims at increasing the quality and relevance of teacher training in higher education by meeting innovation needs in the curricula of future teachers while respecting the specificity of their studies and by meeting a growing need in ICT technologies and intercultural skills in our globalized world.
Introduced in 2011 at the initiative of the Haute École Pédagogique du canton de Vaud in Switzerland and co-funded by the General Higher Education Directorate of Vaud, the PEERS programme (Partnerships of Students and Teacher-researchers in Social Networks) is part of a process aimed at increasing the quality of training of future teachers, through the promotion of international projects which include research and knowledge building aspects in the students’ learning pathways. Sharing the belief that this initiative is an avenue worth exploring with respect to the internationalisation of the training of future teachers, three European teacher training institutions, under the coordination of the Haute École de la ville de Liège (BE), Universitatea Ioan Cuza of Lasi (RO) and ESPE Aquitaine (FR), obtained the support of the AEF (Agence Européenne Francophone belge) to take ownership of the PEERS methodology and to test it out, to become themselves, in the long term, vehicles for its deployment at the European level. Using a project-based learning methodology, PEERS projects aim to foster skills acquisition for future teachers, both through research and the use of ICTS to support remote collaborative work and the acquisition of intercultural skills which are important aspects for the profession in a globalised world. Specifically, PEERS groups comprise 6 students from two partner institutions, assisted in their research project by two teacher-researchers. The research carried out by a PEERS group focuses on a theme related to bilateral learning or educational issues. Between in situ meetings over the course of an academic year, and in parallel to the remote collaboration, the students apply the jointly developed methodological solutions within their schools. In terms of deliverables, the PEERS experience leads, at the collective or individual level, to writing an article, a poster, a professional report or presenting a communication at a scientific conference. This approach aims to enhance scientific collaboration within an intercultural context. For the academic years 15/16 and 16/17, 13 groups have tried out the PEERS methodology as part of the EU strategic partnership, i.e. 78 students assisted by 26 teacher-researchers. On the basis of the European funds allocated and backed by the five years of the existence of the PEERS programme, the partners have carried out a wide satisfaction survey of the 156 students involved in 16/17 in a PEERS project, both at the level of the strategic partnership or outside of it (PEERS conducted by the HEP Vaud), in order to assess the scope of the programme at the “methodological”, “remote collaboration”, “research” and “intercultural dynamics” levels. A broad impact study has also been carried out by an external service provider, in order to measure the impact of the PEERS programme at the “research” and “intercultural dynamics” levels, on the 66 teacher-researchers who have participated once or more times in the PEERS programme between the academic years 11/12 and 16/17. The book entitled “PEERS programme: European prospects”, presented at the International PEERS Conference on 13 and 14 December 2017 in Liege (BE) and published in December 2017 by Éditions Multiculturelles Européennes (EME Éditions), allows one to learn about the elements constituting the essential core of a PEERS project as regards the internationalisation of teacher training, both methodological and systemic, enriched by the results of the satisfaction and impact study surveys carried out on its protagonists.