The decentralization of Public School Systems in Portugal, which was approved by the following legal document: Dec. Lei nº 30/2015, focuses on transferring decision-making authority into local communities and empowers school responsibility and autonomy, in that matter, it is expected to empower high-quality educational levels. The Pedagogical Commission, which holds 6 local school establishments (Agrupamentos de Escolas), in 5 regions, within the EduFor Teacher Centre, located at Mangualde Secondary School, applies to Erasmus+ project, in order to share new regulations and guidance for the performance, knowledge and management of school staff. Our purpose is to obtain a clear view in what concerns the following educational challenges: additional responsibilities to schools and local communities, as a way to empower educational level; empowering autonomy through performance management; reinforce school leadership and teachers' professional performance; professional development programme to enhance pedagogical skills and deepen content knowledge; development of new approaches of teacher practice and student learning; strategic assessment plan to drive improvements in student learning and avoid school abandonment and retentions. The participants are: head teachers; EduFor director and consultant, administrative staff. Porto University will act as a partner to formally collaborate in conceiving, monitoring and assessing the project development. Goals: School management experience and knowledge sharing, in different European context, actors and types of responsibilities; identify experiments in different school management levels, which may hold a successful school management practice; promote school management innovation though sharing reflection upon collaborative experiments (developed locally), among European and International partners; present and disseminate knowledge upon local, municipal and national policies, capable of changing stakeholders perceptions. The schools, the Town Hall, School associations and our partners assure the 5 clusters typologies: centralized systems with limited school autonomy - Portugal; predominantly centralized systems with local certification - Italy; federal systems with regional importance - Spain; collaborative systems working side by side with national and local government - Poland; decentralized systems with great autonomy - U.K., Netherlands. The Project Partners are: Italy; Poland; England; the Netherlands; and Spain. Each one is representative of the clusters and with large experience in European Projects. Outcomes: For each event of the project process (6) a video shall be recorded (2/3 minutes length) to accomplish the dissemination goals at a European and International level. A Best Practice Guide for a Documental Management in a Successful School to acknowledge efficient practices. Project Website: Managing for @School of Success, containing information and documents for public use; e-Book Managing for @School of Success, holding the experiences and learning achievements. One chapter/essay will be held by each partner /entity - Porto University presents a Scientific Paper on the matter. Best practice acknowledgement transfer developed by one of the schools within the EduFor Centre. Document and experiment sharing among the project partners will take place, not only during the meetings, but using Web tools and Media channels. Dissemination: International Seminar "Managing for @ School of Success" - hold by the Agrupamento de Escolas de Mangualde (EduFor) and Porto University. EduFor will also be responsible for crediting the seminar through CCPFC and Europass Mobility. Impact: as a result of the multidimensional partnership, it will be possible to enhance the knowledge on school management; develop associative technical and top management skills with improvements in areas such as: relationship with colleagues; communication; administrative; curriculum management; assessment. Collaborative lidership projects skills are reinforced by EduFor and CECE in an international level. The target audience given the project be constituted as a trial balloon of some educational decentralization policies in other European countries, and their knowledge is of great importance for decisions they take in the future.
The state education decentralization project, approved by DL nº 30/2015, of 12 February, placed the emphasis on local capacities to stimulate education of quality, with greater autonomy and decentralization. Given the educational challenges (to strengthen local and school capacities to stimulate quality education; increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the leadership and educational management system, potentiate autonomy; reinforce school leadership and the teaching profession, through relevant support and training, according to the education decentralization policy; develop assessment of the organisation and the various actors, to improve professional performance, learning, reduce the repetition of years and school drop-out), EduFor Training Centre applied to this project, to share approaches, compare practices and develop relevant knowledge. Europe is faced with these challenges. In OECD reports, they are part of a European strategy to build successful schools, with more efficient management. The participants were: schools’ headteachers (EduFor Pedagogical Commission); director, advisor and consultant of the Training Centre, Administrative staff. UPorto accompanied the conception and assessment. The partnerships presented the situation of education in Europe and the study of five clusters of educational systems, in the areas of educational decentralization; curriculum management, understanding the decision-making power at the various levels of intervention; School assessment systems, in the processes and results, as well as in Improvement Plans. Results: Each short training event (6) produced a short vídeo, to be disseminated in Europe and beyond. Guide of Good Practices for Documental Management in a Successful School, to target efficient practices. Web page of the Managing for @ School of Success project, with the information, documentation and material available to the public. E-book Managing for @ School of Success, with the experiences and learning from a reflective perspective. In fact, 3 E-books were produced, one for each training area of M@SS, with the contribution and validation of all partners, and coordinated by UPorto. These are published. Scientific article, validated by the University of Porto and submitted to “European Education”, a journal with an “Impact Factor” Communic Document Ation Platform Between Erasmus+ Schools, transfer of a good practice, used in the EduFor schools. Communication and share of documents was spread and extended. The International Seminar "Managing for @ School of Success", over two days, held in the University of Porto, as a major Multiplying Event. Impact achieved: With direct implications for schools’ headteachers, in improved knowledge about school management, the result of international and multi-dimensional sharing; development of technical competences associated with top management and processes, in a comparative way, with improvement and greater effectiveness in performance; improved management practices, in various dimensions (administration, assessment, curriculum, communication and relations); EduFor and the CECE partner enhance skills in leading international collaborative projects; improved training processes promoting their thematic relevance; Local authorities, through the knowledge provided concerning the challenges involved in decentralization of education; international sharing with other experiences and recognition of good practices of decentralization in administrative and pedagogical domains; The target public, teachers, non-teaching staff, pupils, parents and guardians, and other stakeholders, since the project is something of a laboratory to test some decentralization policies and educational autonomy in other European countries, and knowledge of these is of great importance for decisions to be taken in the future. Evidence: Project page http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu Meeting agendas M1- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/M/M1.pdf M2- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/M/M2.pdf M3- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/M/M3.pdf M4- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/M/M4.pdf Training Event Agendas C1- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C1.pdf C2- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C2.pdf C3- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C3.pdf C4- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C4.pdf C5- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C5.pdf C6- http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/C/C6.pdf Partial products http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/uk/partialProducts.html Final products http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/uk/endProducts.html Scientific article http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/documentos/artigoCientifico.pdf Photographs and videos http://schoolsuccess.edufor.eu/uk/album.html Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mfschoolsuccess