It is widely acknowledged (Facer, 2011; Picardo, 2012) that the acquisition of international skills and transversal competencies (ISTC) is crucial in a shrinking, more connected world where we all face common challenges, such as those posed by globalisation of markets, economic recessions, health epidemics or climate change, for example. Moreover, weaving collaboration through web enabled communication technologies into the teaching of such competencies, enables deep learning (Fullan et al., 2014). However, it is also true that schools find the integration of ISTC into their curricula, problematic. Reimers, (2009) suggests that this is not just in determining which activities best foster ISTC, but also in how these activities can be integrated into school curricula, assessments and teacher professional development. This project directly addresses these challenges. Therefore the project’s main objectives are the design, creation and wider dissemination of a freely available: 1. ISTC Inventory, primarily aimed at EU citizens 2. ISTC Course, which can be integrated across the curricular of EU schools, with the aim of improving the level of key competencies and skills with particular regard to their relevance to the labour market and the contribution to a cohesive society. 3. Teacher’s Toolkit which exemplifies and illustrates best practice in using the ISTC Inventory and ISTC Course. 4. Academic papers and conference presentations This project is made up of a partnership of 8 organisations with expertise in the delivery of International Skills in 5 EU countries, these being: England - The University of Hull; The Netherlands - Sophianum School; Norway - ÅsVideregående Skole; Germany - Kopernikusschule, Widukind-Gymnasium, Hermann Tempel Gesamtschule; Italy - Liceo Scientifico "Cosimo De Giorgi"; Belgium - Institut du Sacré-Cœur. There will be four key areas of activity that take place in this project. The first is the design, creation and wider dissemination of a freely available ISTC Inventory, which will include a framework of skills and competencies, assessment tool and certification. The second is the similar development of an ISTC Course, including the creation of interactive materials, activities, examples and assignments which will be put together in a series of Student eBooks, each related to different grade bands in the ISTC framework and will help students to progress to increasingly higher levels of understanding. The third activity is associated with the design and creation of a Teacher’s Toolkit, which will exemplify and illustrate best practice in using the ISTC Inventory and ISTC Course through a freely available bespoke digital resource toolkit for secondary school teachers. The toolkit will include a suite of tools (an online community of practice, dedicated YouTube channel and an eBook) which will collate the few pre-existing case studies and develop new case studies, exemplars, rubrics, templates, etc. that can be continually updated after the project end. The last activity is dissemination through presentations, publicity, events and new and evolving networks. This project uses a collaborative constructivist approach (Garrison and Archer, 2000) underpinned by a transactional model and builds on the ‘bottom up’ approach used in the iverge project at the University of Hull and the learner-led approach used at Sophianum, enabling teachers to become facilitators and guides in the learning process as students engage in ‘deep learning’ (Fullan et al., 2014). Teachers involved in the project will acquire a greater understanding about the potential learning gains associated with both the transactional learning model and the innovative use of emerging technologies (i.e. eBooks, Immersive Technologies) and they will possess a greater capability and competence to use these effectively. Students from the partner organizations will be more employable and better prepared for working in the 21st century with a greater array of skill sets, gained through learning with digital tools across geographical borders. Participants involved directly in the project will have a more positive European and international outlook. The impact on participants, their organisations and the 'early adopters' will be considerable both during and after the project, as we have built in a cascade model of dissemination. The ISTC Inventory, Student eBooks and Teachers Toolkit will be available over several platforms and maintained beyond the end of the EU funding. They will be self-explanatory and can be used by institutions without further support or guidance from the project partners since guidance materials will be incorporated. The project also aims to establish the basis of a European wide network of ISTC teachers, and this network will also be used to support activity after the EU funding is completed.
Context/background of the project This project was set up in an acknowledgement backed up by literature (Facer, 2011; Picardo, 2012) that the acquisition of international skills and transversal competencies (ISTC) are crucial in a shrinking, more connected world where we all face common challenges, such as those posed by globalisation of markets, economic recessions, health epidemics or climate change. It also acknowledged that schools find the integration of ISTC into their curricula, problematic. Reimers, (2009) suggests that this is not just in determining which activities best foster ISTC, but in how these activities can be integrated into school curricula, assessments and teacher professional development. This project set out to address these challenges through the objectives listed below. Objectives This project set out to develop and create a freely available Global Competency Inventory consisting of a framework and survey (self-assessment) tool, associated Student Coursesand Teacher Toolkit. In so doing, this project targeted a number of horizontal and field specific European priorities including most importantly the development of competencies and skills, with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society. Until this project, current frameworks only looked at certain aspects of Global Competency (e.g. communication) or were locally contextual, (e.g. understanding what it is to be a European). Moreover, none of them had associated assessment tools, deemed by an OECD publication (Reimer, 2013) as important. Moreover, until this project, there were few case studies for prospective teachers to follow to make the integration of Global Competency into the curricula a reality and of those that did exist, they tended to suggest that ‘activities’ could be carried out in a particular subject area, rather than providing exemplars of how this happens in practice. Therefore collecting case studies was another important objective within this project. In summary, the three key objectives of this project were to design, create and disseminate a freely available: 1. Global Competency Inventory, including a Framework, Online Sruvey Tool and Certificate 2. Global Competency Course for students 3. Teacher Toolkit In addition to these key objectives a final objective was to distil the learning from this project and present this through a series of conference presentations and academic papers. Number and profile of participating organisations We were 8 partners which included 7 schools (Germany, Norway, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands) and one 1 university (UK). The partners were chosen for their individual connections, expertise, locations and potential in relation to dissemination as they are all part of different networks of schools, companies, universities and other organisations, locally, nationally and internationally. The strength of creating this specific partnership, was to share and build upon the varied experiences of what it means to teach Global Competency in different EU contexts and utilize networks with other schools across the EU and beyond. Description of undertaken main activities, including the results and impact attained During the project we developed a range of resources and carried out three learning, teaching and training events. Three key activities carried out are categorized under the headings of Intellectual Outputs (IO). The first IO was the development and creation of both a Global Competency Framework and an Online Survey (self-assessment) Tool, primarily aimed at secondary school education students. It included various activities such as a systematic review of current frameworks and models. Concurrent to this, the team created a common set of questions used to interview key staff and students in colleges, universities, companies, businesses, consultancies and other organisations. Analysis of the answers and the systematic research led to the design and creation of a Global Competency Framework and Online Survey Tool. Over several iterations this was trialled with various stakeholder groups to refine it to the current format. During the second IO, partners worked collaboratively to design, develop and create a set of student courses that dovetailed with the Framework and Online Survey Tool. In addition, the project team created a third IO, a Teacher Toolkit which exemplifies and illustrates best practice in using the Global Competency Framework, Online Survey Tool and Student Courses. The Teacher Toolkit includes case studies, resources and a digital book. During the fourth IO the project team disseminated the 3 former IO through the development of written reports, academic papers, conference presentations and other events. The full details of these results are discussed in Section 3 and the impact of these results are discussed in Section 6.1 on Impact.