The CROSSCUT project aims at supporting secondary-level teachers’ professional development by training them to develop and implement innovative cross-curricular approaches, in order to enhance the acquisition of transversal key competences by pupils. Transversal competences are not associated with school subjects while secondary teachers are often trained in traditional academic disciplines. Therefore, competence-based learning implies an important shift in teaching methods and practices. Within the CROSSCUT Consortium, Universities and Institutes of Education from 6 European countries will collaborate to find, through mutual learning, evidence and data collection, a valid solution to a challenge in teachers’ professional development and classroom practices. It addresses in-service teachers and school leaders from the 6 participating countries (Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal) by involving them directly in the project activities. The CROSSCUT project will identify enablers and obstacles of effective cross-curricular teaching through a multi-country situational survey. By combining research data and field study, the project will point out competences and skills required to successfully design and implement cross-curricular activities in secondary schools. The competences will be featured in a common reference framework collaboratively designed by partners. The situational survey and the competence framework will be used to design a comprehensive online training programme. A Learning platform will aim at equipping educational staff and training them with strong pedagogical skills and competences, based on solid research and practice. It will include training modules, teaching resources and collaborative space for teachers to exchange best practices. Teachers and schools leaders taking part in the project will train on the learning platform and will implement cross-curricular activities in their schools. Impact evaluation of the project on teaching practices will be carried out with these pilot users. Tapping into project outcomes, recommendations will be targeted at policy makers, teacher-training institutions, and schools leaders, to influence at multiple decisive levels teacher education and teacher working environment creating favourable conditions for cross-curricular teaching. Thus the project covers several dimensions of teachers’ professional development. It addresses the way of thinking, from subject-based to cross-curricular approaches; the way of working, from isolated activity to collaborative culture; and the tools for working by giving access to specific collaborative resources. By equipping educational staff with strong pedagogical skills and giving them access to innovative and collaborative practices that promote transversal competences development, the project will contribute to delivering high quality teaching, strengthening the profile of teaching profession and improving achievement of key competences by pupils.
CROSSCUT stands for Cross-curricular Teaching. The CROSSCUT project is a European project funded by the ERASMUS+ programme which aims at supporting secondary level teachers’ professional development by training them to adopt cross-curricular teaching approach, in order to enhance the acquisition of key competences by students. More specifically, it aims to: - To study cross-curricular teaching practices within participating countries and identify success factors and obstacles to their implementation, - To define the skills needed by teachers to develop relevant cross-curricular teaching practices, - To design and develop an online training platform, - To create a community of practitioners on interdisciplinary practices, - To make recommendations for the effective implementation of cross-curricular teaching. Coordinated by CIEP, this project implemented with 7 partners including teacher training and educational research institutions specialising in cross-curricular teaching and e-learning, in six European countries: - Centre international d'études pédagogiques, France - CICERO Learning from the University of Helsinki, Finland - French Institute of Education, France - Laboratory for Coherent Education and Learning (University College Lillebaelt, University College South Denmark and University of Southern Denmark), Denmark - Educational Research Institute, Poland - The Institute of Education of the University of Minho, Portugal - The Open University, Portugal - The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, Norway This project was born in the context of the discussions about transversal key competences, the promotion of innovative pedagogical practices and support for the development of qualitative teacher training. Indeed, at the European level, eight transversal key competences for lifelong learning, representing "a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes[...] necessary for all individuals for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social integration and employment" were defined in 2006 and updated in 2018. Within the European Union, several countries have reformed their curricula in order to develop cross-curricular teaching and to promote the learning of these transversal competences through several subjects. The development of curricula and pedagogical approaches that go beyond traditional disciplinary configurations as well as the priority given to the acquisition of transversal competences imply in particular an evolution of teaching practices. In-service training, in particular, should help teachers to go beyond the boundaries of traditional subjects by taking part in collective projects and developing different learning approaches and strategies, based in particular on more active student participation. To achieve its objectives, the CROSSCUT project was organised in 4 consecutive steps. First, a situational survey was conducted to identify cross-curricular teaching practices that were proven effective in 26 selected secondary schools, and to identify success factors such as obstacles to the implementation of these practices, at both classroom and school level. The results of this study led to the definition of the most important skills to be acquired for the implementation of a cross-curricular teaching for teachers and school leaders. A reference framework compiling all the competences described in knowledge, attitudes and skills has been produced. Subsequently, a training programme for teachers and, to a lesser extent, school heads, was created and online training modules developed. They are accessible on an open, digital platform in English, giving access to resources and a professional community dedicated to cross-curricular teaching. The final version of the online training is available at the following address: https://crosscut.uab.pt. Finally, recommendations for political authorities and education stakeholders were developed on the implementation of effective interdisciplinary practices and the need to train teachers in these approaches.