Context and ObjectivesThe Eureka Project will contribute to addressing the EU 2020 targets of Reducing the rates of early school leaving below 10% by supporting students at the highest end of the spectrum. In particular it will also address two of the 2009 ET 2020 EU objectives to address challenges in education and training systems by 2020: 1. Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; and 2. Promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship. Our project will upskill teachers and other professionals in the early identification of the most able students. There is a significant need to ensure high quality teaching, to provide adequate initial teacher education, continuous professional development for teachers and trainee teachers and other educational specialists. Importantly our project will also provide resources to enable successful and powerful impacts by staff with more able students once identified.Number and Profile of ParticipantsWe have formed a partnership across 4 countries to build on the work of the Talented Child Project (www.talentedchildproject.eu) which exchanged best practice in this field. We wish to put in place resources and training as a result of this collaboration and include the contributions of new partners in the UK, Greece and Ireland who can provide added benefits. The partnership is led by TITAN Partnership Ltd in the UK who lead on Most Able initiatives in a large area of Birmingham. Titan has worked with KPPP Zlín on the Talented Child project and has formed a strong bond for development. Birmingham City University, a Higher Education establishment in the UK, has significant expertise in teacher development and course design and will contribute this to the EUREKA project, a gap in work in this field to date. Ellinogermaniki Agogi, a school in Greece with a large research and development unit, brings great research and creative skills to the partnership and will use this to help develop significant resources whilst GRETB, through two of its highest achieving secondary schools, will contribute expertise from a highly innovative setting in Ireland.ParticipantsWe aim to target teachers, educational psychologists and others who touch on the education of children such as guidance specialists/teaching assistants and other counsellors. In addition we will involve managers of schools providing primary/secondary education including governors (a recommendation of Ofsted in the UK), teaching institutions and universitiesDescription of ActivitiesThe Eureka Project will develop 2 training courses which will be certified by institutions in the UK and the Czech Republic and these will be delivered to participants. These courses will be transferable to other organisations across Europe through availability on websites and through personal contact. They will be developed through a range of professionals including Higher Education Institutions and Educational Psychological Services who are at the forefront of delivery in their respective countries. They will have a multi-disciplinary focus as a consequence and will be developed through audit and analysis of best practice. The training will include modules on identification and interventions to enable Most Able students to fully realise their potential. Two manuals in addition will be developed by partners on these topics through the exchange of practice at transnational meetings. These manuals will be easy to use and will include case studies in a variety of formats.MethodologyWe have formed a partnership which brings a huge array of talent and experience to this project from different settings across Europe. We plan to have lead organisations covering topics relevant to their strengths and for transnational meetings to be used to exchange practice and develop frameworks and content for our products. All our outcomes will be available through online resources which are free to use. The partnership includes partners who have never worked together before and that will bring a dynamism to our work.Results/ImpactUp to 41 staff will undertake the training courses. We aim for a minimum of 5320 indirect participants through use of our directories, training cascaded by partners and through the use of partner websites.Long Term BenefitsThe lack of training for professional staff on the identification of, and support to, More Able students particularly in teacher training and other professions will have been addressed through our courses.The need for detailed manuals to support school staff and others in identification and successful interventions will have been addressed both through the manuals we develop and the training we will deliver.We cover a wide area of Europe and our work will have pertinence beyond national boundaries. The partnership has committed to maintain the resources beyond the length of the project and to support others to introduce the training to their own settings.
Context/background of the project The Eureka Project aimed to contribute to addressing the EU 2020 targets of Reducing the rates of early school leaving below 10% by supporting students at the highest end of the spectrum. In particular it also aimed to address two of the 2009 ET 2020 EU objectives to address challenges in education and training systems by 2020: 1. Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; and 2. Promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship. To achieve this the project essentially set out to upskill teachers and other professionals in the early identification of the most able students through training and the production of resources. The need for the project had been identified from The Talented Child project. The Eureka Project formed a partnership across 4 countries to build on the work of the Talented Children Project (www.talentedchildrenproject.eu) which exchanged best practice in this field. As a consequence It produced significant resources and training as a result of collaboration as well as the facilitation of the exchange of practice. What was remarkable was the energy and thirst for learning that was generated in the project by the inclusion of new partners in addition to a number of partners who participated in The Talented Child project. More in depth work by all partners resulted in activity, resources and strategic thinking far beyond what was envisaged in the bid application. Objectives; The project created a detailed manual for the identification of most able students which can be used across national boundaries. It was created through the exchange of practice from all partners and built on the work of the Talented Child project. In addition a resource directory detailing best interventions was developed.. The project delivered 2 courses for teachers and other associated professionals, based on the exchange of practice of partners, which provided training on the identification of the most able children in education and secondly provided successful intervention techniques and resources. The multidisciplinary training was certificated locally and involved a Higher Education Institution input. In addition a website encompassing all other work by the partnership was developed including case studies and resources for teachers and other professionals working in education www.theeurekaproject.eu http://theeurekaproject.eu/project-resources/identification-manual/ http://theeurekaproject.eu/project-resources/resource-directory/ Number and profile of participating organisations 5 organisations formed the Partnership. It is a consortium rich in diversity and expertise. It brought together organisations with great symbiosis. The lead organisation TITAN Partnership Ltd manages the most able initiatives for schools in North Birmingham. It leads a consortium of over 50 educational institutions. KPPP Zlín has long experience in the identification of most able children and has a high profile in the Zlin region. BCU the second UK partner brought a rigorous training dimension to the project through its teacher training department. Ellinogermaniki Agogi(EA) is a large school in Athens with a research and development department. Their research experience and methodological experience enhanced the project. Their experience of ICT was exploited . GRETB brought the Irish experience of most able learners particularly from the remoter parts of the country and Irish speaking areas. Two schools from GRETB participated. •Description of undertaken main activities; The Eureka Project developed 2 training courses, and delivered them to 34 international participants which were certificated by institutions. These courses are transferable to other organisations. They have been developed by a range of professionals including Higher Education Institutions and Educational Psychological Services who are at the forefront of delivery in their countries. They have a multi-disciplinary focus and have been developed through audit and analysis of best practice. The training included modules on identification and interventions to enable Most Able students to fully realise their potential. Two manuals also were developed by partners on these topics through the exchange of practice at transnational meetings. These are easy to use and include case studies in a variety of formats. They cover identification and best practice. The project also produced a website which has further resources and best practice. •Results and impact attained; 45 national and international delegates undertook Eureka training. Directories are easily accessible,The identification manual has been developed as an ebook. Resources have been widely accessed by education professionals beyond our partnership. Longer-term benefits We have provided a model for improvement of teaching for more able students. We have provided resources which have longevity. Our work has pertinence beyond national boundaries.