The REFLECT project - exchanges of practices was born from a reflection of several years within the FFEC and FEDEC networks on the needs to update and to reinforce teachers’ competences. There is a need for exchanges between these professionals because: - the training of professional artists relies on them, who are these pioneers and self-taught and the history of teaching and different currents or teaching methods has not been written yet - we are witnessing a change of generations with the departure of the pioneers and the arrival of their former students - mostly artists - as teachers, but without initial teacher training - the circus arts are rapidly expanding: innovation artistic and technical evolution make REFLECT exchanges essential because they are the only current means for the profession to evolve REFLECT wishes to remedy these shortcomings and respond to the needs identified by teachers, directors and policy-makers of the recognition of the profession/training/validation of skills expressed during the consultations in 2014-16 by: - organizing 5 partnership meetings, 9 steering committee meetings, 5 directors' discussions to disseminate the tools and address the issue of documentation of the artistic creation teaching (collective, individual...), feedback meetings after peer-to-peer exchanges, monitoring of budget, coordination and implementation, network consultation on the sub-thematic for each peer exchange - organizing 2 thematic exchanges between peers to improve, question and discuss artistic education and pedagogy in the circus arts. Interdisciplinary and thematics based on concepts, they will allow covering all the circus specialties. They will invite experts from other artistic fields and prefigure a new cycle of exchanges/continuing education for 2019-21: 1. Peer exchange nb.1: "The role of the teacher in a creation process of the student's personal project", beginning of March 2018 (CACRogelioRivel) 2. Peer exchange nb.2: "The role of the teacher in a creation process of the collective students project", beginning of March 2019 (Codarts, Rotterdam) - updating skills: focus on certain pedagogical and general competences of SAVOIRS01- a core European profile for the circus arts teaching profession - developing tools and materials for the exchange of good practices, continuing education and documentation - strengthening cooperation in the sector and between external partners or experts (for training content and future partnerships) - favoring the structuring of a community of connected and supportive professionals - developing an evaluation methodology that will lead to a valorisation approach to learning outcomes of continuing education and later, to the recognition of non-formal and informal skills for current teachers and artists - creating a structured dialogue with the authorities in charge of training systems and recognition of professions The project consortium consists of 29 organizations. The main participants of the project are: -Teachers from the partner schools (50 persons) -External teachers or experts in artistic pedagogy, peer-to-peer exchanges or documentation (6 persons) -Schools or organizations directors (networks, festivals) (29 persons) -Students (150 persons) The project management methodology is based on fundamental phases of project management such as consulting on project needs beforehand, engineering, project and task objectives by partner, risk analysis, estimation of costs, time and resources requirements, as well as key methodological tools such as Gantt charts, budget monitoring, cost accounting by activity and quality check. The impact and benefits foreseen are: - A higher quality of training in circus arts through continuing education and a consultation of employees/employers to forecast the inadequacy of skills between teachers and circus artists training - The quality of the artistic pedagogy and a better creativity thanks to exchanges with other fields (music/dance/theater) - Reflecting artistic excellence and aesthetic diversity, recording the pedagogical evolutions of current teachers, creating a common but evolving heritage - Contribute as a sector to the evolution of the profession and its recognition through long-term collaborations with decision-making bodies at national/EU level - Contribution to European vocational training policies such as the Agenda for New Skills for Europe, Rethinking Education and Opening Up Education for OER and ESCO tools.
The REFLECT project was born from a reflection of several years within the FFEC and FEDEC (www.fedec.eu) networks on the need to update and to reinforce teachers’ competences. There is a need for exchanges between these professionals because: - the training of professional artists relies on them, who are these pioneers and self-taught and the history of teaching and different currents or teaching methods has not been written yet; - we are witnessing a change of generations with the departure of the pioneers and the arrival of their former students - mostly artists - as teachers, but without initial teacher training; - the circus arts are rapidly expanding: innovation artistic and technical evolution make REFLECT exchanges essential because they are the only current means for the profession to evolve. REFLECT wished to remedy these shortcomings and respond to the needs identified by teachers, directors and policy-makers by: - organizing 5 partnership meetings, 9 steering committee meetings, 5 directors' discussions in order to: • manage the project by providing a space for feedbacks, cooperation, consultations, monitoring of the calendar and the budget, collective decisions; • disseminate the tools developed thanks to former INTENTS project; • allow the partners to address the issue of how to document the teaching of artistic creation. - Organizing 4 Labs based on peer-to-peer exchange to improve, question and discuss artistic education and pedagogy in the circus arts. The Labs were transversal in terms of participants and topics, and they welcomed experts from other artistic fields. 1. Lab 1: "The role of the teacher in a creative process of the student's personal project", March 2018 – FLIC, Turin, Italy 2. Lab 2 : "Creation processes with students: observation, analysis and testimonies based on the CIRCLE project", October 2018 – CIRCa Festival, Auch, France 3. Lab 3: "The role of the teacher in a creative process of the collective project of students", April 2019 – CODARTS, Rotterdam, Netherlands 4. Lab 4: "Creation process with professionals: observation, analysis and exchanges", October 2019 - October 2018 – CIRCa Festival, Auch, France - Disseminating and testing the publication “SAVOIRS01- a core European profile for the circus arts teaching profession”. A framework of competences for circus arts teachers developed through former project INTENTS. - Developing tools and materials for continuous training and exchange of good practices in the circus sector. - Strengthening cooperation in the sector and with external partners or experts (for training content and future partnerships). - Promoting the development of an international community Circus education professionals. The project brought together 27 partners, including 25 professional circus schools, from 12 European countries. REFLECT lasted from 4 September 2017 to 3 December 2019. The main participants of the project were: -Teachers from the partner schools (70 persons) -External teachers or experts in artistic pedagogy, peer-to-peer exchanges or documentation (6 persons) -Schools or organizations directors (networks, festivals) (29 persons) -Students (150 persons) The project management methodology was the result of the collaboration between the FFEC and the FEDEC. The project coordinator, based in Brussels and employed by FEDEC, ensured the ordinary management of activities and the dissemination of results, as well as budget monitoring in collaboration with the administrative manager of the FFEC. In addition to that, a Steering Committee was created, composed of 7 members from the FFEC, the FEDEC and the other partners of the project. The committee was the decision-making body at the heart of the project. The impact and benefits were: - A higher quality of training in circus arts thanks to the development continuing education for teachers. The continuing education sessions will be based on a consultation of employees/employers of the circus education sector about the mismatch between teachers skills and the skills required by the professional sector. - Reflecting artistic excellence and aesthetic diversity, recording the pedagogical evolutions ocurrent teachers, creating a common but evolving heritage. - Contribute as a sector to the evolution of the profession and its recognition through long-term collaborations with decision-making bodies at national/EU level. - Contribution to European vocational training policies such as the Agenda for New Skills for Europe, Rethinking Education and Opening Up Education for OER and ESCO tools.