Four public regional bodies responsible for education cooperating for a long time decided to focus on exchange of good practices in the field of school education. Special emphasis is given to extending the cooperation into local munities . Kraj Vysočina - with about 500 000 inhabitants is the founder and responsible body for secondary schools in the area The Office of the Lower Austrian Land Government – the Office is responsible for about 1.6 million inhabitants , primary and secondary education is administered on the state level by the Lower Austrian Land Government. The Rectorat in Reims, supported by The Great Eastern Region is a regional public administrative body created on January 2016 from 3 regions located in the north-east of France: Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine. Its huge territory covers 57 433 km square and 5.5 million inhabitants live in the region. /attached is a letter of commitment/ Tampere City - Compulsory education is mainly provided by the City of Tampere. The City of Tampere also maintains general upper secondary schools and a large vocational institution with adult education included. Education and Training is offered in the Tampere Region which has about 500 000 inhabitants. The project supports exchanges of practices through practical focus on inquiry based learning and teaching in science, personal and institutional improvement in school capacities on all levels of the school system. Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios, rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning. The programme for training events includes a programme for professionals from schools and members of regional bodies in the countries involved. They will have the possibility to promote their competences thanks to sharing experience under the supervision of experts from partner institutions. We would like to build a greater sense of professionalism at schools and give learners and staff a chance to promote their aspirations in science. Primary target groups are: decision makers, members of local bodies, teachers and experts Secondary target group: learners, people involved in education, members of local communities, people from public visiting courses, the unemployed using the school premises, migrants attending courses, primary school learners regularly coming to laboratories at secondary schools etc. The project would give an excellent opportunity to share experience among regions, to share the European attitude in inquiry based learning in science.
In the frame of ILTAE project, four long time cooperating regional public bodies responsible for education decided to focus on exchanging good practices in school education. A special emphasis was also laid on developing cooperation between partner regions, the coordinator Kraj Vysočina, Lower Austria, the Finnish city of Tampere and the French region of Grand Est. The project supported the exchange of practices through a practical focus on inquiry-based learning and teaching in subjects of natural sciences at all levels of school systems. Inquiry-based teaching is integrated into the educational strategies of all participating partner countries and it is the opposite of passive (inefficient) acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of natural sciences. The project partners shared experience which they gained in promoting inquiry-based teaching. The aim of the project was sharing and dissemination of examples of good practices and introduction of interactive teaching methods in the field of science education. The project also motivated teacher to adopt new approaches. The partners prepared 3 short-term training activities, 3 project meetings and 1 online meeting. Short-term joint staff training events were prepared for people responsible for design and development of educational process at schools in the partner regions (decision-makers, members of local authorities, school heads, teachers and other professionals). Policy makers, colleagues, members of local communities, primary and secondary school pupils were the secondary target group. Participants learned about an educational system and the system of education of in service teachers in the Czech Republic, Austria, France and Finland and the way of supporting inquiry-based teaching in the partner regions. The participants developed their expertise and competences in the field of science education, participants were inspired by new approaches and procedures and also improved their language skills, as the language of communication was English. The program of educational activities also included lectures, job-shadowing and workshops at primary, secondary and higher education institutions and other educational institutions. A visit of research centres at secondary schools in Kraj Vysočina, learning about the Finnish system of A-level testing, the French approach to teaching natural sciences in the format of a single subject and a visit of the Science Fair in Austria was very interesting added value of the project. The project provided an excellent opportunity to share experience between regions, to share an European approach to inquiry-based learning in science and to strengthen partnerships between regions. A practical result is an eBook, summarizing details of the project and methodological instructions and worksheets usable in teaching science. The partners continue the current cooperation in another Erasmus + project, focused on teaching for sustainable development.