“Digital education” as reflected in the priorities of “Europe 2020”, is considered a catalyst for the growth and digital transformation of Europe. The rapid digital change in combination with the demands of the future labour market make it imperative for teachers to adapt modern teaching methods. Within this framework students should acquire high digital competences, entrepreneurial skills, critical thinking helping at problem solving and ultimately become more marketable in the workforce within an environment that promotes the awareness of the European identity and the respect for different cultures. With the “SHAPE the Future teacher” project our intention is to comply with these priorities. It is a partnership between five secondary education schools from five European countries (Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain) supported by a scientific association. The core idea is to develop and apply a set of learning scenarios using I.C.T. tools in a wide and diverse range of subjects . The main target group of the project is primarily Teachers of secondary education both general and vocational Schools/Institutions who will implement these scenarios with their students (15-19 years old),thus making them directly beneficiaries. We estimate that the total number of the participants involved directly and indirectly will reach approximately 4000 people. The main objectives we want to achieve are: -the exchange of good practices between teachers all over Europe -upgrading teaching methods in a wide and diverse range of subjects. S.T.E.M., entrepreneurship, cultural heritage, citizenship and environment, -reinforcing the development of key competences in a fast-changing world for both teachers and students including multilingual competences, entrepreneurial mind-set, critical thinking and creativity, cooperation in S.T.E.M. as well as skills in fields such as climate action,, but also social and learning-to-learn competences. -developing new, innovative and multidisciplinary curricula and pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning with I.C.T. tools, -promoting training in education by the creation of a network for teaching material in the English language -preparing the new and fully competent future citizens of Europe, -realizing the importance of a digital “mindset” for future professions and better employability as well as for university studies -spreading the need for more creativity and digital competence -promoting open-mindedness, critical thinking, personalized knowledge, participatory work, improvement of linguistic and social skills and the exchange of good practice. In the framework of the project the core activities carried out will be: a training session-workshop for teachers to provide them with theoretical and technical knowledge for developing scenarios including the I.C.T. tools. Subsequently in each partner school teachers will use this Knowledge to build and apply a set of learning scenarios in the English language, in different teaching subject, regarding three different topics. related to STEM, entrepreneurship, cultural heritage.In the last stage they will be applied in a classroom consisted of students and teachers originated from different partner/countries. Through evaluations at all stages, improvements will be made to the final deliverable. The tangible results expected are: - the creation of an open and flexible learning content in a set of bilingual educational learning scenarios in a wide and diverse range of subjects using IT. All the scenarios will be available for wider use in English and respectively in Greek, Italian, French, Portuguese or Spanish. - a teaching/learning resource material about the main learning theories (behavior, constructivism and social development theories) and the models of incorporation of the ICT tools into the learning process. - a “scenario resource platform” for a network of educational institutions and their students and teachers that will allow them to access innovative methodology and technology - an accompanying growing strategic partnership, that will remain dynamic enough to adapt and deal with ongoing technological and educational changes and developments to fit their courses to the diverse needs of education organizations The expected impact on all the participants and target groups will be: -the incorporation of digital literacy into the school curriculum - to empower students and develop their competence of "learning to learn". through new methods -to help teachers boost their professional development with new pedagogical approaches -an improvement of the attitude towards people from different cultures and countries, -developing educational practices in pace with the modern needs and demands. -to promote the importance of English as a Second Language, encouraging dynamic and motivating pedagogical methodologies In the long-run we strive to equip teachers with upgraded skills and achievement of professional development.
The objectives we wanted to achieve by our project were: Create useful tools/examples for teachers and tutors to adapt teaching methods to the new demands of the labour market. Discover new tools/technologies Discover new teaching methods Foster the creativity in the partner schools. Offer examples of good practices to the European community to change curriculums. Promote European Citizenship and help partner schools to find a common identity. Help students and teachers to develop new skills, soft ones in particular: team working, language skills, presentation skills. Give opportunities to students to improve their language skills in a different teaching context than a language class and their digital literacy. Create and implement learning scenarios upgrading teaching methods in a wide and diverse range of subjects.
The previous decades, most educational professionals have agreed that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a positive impact on learners' motivation, achievement, transversal and higher order thinking skills. At the same time a growing variety of technical and cognitive skills, known as ‘digital literacy’, is required from the younger generations in order to perform tasks and solve problems in digital environments and in everyday life. Education needs to comply with the new employability demands and prepare the new and fully competent future citizens. The “SHAPE the Future teacher” project focused on the following needs addressed: Adapt teaching methods to the rising need of the use of ICTs in different topics. Train teachers to new methods and innovative non-formal learning approaches enhancing digital integration in learning, Share good practices: knowledge and skills. Improve teacher’s and student’s language skills and digital skills. incorporating digital literacy into the school curriculum through learning scenario sinto a wide and diverse range of fields of studies.