Lefèvre Trust & Charles de Gaulle Trust. A guide to the programme

Transcription

1 Lefèvre Trust & Charles de Gaulle Trust A guide to the programme

2 Contents Page 1. Introduction to the programme 3 2. Planning partnership activity 8 3. Using the partnership progression framework Partnership visits 13 Appendix 1: Important definitions 18 Further reading on our website: Partnership case study Examples of day plans for partnership visits

3 1. Introduction to the programme This programme from the Lefèvre Trust and Charles de Gaulle Trust supports collaboration between the UK and France on educational opportunities that prepare young people to become global citizens. By supporting partnerships between schools in the UK and France, the programme aims to give more young people the knowledge, skills and understanding to work not only bilaterally but in a global context - and contribute responsibly to society locally and globally. It recognises that young people require high-quality education and international opportunities, and that countries that provide these are more likely to offer stable societies and economic opportunity. The British Council administers the distribution of grant funding from the Lefèvre Trust and Charles de Gaulle Trust on behalf of the trustees. 1.1 What does the programme include? The programme offers grant funding to enable reciprocal visits between young people and educators from schools in the UK and France that are working together in sustainable, curriculum-based partnerships. Such visits allow young people to experience the culture and language of another country and give educators opportunities to learn from different education practices; this leads to improvements in teaching and improved learning outcomes for young people. The programme focuses on two main areas: partnerships between schools (based on collaborative projects ) mobility (for young people and educators) The two strands 1) Partnerships between schools The programme supports long-term, sustainable and curriculum-based partnerships between schools in the UK and France that contribute to young people s development as global citizens. International partnerships between schools have positive educational benefits for young people wherever they live. By collaborating on curriculum-based projects

4 A guide to the programmes 4 with peers in another country, young people gain a fuller understanding of other countries, cultures and languages, as well as their own. By exploring global themes together, such as rights and responsibilities, fairness and equality, they gain a critical understanding of issues that resonate at local, national and international levels and develop the skills and qualities needed to live and work in a globalised context. This is an important outcome of young people s education and will ultimately help them to develop into informed, responsible global citizens. For educators, international partnerships provide opportunities to share best practice and to learn from education systems and approaches in other countries. This is an important part of continuing professional development and can lead to improvements in teaching and learning. To benefit from this programme, linked schools in the UK and France are expected to demonstrate a commitment to the progression of their partnership in three key areas that deliver benefits for both young people and educators: 1. Increasing global citizenship 2. Enriching education and attainment 3. Developing an equitable and sustainable partnership This progression is described in more detail in the partnership progression framework further on in this document. 2) Mobility (for young people and educators) The trusts offer grants to enable young people and educators from linked schools to visit their partners. Visits help to sustain and strengthen partnerships, giving all participants invaluable opportunities to meet their counterparts face-to-face and to experience directly, and learn from, the culture and education system of the other country. For educators they also offer the chance to work together to review the progress of their partnership and plan future collaborative projects. Visits are most productive when they are just one element of broader collaborative activities between linked schools and contribute to the progression of the partnership. To ensure greatest impact and value for money, they should be designed to benefit not only those who travel but also a wider pool of young people and educators in each school.

5 A guide to the programmes 5 Schools in the UK and France that are already in a partnership can apply together to this programme for: a one-off grant of 5,000 per school from the Charles de Gaulle Trust to enable individual students (minimum of 3 participants) aged between 17 and 19, and one or more educators, from each school to arrange two-week study visits with their partner school in France/the UK, working specifically on projects which can demonstrate a link to their school syllabus; or, a one-off grant of 5,000 per school from the Lefèvre Trust to enable groups of young people aged between 11 and 19, and one or more educators, from each school to visit their partner school in France/the UK Although there is a more limited age range for grants from the Charles de Gaulle Trust, we recommend that institutions that also cater for younger students consider ways to extend the impact of the Charles de Gaulle visits to benefit more young people in the school. For details on specific project ideas for Charles de Gaulle, please refer to the guidance notes to apply for this scheme and the case study available to download on our website. Language (or work in the context of language) is a theme that runs throughout the core of all the programmes 1.2 Get involved How to apply for funding Read this document carefully and download the application form and guidance documents from the Lefèvre and Charles de Gaulle Trust pages on the British Council Schools Online website. (See Useful links below.) Upcoming application deadlines are also published on this website. Your school must be in the UK or France and have a partnership with a school in the other country to be eligible to apply for grant funding. Institutions catering for young people from years old are eligible to apply, including schools, sixth form colleges and comparable institutions providing fulltime general, vocational, technical or special needs education. Both private and government institutions can apply.

6 A guide to the programmes 6 Full details of all eligibility criteria are provided in A guide to applying for grants for each individual scheme. Not ready to apply yet? If you do not have a link with a school in France/the UK but are interested in forming a partnership or doing international projects in your school, visit the British Council Schools Online website to help you. This website provides a wealth of support and information about developing international partnerships and global learning in a school. It includes a database of many schools in France and the UK that are looking for partners (and over 30,000 schools in 178 countries that are looking for partners too), as well as advice on how to find the right partner school and get started. You will also find online courses and information about other opportunities to enhance your professional development with an international dimension, as well as teaching resources and project templates to encourage active global citizenship, and information about the International School Award accreditation scheme ISA (ISA Currently available for UK Schools only) Contact us If you are in the UK, please us at lefevre.trust@britishcouncil.org (for queries regarding the Lefevre Trust programme) or CharlesdeGaulle.Trust@britishcouncil.org (for queries regarding the Charles de Gaulle Trust programme). If you are in France, or another country outside of the UK, please contact your local British Council office or DAREIC (see Useful links below). 1.3 Useful links Visit British Council Schools Online and sign up for the newsletter Find out more about the Lefèvre Trust and Charles de Gaulle Trust programme

7 A guide to the programmes 7 Find out about the International School Award and how it is run in your country Find the British Council office in your country Background information about the trusts Lefèvre Trust The Lefèvre Trust was set up to enable groups of young people aged 11 to 19 from the UK and France to work together on joint projects. Charles de Gaulle Trust The Charles de Gaulle Trust is designed to provide support for study visits for individual students aged 17 to 19 (minimum of 3 participants per school) from the UK and France working on projects linked to their school syllabus. Both trusts are independent of the governments in the UK and France. Trust resources can be used flexibly and are not dependent on financial years. Both trusts can allow expenditure in either country. Both trusts cover the whole of the UK and all regions in France.

8 A guide to the programmes 8 2. Planning partnership activity If you would like to apply for a grant you should plan your partnership activity around these three objectives, aiming to make progress in each area as outlined in the partnership progression framework further on in this document. 2.1 Objective 1: Establishing a UK-France link and increasing global citizenship Global citizens have the knowledge, skills and understanding to work in a global context and contribute responsibly to society locally and globally. To guide you through this process and help you to plan partnership activities that will support young people to become global citizens, we have developed a set of global themes, skills and outlooks. Global themes Global skills Global outlooks Conflict and peace Self-awareness Positive sense of identity Sustainable living Conflict resolution Sense of interdependence Rights and responsibilities Empathy Commitment to rights and responsibilities Fairness and equality Creative thinking Desire to make a difference Identity and belonging Critical thinking Open to new ideas Collaborating Communicating Taking action Commitment to justice Commitment to peace Commitment to sustainability Within your partnership, you can help young people in the UK and France to develop these global skills and outlooks by: setting up collaborative curriculum-based projects between the young people in each school that require them to work together and share ideas introducing the global themes above into collaborative projects and the wider curriculum, prompting young people to examine these universal issues

9 A guide to the programmes 9 in relation to their local/national context, and their partner school s context, and to reflect on the similarities, differences and links between the two expanding on this to explore the same global themes in the context of other countries and at a global level; this will give young people a critical understanding of issues that resonate locally, nationally and internationally. When you apply for your grant you will be asked to show how your partnership activities address these themes, skills and outlooks and to describe how your partnership will progress in these areas. For more information on the global themes, skills and outlooks, please refer to A guide to global citizenship. 2.2 Objective 2: Enriching education and attainment International school partnerships provide a valuable opportunity for schools to work together to enrich education practice and improve educational outcomes for young people. To help you to develop this strand of your partnership, we have developed a set of common educational areas that educators in both schools can choose to address together. Area Subjects and curriculum Core skills Teaching styles Assessment Classroom and behaviour management Inclusion Promoting well-being Definition The content you teach to young people Young people s achievement in language, numeracy and IT The methods you use to teach young people How you measure young people's progress How you guide young people's conduct Catering for additional learning, physical and emotional needs Encouraging young people to live healthily.

10 A guide to the programmes Objective 3: Developing an equitable and sustainable partnership Successful international partnerships should benefit all schools equally and be sustainable (with or without grant funding) in the future. In order to meet these aims, we recommend that you: make long-term plans to commit time and resources to the partnership make sure partners in each country contribute equally (to both planning activities and participating in them) agree shared goals and make sure that your partnership activities are linked to the curriculum in each school involve more educators and young people as the partnership progresses involve people from each school s wider community, e.g. parents, local authorities, local businesses, charities, community groups. In the grant application you will be asked to describe what you have done so far to make your partnership equitable and sustainable, and what you plan to do over the next year. 3. Using the partnership progression framework The framework on page 12 presents four stages of development against each objective and is designed to help you and your partner school assess and plan progress as your partnership develops. To be eligible for funding you must already be working at the Preparation for partnership level for each of the three objectives (see the left hand column of the framework). In addition, you must demonstrate that after one year you will progress to the next level for each objective. For example, if you are working at the Preparation stage for Increasing global citizenship, you must plan to reach the Developing stage after the next year of activity. You can be at a different level for each objective, provided that in each case you demonstrate progression from one level to the next. The framework is intended as a guide for planning activity. It is not meant to be prescriptive, but provides a vision for achievement in the three objectives which the grant supports.

11 A guide to the programmes 11 We encourage a diverse range of activities and your plans may include elements from each level of progression. There is nothing wrong with this approach; your grant application will be assessed at whichever level it most consistently demonstrates.

12 Developing an equitable and sustainable partnership Enriching education practice Increasing global citizenship Partnership progression framework Preparation for partnership Developing the partnership Embedding the partnership Expanding the partnership Young people and educators build awareness of global issues: schools run activities which introduce global themes to young people young people share information about their local context with the partner school(s) educators reflect on current levels of global awareness and decide how to move forward. Young people and educators reflect critically on global issues: schools run collaborative curriculum projects which enable reflective learning on global issues and facilitate the development of global skills and outlook young people discuss global issues with their partner school(s) educators are able to develop global citizenship issues in teaching. Young people and educators take action to tackle global issues: schools run collaborative curriculum projects which facilitate young people taking positive social action on a shared global issue young people participate in collaborative activities which address shared global issues, skills and outlook educators are able to embed global citizenship issues in teaching. Young people and educators disseminate their approach and learning: schools run collaborative projects which engage the wider community in a shared global issue young people actively share their knowledge and activities with their peers and communities educators lead others in the teaching of global citizenship. Educators build awareness of practices in their partner school: Educators reflect critically on their own practice: Educators take action to improve their teaching and curriculum: Educators disseminate their approach and learning: educators identify priority areas of practice to improve educators share information about education practice with the partner school(s). educators critically research their own practice educators run collaborative studies of education practices with the partner school(s) educators exchange education practices during reciprocal visits. educators implement useful changes to their teaching and curriculum based on collaborative learning educators refine education practices during reciprocal visits. educators share their approach and revised practices with others in their education community educators promote refined education practices during reciprocal visits. Schools prepare for an equitable and sustainable partnership: Schools develop an equitable and sustainable partnership: Schools embed their equitable and sustainable partnership: Schools expand their equitable and sustainable partnership: schools prepare to develop plans for a long-term partnership partnership co-ordinator identified with head teacher support young people and educators are aware of the partnership needs of all partner schools are identified and discussed schools consider the significance of the partnership in their local context. schools develop plans for a longterm partnership partnership co-ordinators set up partnership committees and head teachers commit resources to the partnership young people and educators are involved in partnership activity planned activities address the needs of all schools equally schools identify groups in the wider community to engage in the partnership. schools take steps to embed the partnership on an equitable and long-term basis partnership committees extend activities across the school more young people and educators than previously are involved in partnership activity planned activities meet the needs of all schools equally schools engage groups in the wider community in partnership activity. schools make plans to sustain the partnership on an equitable and long-term basis partnership committees share practice with the wider education community whole school/department/ year involvement relative to size of school planned activities designed to meet the needs of the wider community active participation of wider community in partnership activity.

13 A guide to the programme Partnership visits If you are successful in your application, your schools will receive 5,000 each to pay for a partnership visit (in line with the allocation you applied for). Visits to partner schools can, if well planned and approached with an open mind-set, inspire new approaches to learning and global awareness. At their most successful, visits challenge both hosts and visitors to consider new principles, ideas and philosophies and involve in-depth discussion about educational challenges. Refer back to the partnership progression framework (page 12) to help you and your partner to assess and plan your progression. If your application is successful, your funding will go towards a reciprocal visit that has the potential to open your eyes to new approaches and practices and to enrich educational practice in your school profoundly. This section of the guide will help you to get the most out of the time you spend with your partner. On our website, you will find specific information relating to a one-day planning visit that you may wish to incorporate into your partnership management process. 4.1 The challenges Many educators enjoy finding out about alternative approaches to education and sharing best practice. However, it is not always easy to translate the experience into concrete action in the home school or country. The ultimate aims are improved outcomes for young people and sustained improvement for all participating schools. Here are the four main challenges you will need to tackle: Plan for deeper learning There is often an expectation that learning from the host school will just present itself to visitors. As a result, inadequate thought can go into the development of a clear focus and how to draw out deeper understanding and learning from the visit See beyond the surface There is often too much focus on the implementation of ideas rather than on first principles or the ideas themselves. 4.1.Develop common practices and methods How many times did you hear: This will never work in our school? You will need to go beyond what we do here and what they do there to find ways to work together and develop common methods and practices in order to prevent local contexts from limiting what can be learnt from visits.

14 A guide to the programme Build relationships In order to frankly and openly exchange ideas to achieve genuine understanding, it is necessary to create relationships built on trust and reciprocity, in which hierarchy does not play a part. 4.2 Plan and run a successful visit Some key principles will help you to design and lead successful partnership visits. All participants - both visitors and hosts - should approach the visit with open minds, a willingness to consider ideas and solutions beyond their own understanding of how things are done, and a desire to understand why different methods are effective Shared focus Develop a very clear focus for your visit with a defined aim of how to enrich education. All stakeholders in the partnership need to share a vision for success. Focus the visit on key areas that the visitors have identified as being in need of improvement or support; this will engender openness to new ideas. Provide examples of questions that will develop understanding about the principles behind different approaches undertaken by your hosts. Try to provide opportunities to practise this kind of questioning before the visit. Give participants a varied experience of the focus of the visit so that they hear about it, watch it, feel it and see it from multiple points of view. This will help to overcome tacit knowledge about the visit context and stimulate thoughts and ideas. Before the visit takes place provide background information about the host school and its approach. Concentrate on why certain approaches are taken, rather than on what they are and how they are implemented. If possible, provide some thought-provoking pre-reading about the focus chosen for the visit. Ensure there are opportunities for young people participating in the visit to use both English and French in order to communicate.

15 A guide to the programme Build relationships Think carefully about who the most suitable people are to participate in the visit. Make sure you have identified what the focus of the visit will be for the young people taking part. How will they play a key role in the collaborative work on their return? How you can develop their ambassadorial role when they return? If at all possible, try to build a relationship with people at the school before the visit takes place. This will encourage a level of trust allowing for more frank and open discussion True collaboration Arrange to work through enquiries together with your hosts rather than just having simple question and answer sessions; actually co-construct some ideas to take back to your own school and be creative in your approach to the development of joint practice. The more both parties can contribute their experiences and ideas, the more everybody will be challenged to think differently. 4.3 After the visit Hopefully, you will return home with ideas that can be used immediately. But if you are going to bring about lasting change and improvement, you will need to build on the principles and ideas that you witnessed and worked on during your visit. To ensure the best possible chance of long-term change you will need to keep up this creative momentum. Here are some suggestions: Recommend that participants keep individual journals during the visits. It might help to structure your thoughts in later discussions and will allow you to record ideas and principles to refer to once you get home. Plan follow-up sessions at the same time as planning the learning visit itself. Follow-up sessions should be seen as part of the same overall process of development of ideas and improvement. Develop formal project plans with the young people for the implementation of ideas resulting from their visits and ensure project leaders are accountable for delivery. Plan follow-up discussions with host school colleagues to report and receive feedback on ideas and plans developed since the visits. Develop professional development sessions on the same topic as the visit to continue to give the theme prominence.

16 A guide to the programme A framework for visits A week-long visit, with at least four days of work in school (two-week study visits for the Charles de Gaulle Trusts) needs careful planning. The following threestage framework will help you to plan a visit that allows all participants to develop new insights, understanding and ideas. Think about each stage in relation to: The three partnership objectives and how to progress in each area, i.e. increasing global citizenship, enriching education, developing an equitable and sustainable partnership. The partnership progression framework level that you have reached, i.e. Preparation, Developing, Embedding, Expanding Stage 1: Preparation and context setting During the early stages of a visit try to develop a plan that allows you to: develop a common vision for a successful visit and ensure all participants are supportive of that vision provide context for the visit and build positive relationships between hosts and visitors ground the visit in the reality of the school / school system for young people and establish a focus for the trip as a whole based on improving outcomes for young people support participants to develop an open, inquisitive mind-set and sense of possibility required for a successful visit Stage 2: Stimulating thought and learning During the main part of the visit work on creating opportunities that: provide a wide range of stimuli to develop thinking about the focus of the visit, some of which should relate directly to education; others could be from a related field outside education allow meaningful, direct interaction with host professionals and young people give participants an opportunity to have first-hand experience and a range of perspectives of the host school Stage 3: Co-constructing ideas Towards the end of the visit develop activities that allow you to: provide an opportunity for hosts and visitors to co-construct ideas and to move beyond description of practice in their own school / country to create something together

17 A guide to the programme 17 capture and build on participants previous positive experiences lay the foundations for further progress on return to the home country / school. Your notes

18 A guide to the programme 18 Appendix 1: Important definitions Young people: are up to 19 years old. They participate in activities which are led or facilitated by educators. Educator: someone working in education. Educators include head teachers, teachers and teaching support staff. Grant application: the process of completing the grant application form to apply for grant funding for your partnership. Partnership: one school in the UK and one school in France that are working together. Partnership visits: an essential part of the grant application. For applications for funding from the Lefèvre Trust or Charles de Gaulle Trust, your activity plan should include proposals for a group of young people, and one or more educators, from each school to visit their partners in France/the UK. Visits should last approximately one week and include at least four days of work for the Lefèvre Trust. For the Charles de Gaulle Trust, it is recommended that study visits last approximately two weeks. Visits can be individual (minimum of 3 participants per country) or in small groups (up to 10 students). One-day planning visit: organising a successful partnership visit can be challenging. It is possible to consider a day visit to prepare the way or a pre-visit training day. Up to of your grant can be put towards this.