The course Innovative Approaches to Teaching took place in Prague, Czech Republic, between 25-29 March 2024, and was offered by the International Training Centre ITC. The course is a practical guide that helps to improve the quality and efficiency of the educational process in any class. Encouraging creativity, organizing projects, integrating minority students or using ICT as a critical thinking development tool are examples of course modules that will broaden our teaching potential and motivate our students.
Purpose/ mobility theme
- the aim of mobility was the acquisition of new skills, methods, and new learner-centered teaching techniques such as cooperative learning, creative thinking, and metacognition; encouraging problem-solving applied to meaningful and realistic tasks.
- another theme of the course was to increase the digital skills of teachers and students, triggering significant changes in the modernization of schools through the use of digital resources (such as Canva, Edpuzzle, etc, Goosechase and others).
- we have also been explained how to create and use materials to support innovation in education, related to interdisciplinary approaches, to develop critical thinking (gamification, storytelling, etc, games of logic, etc.).
- in the end, attention was given to promoting inclusion by embracing social and cultural diversity and working with diverse classes in terms of learning and socioeconomic backgrounds, so that education is based on democratic values and participation in society. The goal is to enable students to effectively access their learning with motivation, promoting exchange between colleagues and raising the level of basic skills.
- last but not least, one of the goals of the course was the enrichment of communication and language skills, with all the lessons being supported in English.
European added value of training activities concerning the professional growth opportunities
The meeting of colleagues of different nationalities in the European Union involved participants in learning experiences that brought together different cultures, temperaments, and methods of interaction, able to overcome linguistic difficulties.
We have gained a broader understanding of educational practices and systems in different countries, especially in the fast but exciting final meeting on Friday morning. We have developed sincere curiosity, mutual respect, and intercultural awareness about the educational and training values common between the education systems in Italy, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, and Belgium.
Differentiated impact
1. Institution
– because it is not job shadowing, I do not think the impact on the organizational aspects of our school will be significant. In fact, in the last meeting on Friday morning, the schools and systems to which the participants belonged were presented very quickly. However, given the positive experience, the school must continue its internationalization, through Erasmus mobility and eTwinning projects, thus encouraging comparison between the different organizational methods of the participating schools
2. The professionalism of the staff of the institution
– the professionalism of Erasmus mobility participants has certainly increased, both in English language mastery and in classroom and lesson management techniques, with the introduction of innovative methods, not necessarily related to technologies, to make lessons more inclusive, engaging, motivating
3. On the curriculum of studies
The closest impact, we believe, will be the growth of CLIL and the change in group management, which will become more dynamic, more dynamic, with more frequent moments of debate and another way of expression and feedback until the end of teaching activities. With appropriate moments of dissemination, a greater number of colleagues could be involved in the constant and systematic practice of new teaching methods and classroom management such as inverted class, critical class, thinking, storytelling, gamification, peer education, task-based learning, and other generally very collaborative course methods, what should become the common heritage of innovative teachers
4. Regarding the use of European languages in the institution/ organism to which we belong
– participation in external courses radically alters the mastery of the foreign reference language, in this case, English, and the repercussions will take place at any time when it must be used for international projects of different types
Participation in the study visit:
- Broadened my knowledge about the culture of the Czech Republic and in particular about the history, monuments, and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Prague.
- Increased skills in class management, methodological and technological innovation. It certainly helped to strengthen the European dimension in our work.
- It helped establish lasting contacts with other participants to organize future exchanges through the eTwinning platform.
- The institute that offered the course sincerely satisfied our development and training needs, through the teacher’s ability to involve the participants actively, in the overall organization of different moments, for the highly functional logistics, given that we were able to use all the services of the Czech Technical University in Prague where we were hosted.
- Given that lifelong learning and mobility must become a reality and that education and training systems must respond more to change and the world in general, this course has allowed us to continue our training, paying special attention to changes in the way students learn and integrating perfectly into contemporary dynamics. At the very beginning of the course, the trainer insisted particularly on the necessary skills of both teachers and students of the XXI century.
Another aspect the trainer particularly insisted was that the quality and efficiency of education and training should be improved, with a greater focus on raising the levels of basic skills, especially logical and linguistic ones. Numerous collaborative activities between participants aimed at experimenting with new practices, replicable with students, which aimed at developing critical thinking, logic, communication, communication, an expression in your mother tongue or foreign languages and made us reflect on the meaning of the term „innovative”
Activities have focused on equity, social cohesion, active citizenship, experimentation, and diversity, regardless of personal, social, or economic circumstances. Finally, creativity was strongly encouraged, with activities in both real and digital environments. Cultural awareness was also heightened with a guided tour of Prague.
With its Erasmus projects, the European Union, in my opinion, is strongly increasing open and innovative education and training, including full adherence to the digital age, the European Union it provides solid support to educators for their continuous professional development.
[Accreditation project no. 2023-1-RO01-KA121-SCH-000140630]