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Preparatory Visit Advice

Preparatory Visits and Contact Seminars    

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How to have a successful Preparatory Visit    

Top tips for a productive and enjoyable first meeting    

The Preparatory Visit is a very important meeting, as the decisions taken will affect the development of the whole Comenius partnership.

Be prepared to negotiate as you have never negotiated before, and to use your communication and diplomatic skills to the full! Other very useful skills are tolerance, patience, flexibility and a sense of humour.

Apart from deciding the location of the meeting, it cannot be over-emphasised how advisable it is to have agreed upon a clearly defined agenda prior to the meeting, and upon who will chair it.

Here are some issues to consider when you meet to plan your partnership:

What are your reasons for wanting to take part in a Comenius School Partnership and what do you expect of the meeting?   
Which staff, how many pupils and which age groups are to be involved in each school?   
How will you communicate? In which language(s), by what means and how often?   
What budget will each institution apply for? How many mobilities should each partner school carry out?   
What are possible themes for the project, and which curriculum areas are likely to be involved, either directly or indirectly?   
How will the theme be developed in each school?   
What type of end product will be developed and how could it be used in the future? Is the end product of interest to other possible users?   
Which school will coordinate the School Partnership, and what tasks will the participating schools take on?   
What equipment, resources, expertise and contacts will each school bring to the project?   
How will data be collected, progress monitored and information about the partnership disseminated?   
When and in which country should meetings be held? It is useful to build them into your planning from the start.   
What will happen if key personnel change?   
What will happen to the partnership if one of the schools in the partnership wishes to withdraw or is rejected in the selection?   
What are the possibilities for continued cooperation after the two years of a funded Comenius School Partnership? Is there any interest in developing long lasting cooperation?   
What will happen next if the proposal is rejected?   

The above information has been sourced from the Comenius Handbook for schools. If you are planning a Regio Partnership then you will not be working exclusively with schools, but the broad areas you will need to take into account will be similar. The handbook has a wealth of information about partnership work, including an entire section devoted to Preparatory Visits. Download the Comenius Handbook for schools.