WE EXPECT SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO JOIN THE PROJECT

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

The British Council is undertaking an international project – Challenges in Schools – on the social and economic issues facing education systems across Europe.

We aim to develop a vision of ‘the school of the future' with the active engagement of young people and their teachers in order to:

In February 2008 we will form international teams of schools to develop different themes of these topics (see below). By mid 2009 the project will result in a number of visions which together will form the vision of the school of the future.

WHY SHOULD YOU BE INVOLVED?

We plan to work with ’the next generation of European influencers' –school students, innovative teachers and education professionals in partnership with ministries of education, leading educationalists, and representatives from schools in the UK and central and northern Europe.

WHAT SCHOOLS DO WE SEARCH FOR?

We are looking for secondary schools in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the UK. We will select 2-6 schools in these countries (12 in the UK) and form 12 international partnerships. We are aiming to involve different type of schools:

Each selected school will delegate 2 teachers and 5-6 students to the project, who will develop their theme together with the other schools in their partnership.

HOW WILL WE WORK?

We will work in partnerships of schools and will encourage:

The main focus of each partnership will be on one or more topics within the themes “the safe school” and “the knowledge economy”:

The safe school:

The knowledge economy:

WHAT DO WE EXPECT?

WHEN WILL THE PROJECT START?

The project will be launched in Spring 2008 with a preparation meeting in Prague from 10 – 12 March, which will be attended by one teacher from each school that is selected to take part in the Project. All costs related to the attendance will be covered by the British Council. At this meeting we aim to form the partnerships and to agree the topics that each partnership of schools will address.

The deadline for applicationes closed on 1 February 2008.

WHY DO THIS?

We believe that the vision of the ‘school of the future’ has the potential to influence positively the decision-making processes in ministries of education and that there will be opportunities for the principles of the ‘school of the future’ to be embedded in national education systems

WHY WORK WITH THE BRITISH COUNCIL?

The British Council is well positioned to make a difference in this area – we already have an excellent track record of working in the education sector, especially in developing school links and leadership and in supporting English language teaching.