By the end of November 2005 the initiators of the European Dimension project (Schoolmanagers_VO and BBS from the Netherlands) sent a project proposal to Brussels under the new name Eurosource.eu. This happened under the Call Promotion of European Citizenship.

In this application, ESHA is full partner, delivering its network and dedicated to the dissemination of the results.

Scientific support will be given by two other partners, the National Hungarian Institute OKI and the Pedagogical Department of the Roma-tre University.

Furthermore there is cooperation with Europees Platform, the National Socrates Agency in the Netherlands. The starting conference (scheduled in Rome, November 2006) will be funded through a Socrates III network (participants can obtain funding from their national agency).

The ESHA members already received a letter, asking to mention participating school leaders for the working conference.

Invited were schoolleaders from all Socrates countries, (EU plus candidate members, Norway, Iceland) and Switzerland.

The small countries will have 1 representative, the middle sized countries 2 or 3, and the bigger countries 6 at the maximum.

End of May we got a grant from the European Commission from about €70.000,- sufficient to go on with the project till the end of December 2006.

To see the pedagogical framework click here

Newsletter May 2007

Click here for a Summary of the project (July 2006)

Further information on the project (April 2006):

European Dimension in Secondary Education

1. Introduction

Now that the European Union is enlarging and international cooperation is becoming more and more important, it has become very urgent for secondary education to work on (preparing for) European citizenship.

That is why the initiators of the project want to support the development of a European dimension within secondary education in Europe. This means identifying and promoting key elements of European culture, history, political and social development and geography, which should be part of the curricula in schools all over Europe. The key elements would also include knowledge about the contributions of individual countries to our common European heritage.

2. The first phase of the project

The project has been started in 2003 by the BBS foundation from the Netherlands. This is a small foundation of school leaders, partly working, partly retired, who want to strive towards more European cooperation.

As a first step they interviewed 27 school leaders from 13 European countries about their opinions concerning a European dimension in education. This resulted in a report.

During a second step the results were discussed with 15 school leaders in Italy, France, Poland, Estonia and Hungary. In this way sufficient knowledge has been gathered to start the European project on a much larger scale.

3. The next phase of the project

The next phase of the project should have the following elements (in chronological order):

• A working conference of three days, with participation of selected school leaders from all countries in November 2006 in Rome, organized together with the European network ‘Elos’ (Europe as a learning environment in schools). During this conference the possible implementation of European key elements in the school curricula will be discussed.
• A systematic deeper inventory in 2007, in which selected school leaders will be interviewed.
• A written report on the outcomes: Key elements for the European curriculum.
• A final working conference with participation of all selected school leaders.
• The presentation of the results to the European Commission and possibly other decision makers.

4. The expected outcomes in 2006

a. A proposal for a “European knowledge base” will be developed. This will be a catalogue of key knowledge elements, leading to the desired skills.

b. A web-based format for this will be developed on the Internet. This digital sources-book (eurosource.eu) can be used by teachers in addition to national materials and methods. It will include different abstract-theoretical levels, several knowledge areas and within these specific topics. Within one of these areas two topics will be worked out in detail, as examples that can immediately be used in the classroom situation.

c. An effective network of about 90 school leaders will be in place, from all countries of the European Union (including candidate states and EFTA/EEA-countries). They will actively contribute to the realization of the products named above, and the dissemination and possibly implementation of its results, in cooperation with the Elos network and ESHA.

5. The partners

The initiators of the original project were the members from BBS. They soon involved Schoolmanagers_VO, the association for secondary school head teachers in the Netherlands to run the operational part of the project. Furthermore the European School Heads Association ESHA became enthusiastic and adopted the project. ESHA has supplied its network of member organisations (in 31 countries) to be involved in the project. Furthermore ESHA is committed to the dissemination of the results.

These organisations now cooperate further with the following institutes and networks:

• Roma Tre (Universitá di Roma Tre, Facoltà di Scienze della formazione, Laboratorio di Pedagogia sperimentale, Italy)
• OKI (Országos Közoktatási Intézet, National Institute for Public Education, Budapest, Hungary). Both partners, in a joint responsibility for the whole project, will provide theoretical and scientific support. Their qualities and the expertise of the school leaders guarantee the high standard of the project.
• The European Platform for Dutch Education (Alkmaar, The Netherlands). Special tasks are conceptual advice and practice-orientated support.
• Special partners, for content, advise and support in specific areas:
• The European (Comenius 3) Elos network, with partner organisations and school networks in 12 countries.
• CITO (Central institute for exam development in The Netherlands).
• Specific knowledge in the area of educational websites will be sub-contracted.

6. An integrated approach

It is obvious that there is a lack of knowledge on and support for Europe in many countries. Education should play an important role in overcoming this crisis.

A problem for educational authorities however might be that a Europe wide approach has to follow the political pathways and thus takes a lot of time.

Now the European school heads have the firm belief that they can make a promising start.

It will be a significant fact within educational policy, when the school heads in Europe agree upon a European dimension. This dimension thus will be developed in a way of “bottom up” involving school leaders all over Europe.

Contacts

More information can be obtained at
www.BBS-Europe.org - info@BBS-Europe.org

BBS Europe foundation
Hoofdweg 16
9483 PB Zeegse
the Netherlands

ESHA AND Schoolmanagers_VO
Postbus 306
3500 AH Utrecht
the Netherlands
international@schoolmanagersvo.nl
+ 31 6 5371 4692

Mr Bert Zweers
bertzweers@planet.nl
+ 31 6 5377 0209