SEE Teacher education and training meeting on on-line and blended teaching and learning beyond COVID-19
The 8th South Eastern European Teacher Education and Training Network was organized on 29th June on the subject of on-line and blended teaching and learning beyond COVID-19. Participants from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova and Serbia participated, joined by international partners from European Training Foundation, OeAD, and Joint Research Center.
The key speakers, Mr Uglješa Marjanović, external expert and Ms Romina Cachia, represntative of the Joint Research Centre, presented the publication Whole school approach to on-line and blended teaching and learning, and the most recent developments within the Selfie tool that address the organization of blended learning, respectively.
The space was also given to representatives of South Eastern European economies to present their practices and challenges in the organization of on-line and blended learning, as well as to identify the needs that can be addressed locally, nationally and internationally. The fruitful and open discussions resulted in conclusions, some of which are listed here:
- There is a consensus that digital developments should be supported by digital strategies at national and regional levels
- There is an appeal for policy makers to put the digital developments high on the agenda so that these issues can be addressed more systematically and strategically (for example, through national or regional digital strategies, communities of centres of excellence and/or social inclusion and technology policies)
- Promotion of resources, such as for example the Guidelines on on-line and blended teaching and learning, that ERI SEE developed, and other quality material, should be disseminated and presented at national levels.
- To support schools in their digital adjustments and developments, there is further potential to organize peer-to-peer within schools and school-to-school exchanges of practices and trainings
- There are needs to continue with the developments of Selfie in order to support schools in the area of School Development Planning.
- Schools need easier access to resources that will help them in their development so additional analysis in this respect would be useful, and Selfie can be a good instrument for that.
- There are also reflections on integrating Selfie questionnaire on on-line and blended learning within the platform for easier use and access.
- Resources and support programmes, such as for example Digital School Award presented by one of the economies, are needed to promote and assure further trainings based on digital Competence Framework for teachers.
- There are suggestions to integrate digital developments of schools into the systemic through QA frameworks
- There need to be further discussions on access to on-line technology and internet and the issue of digital divide
- Internet security is also one of the issues that needs to be constantly kept in mind
Additional resources that were identified as useful for schools and other institutions include:
Guidelines for online and blended teaching and learning for ERI SEE countries: https://www.erisee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Whole-school-approach-to-Online-and-Blended-Teaching-and-Learning.pdf (in English)
Investigation into digital training needs in Albania: https://openspace.etf.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Report%20AL_withAnnex.pdf (in English)
Investigation into digital training needs in SEE economies: https://openspace.etf.europa.eu/resources/pilot-needs-analysis-tool-digital-competences-2020 (in English)
Collections of best practices of teachers in VE in Albania you can find it here https://skillsforjobs.al/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Innovation-in-Teaching-during-the-Pandemic_Best-Practices.pdf (in English)
A Guide for teaching and learning process and student’s assessment in home conditions, for vocational subjects and vocational modules in vocational education (supporting all teachers and Instructors in VET providers, in order to cope the COVID 19 situation): http://www.akafp.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Udhezues-Mesimi-e-vleresimi-online-ne-AP-.pdf (in Albanian)
Assessment study conducted during the pandemic in Albania: https://skillsforjobs.al/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/HOW-IS-DISTANCE-LEARNING-WORKING-FOR-VET-PHASE-II.pdf (in English)
The participants expressed their interest in continuing discussions and cooperation on these subjects.
