THE EUROPEAN SCHOOLS PROJECT
A SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SCHOOLS

HENK SLIGTE - UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

The European Schools Project is an Internet-based network organisation of teachers in various countries of the European Union, and many countries beyond. Teachers, and their groups of pupils and students within mostly secondary education, decide to participate because of the educational activities that enhance the quality of their teaching, of their pupils learning, and of the school as educational system.

These activities are guided by a profoundly educational and interactive concept: the teletrip or the teleproject. The concept encompasses telematic cooperations between teachers and pupils around conversation topics, that are thought to be relevant for learning and teaching of all participants. The topics demand inquiries from the side of the pupils, and its results are exchanged via telematic connections, while using a preferably mutual foreign language.

Since ESP's conception in 1988, more than 600 participating teachers have designed and organised thousands of teletrips, on more than a hundred different conversation topics, using many languages. Many thousands of pupils in over 25 countries of the world, of which many European countries, have taken part. Various aspects were researched, educational materials were developed and produced, examples of good practice gathered, and teacher education, both pre-service and in-service, organised.

While based on the interaction of teachers and pupils, support for the interaction has to be organised. Teachers are volunteers: they decide to participate in a schools' network because of the expected quality of the interaction. If this quality lacks, or if interaction can't be realised, the teacher drops out. So the first function of the network organisation is to facilitate the possibility for interaction, and furthermore the possibility for successfully continuing the interaction.

This function is implemented in a number of ways. Firstly an international help-desk is available: the Resources, Information and Support Centre (RISC). Secondly National Coordinators in most of the countries support teachers in getting involved in Internet-projects. The coordinators together form the Board of ESP. The Board has created a number of protocols for the various types of actors within ESP, to provide for the right organisational culture, and to be able to coordinate the network properly.

Thirdly a distributed WWW-structure evolved to support the various projects, and the organisation as a whole. Increasingly the WWW forms an extension of the teleprojects, both as a shared workspace and as an evolving knowledge and information resource.

Fourthly educational materials are produced and made available to guide and support Internet-projects. Fifthly the digital world is enriched by events In Real Life: every year a teacher conference is organised during which evaluation of projects done and design of new projects are the main courses on the menu.

Not only the teachers are volunteers, the coordinating and facilitating actors are volunteers as well. Although the value of (international) school networking starts to get recognised and thus the possibilities for funding, the coordination and support at national and international level is (partly) funded as spin-off of other projects within one's educational institute, e.g. in-service training and education, or as part of the design and production of educational materials, and their introduction and implementation in schools.

With respect to the creation, design and implementation of a European electronic network for schools, the experiences of ESP lead to the following recommendations:

  • the network organisation should be profoundly anchored in educational innovation: it is the educator who is the =91hinge=92 to improved technology-enriched educational activities, and the one to be seduced, stimulated and supported.

  • the network should be open to support the variety from the side of participants: every wish or need should be translated in the layers and infrastructure of the network-organisation. Thus a support system is generated of and for schools.

  • many examples of good educational practice are to be gathered and made available, whilst many more paper-, course-, web- and software is to be produced, certainly by teachers and pupils themselves as well. Often these wares are to be in the form of halffabricates, upon which teachers can build using methods like pick&mix. In addition useful information in its widest sense is to be selected, moderated, and made available via a clearing-house construction. A proper design of a common information= space will ensure quick and friendly access to learning resources.
  • the organisation should be distributed: national educational nodes are to support the specific wishes and needs derived from the various learning patrimonies. The network should be a learning network: in Europe many differences offer as many learning challenges.

  • these national and regional nodes should be financially supported by European and national governments, in cooperation with telecom-operators, hardware manufacturers, software producers/ publishers. To trigger this support NetDay-like events or European Open Days seem appropriate.

  • the first condition for participating in school networks, i.e. the cheap, broad and fast access to the Highway, is to be realised soon. Often this access has quite a local character and can't be managed at global scale. Interconnectivity is evidently an issue: every school or educational institute should be able to be a node in a European-wide network, using the network for both the enhancement of the quality of one's own institute, while constantly be available to the Other, and thus contributing to the quality of the collective as a whole. It seems that Intranets for educational institutes connected via broad and fast lines (cable, ISDN, etc.) to the Net as a whole are a promising solution.

  • pre-service and in-service teacher education on the various technological, organisational and educational issues will be a precondition for success.
  • much more (action)research is to be initiated on the design and implementation of learner-centred technology-enriched (tele)learning environments. Every component of this environment, both physically present and/or at a distance, are to be (re)assessed on its merits in improving learning effects. These components include the teacher and her/his possible roles, the monitor-roles, the fellow-learners, the learning materials, the knowledge and information resources, and the tools for learning.

    	*************************************************
	*     Henk Sligte - University of Amsterdam     *
	*      Centre for Professional Development      *
	* E U R O P E A N  S C H O O L S  P R O J E C T *
	*     Wibautstraat 4, NL-1091 GM  Amsterdam     *
	*  tel: +31.20.525.1374 - fax: +31.20.525.1270  *
	*	    visit: www.esp.educ.uva.nl/ESP      *
	*************************************************
    © 1997 IT KTchV PedF UK