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//Programy // Zrealizowane // Rodzice partnerami nauczycieli w procesie adaptacji szkolenej // English summary
Not every EU country places proper emphasis on teacher-parent collaboration. Many parents have no control over the quality of educational programmes, and they have no knowledge or skills to develop effective home-school collaboration or to help design developmental activities for children. One of the most neglected areas is children’s transition to school. Research shows that successful transition results in better school achievements and an increased motivation to learn. Countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia do not seem to regard the process of transition to school as particularly important. Most of the pre-school and primary school teachers are not prepared to support children in their early years, nor do they know how to enlist the help of parents.
To change that, we have decided to use the Project Approach, an approach that is attractive to adults as well as children, to design programmes facilitating children’s transition to school. Used properly, the Project Approach is a natural way to bring together parents, teachers and children by encouraging partnership, joint problem-solving and decision-making. The ways to implement the Project Approach vary from country to country – the project will make it possible for us to draw on the expertise of the participating countries in order to select the best arrangements. We also expect that the training programme designed as a result of the project will complement programmes aimed at improving early education in disadvantaged areas, where the need to build collaboration between parents and teachers cannot be overestimated.
The aim of the project is to share information on the use of the Project Approach and on parental participation in programmes facilitating children’s transition to school. Participants – organisations from the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) will help design a training programme for parents and teachers on the transition-facilitating use of the Project Approach.
In Year One each organisation will collect information about the practices adopted in its country and presented them at seminar in Poland (26th -28th October 2006) during which the training programme objectives were agreed. The organisations will then conduct a qualitative surveys among children, parents, teachers and government representatives in every participating country to be discussed at the next seminar in Ireland (14th – 18th March 2007). The outcomes of Year One will be propositions of training scenarios and educational materials.
In Year Two a pilot scheme will be developed to be implemented in different communities (including disadvantaged ones) and an information guideline will be prepared.
The “Parent-Teacher Partnership for Children’s Transition to School” is financed by the European Union throughout Socrates Grundtvig 2 Programme. The participating organisations have a wide range of expertise on adult education, parental involvement and the provision of educational programmes in different communities:
The Early Years Organisation NIPPA (Northern Ireland) is a non-governmental organisation formed in 1965 to promote and provide high quality care and education for children, education for childcare providers, family support, and community development.
The Society for the Development and Creative Occupation of Children EADAP (Greece) is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1992 to study, promote and disseminate educational innovations aimed to develop the potential of pre-school children. EADAP operates educational research programmes, has a team of trainers who provide training to adults, is engaged in multicultural education, publishes educational material, and collaborates with other Greek and international educational institutions.
Unia Materskych Centier UMC (Slovakia) is a non-governmental organisation founded in 2002 to support parents in the process of child rearing. UMC inspires the creation of local Mothering Centres (there are almost 100 of them in Slovakia at present), organises various community-based activities (in the fields of arts and sports), runs public campaigns benefiting families and young children, offers advice and training to mothers, facilitates the social inclusion of disadvantaged individuals and groups and collaborates with local authorities and pre-school institutions.
The Czech Committee of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education – OMEP is an international, non-government organisation, founded in 1948 to advocate for the education of children under the age of eight years throughout the world. The aim of OMEP is to promote for all children the optimum conditions which will ensure their well-being, development and happiness in their families, institutions and communities.
