The ENLIGHT Teacher Education Network developed an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) on global citizenship in European classrooms. A BIP is a short, intensive programme that uses innovative ways of learning and teaching, including the use of online cooperation. During the last week of April, 45 students and 12 PhD student coaches from all 9 ENLIGHT partners investigated global citizenship in European classrooms. They used the principles of challenge-based education and worked on concrete topics like multilingualism, trauma background immigrant pupils, diversity, inclusion, gender and sexual orientation, religion… The result: tons of enthusiasm, ideas and concrete recommendation and tips for future teachers!
We interviewed professor Ruben Vanderlinde, coordinator of the BIP and the ENLIGHT Teacher Education Network, and several participants of the course.
What was the added value of this course for the teacher training programme?
“It’s very hard to integrate an international dimension in a teacher training programme, as students have to do their internship in a local context and have to know local legislation. The BIP we developed is a good way to integrate internationalisation in a focused and intense way. Students came up with very concrete challenges that they run into in their classrooms: very specific and contextualized challenges on the one hand, but also very universal which makes that they can really learn from each other across contexts and borders. The whole week was a perfect exercise of balancing local and universal approaches on diversity and inclusion and what this can mean for their job as future teachers. I was really impressed with the quality and the volume of work the students delivered during the week.”
What were the challenges to develop this course?
“Teacher training is usually a 1 year programme, so the curriculum is very full and also includes internships. There is literally not much space for internationalisation. The ENLIGHT partners solved this in different ways: in Ghent it was an elective course, others integrated it in an existing course or linked it to the Master thesis. My biggest fear was a lack of interest among students, but we had a long waiting list which proves the need for internationalisation for this specific target group. Another challenge we had to face was the administration and communication linked to the BIP, which is still a new format.”
What is your advice to others interested in setting up a BIP?
“The difficulty for ENLIGHT was that we did not know the partners at the start. My advice is to have a physical meeting as soon as possible to discuss things in-depth. Meanwhile several BIPs have taken place, so there are best practices available to learn from. For the Teacher Education Network: we plan to iterate the course next year in Ghent and then it will move to Groningen for 2 years.
The main motivation to organise a BIP is to work during an intense week with European students and colleagues in your discipline around a concrete topic. The students come with enthusiasm, motivation and fresh ideas!“
Students Winke Kindermans (Universiteit Gent), Sofia Hedberg (Uppsala University), Paulien Slats (University of Groningen) and Maria Gračíková (Comenius University Bratislava) give their impressions of the BIP. PhD students Eleni Patoulioti (Uppsala University) and Lisa Kiltz (University of Groningen) were involved as coaches.
Which challenges did you work on, and what solutions did you come up with?
Winke and Paulien: “We worked on the topic of religion. The challenge was how to educate teachers to create neutral and inclusive classrooms regarding beliefs. We brainstormed on possible solutions and drafted a policy report with some concrete suggestions. We mainly aim to educate teachers on different religions and included ideas like a multicultural day, inviting guest speakers or organizing an annual short course on religions and belief. This way they have more knowledge on different religions they come across in their classroom and they are more open to it.”
Sofia and Maria: “We worked on special education needs. Often this is linked to a lack of knowledge. We aim to have an inclusive classroom, but for many teachers this is hard to implement in practice. We talked about segregation and how to change this towards inclusion. Our proposal was to set up an online forum for teachers on inclusive classrooms with teaching materials, practical advise, best practices..”
Eleni and Lisa, what was your role as coaches?
Eleni: “In the online part we coached a group of students of our home university. They had to prepare a presentation on the educational system in their country and the challenges related to diversity and inclusion. We mainly helped the students to understand what was expected of them.”
Lisa: “During the week in Ghent seven groups were mingled and they focused on a specific topic. Each group had maximum 2 students of the same university. We could chose a topic that appealed to us. We helped them with the process of the challenge-based approach. In a first phase “Engage” they had to identify one challenge and discuss the meaning, importance and connections they saw. The next step was to “Investigate”, we helped them to find the right resources and organized online consultations with experts. In the final “Act” phase the students had to translate everything into recommendations, which they did quite independently.”
What were the advantages to work with students from other universities and other countries?
Paulien: “They were countless! I heard so many perspectives from other countries. We are united in a European framework, but there are still many differences between countries. We are all teachers and have the same goal: educating students, but this happens in different contexts. It was nice to exchange experiences and ideas and to learn from each other during the presentations, the group work but also during the informal moments.”
Eleni: “For us as PhD coaches the added value was unexpectedly rich. It was the first time I took up a role as coach and not as a teacher or organiser of a seminar. We got a training that was really supportive, so I felt well prepared. I also learned things for my own research and came across interesting literature. The perspective of the students was very enriching: they brought everything together, had interesting discussions and worked on good output. And extra bonus: these hours counted towards my 20% teaching assignment at home.”
Lisa: “Connecting cognitive and social aspects. We had interesting discussions on topics like diversity, gender and religion but also on for instance working conditions of PhD students at the different universities. I don’t teach, so it was interesting for me to coach students in this course, to broaden my horizon and to see what is possible in a classroom.”
Were there challenges?
Maria: “Maybe here and there a language barrier. Literally but also figuratively: we noticed that we sometimes have different understandings of concepts. In Sweden they have learner centred education, but in Slovakia the school system is still very traditional.”
Sofia: “We were happy to get the support and flexibility of our programme back home. They rescheduled an exam so that we could still participate.”
What was the most innovative aspect of this course?
Winke: “For me that was the challenge-based approach. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I really liked it. We could work in groups and think and work on real-life cases. You base yourself on what is really happening in society and work on solutions that really matter and can make a difference. It takes some time, but it was worth it!”
Are you taking ideas back home?
Paulien: “I’m going home with a very concrete idea: a pen pal project between my class and an Irish class, thanks to an Irish student I met here. Our students will exchange letters about their lives and countries. Internationalisation in practice!“
Winke: “I think this course should really be promoted to students who cannot or don’t want to go on an Erasmus exchange. The virtual component and the short physical stay makes it very accessible, and at the same time inspiring! It reminded me that I really like international contacts and that I should not stay in my comfort zone.”
Eleni: “I will definitely integrate the challenge-based approach in my course back home. It is attractive for students and it contains comparative elements. I also discovered some course opportunities at ENLIGHT partners”.
Lisa: “I even received a potential job offer from one of the other mentors”.
How would you describe the course in 1 word?
Diverse! Challenging & Fun! Connecting!
Sofia: “Safe. It was the perfect occassion to exchange experiences and to prepare us as future teachers.”
Paulien: “ENLIGHTening, I’m full of energy and inspiration to become a better teacher and global citizen!”
What advice would you give to other students considering this course?
In unison: “Just do it!”
Lisa: “I would definitely recommend it for the teaching experience. I’m particularly thinking of PhD students who are doing research on the topic or who are well aware of it. It’s an added value for the students and it feeds the discussion.”
Eleni: “I can only agree. It’s an amazing experience and there’s not much opportunities like this for PhD students. The joint approach to shape a course is not standard. I genuinely felt proud when I saw the results of the students. It’s amazing what they have achieved in 3 days!”
Interested to set up a BIP with ENLIGHT partners? Contact your home international office. More inspiration on Challenge-Based Education on the ENLIGHT website or during one of the CBE trainings.