Erasmus+ 2017-2018 Summary

Dr. Mező Ferenc Primary School and its management has already shown its commitment to renewing based on the experiences gained in Erasmus+ and other international teacher training in the last decade. The success of the Erasmus+ 2017 grant would give the sixth opportunity to our teachers and leaders in self-education and the continuation of ongoing reappraisal of our methodologies. We believe that the desire to embrace change is the key to success in education and in every walk of life.

There is a tradition of teachers' self-education at our institution which means engaging lessons and successful learning experiences for the students every day. With their participation in foreign courses the way was led by the community of English and Humanities teachers. As a result, a wide range of methodological solutions was made available to the participant members of these communities in subjects like English, Hungarian language and Art. With our present program we intend to establish the basis of a comprehensive reformulation. To achieve this goal, five of our teachers, who have not graduated from higher education as English teachers, plan to take part in English language courses. The knowledge acquired can prove a good basis for participation in other foreign courses later on. Six of our English teachers and teachers who have a good command of English, plan to take part in methodology courses in Information Communication Technology.

The possibility of introducing ICT tools methodology was made at the end of 2016. With the help of our successful bidding activity and the governing body of our school we managed to buy desktop computers, laptop computers, overhead projectors and a smart board along with creating a school-wide WIFI system. All in all, we have achieved the necessary infrastructure for introducing ICT methodology.

The positive attitude of our teachers towards reform is shown by the fact that the twelve teachers who tend to participate in the program teach different subjects to students from different age groups. Five of the participants would like to develop their command of English to become able to use English language materials as resources or to conduct mutually beneficial programs with foreign partners through the help of eTwinning, for example. Two of these participants work at the elementary stage. Six applicants would like to develop their Digital competence. One of them works at the elementary stage and five of them work at primary stage,two of whom have English lessons for students in the elementary age group. Subjects taught by the twelve applicants are Englsih, Hungarian language and literature, Maths, ICT, History and Geography. Besides all these, a member of the school management would like to take part in a course about managing change to gain experience of how the participants of the Erasmus+ program can be supported in distributing the knowledge gained during the courses.

In favour of the successful program, some of our teachers took part in conferences, dissemination training and workshops to ensure the continuation of the methodological reform started with the successful 2015 Erasmus+ program. Senior leaders, junior leaders and teachers with Erasmus+ experience took part in the process of choosing the topic for the present program. Besides, a commitment to professional competence and a unified vision were the criteria for choosing the possible participants. The cooperation inside our institution continued with the organisation of the English preparatory course.

To achieve the greatest effect from mobilities, a measuring and evaluating schedule was designed that accompanies the participants throughout every part of the program and involves the non-participants in the evaluation process. In this way we would like to ensure a better perspective of the project for all our teachers.

The expected results and short term or long term effects of the project can be connected to a number of dimensions in the life of our school: teachers’ openness about foreign training and the necessary level of English, new corporate identity, developments in the working atmosphere and relations between our school and its environment, effective knowledge of ICT methodology, rising motivation of students, new learning strategies of students, developing management of change competence of the school management, online resource bank, handbook for measuring and evaluating and anticipating unexpected results. In these ways tangible, positive effects can appear.

We look beyond our school walls and endeavour to strike up and maintain relations with colleagues working in other European institutions to strengthen the reflective attitude of our teachers as a consequence of comparing educational trends in Europe and Hungary. We all learn together from each other in Erasmus+ courses.