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Plans for 2020-2021 school year

Gregor Prajs
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Plans for 2020-2021 school year

The second semester of the 2019-2020 school year was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Schools had to suspend in situ teaching and learning by the end of February or beginning of March respectively. It was only in the past few weeks that the schools were able to gradually return to in situ teaching. The European Schools in Alicante and Varese had to suspend in situ teaching until the end of the school year due to national lock down measures.

This period was a challenge for all of us –pupils, parents,teaching and administrative staff and members of the management alike –and we are grateful for the commitment of all stakeholders and the efforts undertaken by all of you.

need to improve

Now it is time to analyse…

…what has gone well and the areas in which the European Schools need to improve in order to be prepared for the coming school year,which starts in two months.

The Joint Teaching Committee mandated a multidisciplinary ‘Task Force–Preparation of the 2020-2021 school year’, composed of national Inspectors, Directors’ Representatives, staff of the Office of the Secretary-General and representatives of Interparents, the teaching staff, the Accredited European Schools and the EU Commission,to analyse the risks associated with the start of the new school year and to provide concrete proposals to the Board of Governors by the end of July to mitigate the risks identified,in order to ensure a smooth start to the new school year.The task force bases its analysis on three potential scenarios. 

The task force bases its analysis on three potential scenarios:

  • Scenario 1: In situ teaching in all schools as a rule, but with restrictions for vulnerable staff (including Inspectors) and vulnerable pupils and restrictions for infected staff and pupils.
  • Scenario 2: Temporary continuation of lock down measures, which allow only parts of the school population to participate in in situ teaching.
  • Scenario 3: Temporary suspension of in situ teaching for the whole school or whole cycles.

It is important to emphasize that the main working hypothesis is scenario 1 –a full return to in situ teaching and learning for all teachers and pupils as from the beginning of the school year,with some supportive measures for vulnerable pupils and teaching staff.

However, the schools need to be prepared for a situation where during the school year, lockdown measures in certain schools or for certain groups may have to be applied again and the schools have to move from scenario 1 to another scenario.

In order to deal sufficiently with such a situation,the task force will address –with respect to all three potential scenarios –aspects of quality assurance, teaching standards for distance learning, assessment, training and evaluation of teaching staff. Particular emphasis will be placed on educational support, the challenges involved in potential distance teaching in the nursery and primary cycle and support for the BAC cycle. Finally, the task force will tackle the framework conditions of potential distance teaching and address aspects associated with the budget, human resources and IT infrastructure.

This message was send by Deputy Secretary General of the European Schools, Mr Andreas Beckmann.

Will school re-start on 25.05.

Gregor Prajs
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Will school re-start on 25.05.

This week both European schools in Luxembourg are deciding should they reopen doors or not. As always the discussion is one sided with schools administration telling what to do without proper discussing with teachers and parents. They don’t even want to take into account that Luxembourgish schools are gradually reopening and want to find their own version of schooling.

APEEEL2 letter to parents

Dear Parents,

This week, the Lux2 School Management will decide whether children will return to on-site classes. Lux1 and Lux2 are two of the last schools in Luxembourg to make this decision. This is surely causing you a lot of anxiety.

APEEEL2, the parents’ association that officially represents you, has put a lot of efforts into analysing the situation, including the health and safety measures required in the event that on-site classes resume later this month.

  • We know that parents are divided on the issue of resuming on-site classes. 
  • We believe that parents and children need clear and regular communications during this difficult time.  
  • We need reassurance that all the necessary procedures are being followed if the school’s buildings reopen.
  • The School  Management has not yet given APEEEL2 clear and concrete indications that the school is fully prepared for a gradual reopening that meets the government’s health and safety guidelines.

We have been reaching out to School Management in hopes that we can help the preparations and planning, but we feel that our participation often has not been welcome in the past few weeks.
School Management has consulted with us, in our role as members of the School Advisory Council, but we were sent documents on very short notice. We could not properly consult with parents to give feedback.
In addition, some scenarios involving the return to on-site classes were discarded by School Management before we were consulted. And it appears that some decisions have been taken before we were notified.
We believe School Management should seek out your concerns and listen to them. School Management’s recent actions do not constitute proper cooperation.

Whatever scenario the School Director will choose, your parents’ representatives will continue their work to raise your questions and concerns with the School Management.

Sincerely,

André Schmutz
President, in the name of the APEEEL2 Management Committee.

Communication on the impact of COVID-19 outbreak in European Schools

Gregor Prajs
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Communication on the impact of COVID-19 outbreak in European Schools

On 27.03.2020 another communication was sent by the Secretary General of the European Schools, Mr. Giancarlo Marcheggiano.

It has been two weeks since it was decided to suspend the obligatory regular attendance of pupils (Article 30 of the General Rules of the European Schools – Ref. 2014-03-D-14) and to suspend lessons “in situ” in all European Schools starting from the 16th March 2020. The European Schools in Varese and Munich had been forced to apply the same measures as of 24 February and 9 March 2020 respectively.

We have done our utmost to support teachers, pupils and parents to deal with this challenging situation

We are also really grateful to all those who have done their utmost in order to guarantee that the education of our pupils could continue, under the present challenging conditions.

Most of the schools have launched surveys involving the teaching staff, parents and pupils. The outcome is reassuring overall. We also understand that there remains room for improvement and areas where we can learn from each other. The Office of the Secretary- General of the European Schools is promoting this exchange among schools and has provided guidance in distance teaching and learning. This guidance may be updated in the light of the feedback we receive.

We also have to address questions linked to school calendar until the end of the school year 2019/20.

For the time being all European Schools have suspended the obligatory regular attendance of pupils and suspended lessons in situ until 19th April 2020. A further prolongation is very likely and a decision will be taken by the Directors, upon advice from the Secretary General

and in close consultation with the EU Commission, by the end of the coming week at the latest.

Consequently, we need to prepare for two scenarios:

  • a ‘reopening’ of the schools, later in the second semester or
  • a potential prolongation of the current situation until the end of the 2019/20 school year.

We are working in close consultation with the schools on these two scenarios and on Action Plans to deal with risks linked to both scenarios. The main aspects are the tests and examinations in the second semester of the current school year, the promotion of students to the following year and the European Baccalaureate (EB).

For the time being, we continue to prepare for the EB session as foreseen in the General Rules and the Arrangements for implementing the Regulations for the European Baccalaureate, and within the agreed calendar. However, we are aware that we need to be prepared for a scenario where the schools will not open their doors as planned after the Easter holidays or indeed possibly not before the end of the school year.

In particular with respect to the EB we will provide the Board of Governors of the European Schools at its meeting starting from 15th to 17th April 2020 with concrete proposals, if the scenario dictates that distance teaching and learning would have to be prolonged for a substantial time and potentially until the end of the school year.

These proposals to the Board of Governors will have to take into consideration the approach envisaged by the different Member States with respect to their national Baccalaureate or school-leaving examinations. Our schools are based on the national systems of different Member States and we should aim at being in line with these systems and also in guaranteeing equal treatment within our system. We will also keep in mind that our students should not face unfavourable treatment, in comparison to the majority of pupils in the Member States’ educational systems.

Please be reassured that the envisaged decisions will take into consideration, in first place, the health, well-being and safety of our pupils, parents and staff.

Moreover, we will have to ensure that these decisions will support a fair and transparent EB session for all S7 students in all the 13 European Schools and also in the Accredited European Schools providing the EB.

These decisions have also to limit to the minimum any possible negative impact on the assessment of our pupils, in comparison to previous year groups.

Finally, we will have to keeping mind that our graduates will not face any disadvantage when applying to a University, in particular in EU Member States and the United Kingdom.

I appeal for your understanding and patience that we cannot be more precise on the measures to be taken for the moment as I cannot prejudice any decision of the Board of Governors. We will do our utmost to ensure that any decision of the Board of Governors will guarantee the principles highlighted above.I will inform you about further developments and decisions in due time and wish you and your families all the best.

Communication from the Secretary General 23.03.2020

Gregor Prajs
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Communication from the Secretary General 23.03.2020

A communication from the Secretary General of the European Schools, Mr. Marcheggiano, with 2 accompanying documents.

It is now one week that it was decided to suspend the obligatory regular attendance of pupils (Article 30 of the General Rules of the European Schools – Ref. 2014-03-D-14) and to suspend lessons in situ in all European Schools starting as from 16 March 2020. The European Schools in Varese and Munich had been forced to apply the same measures even as of 24 February and 9 March 2020 respectively.

We are aware that this decision has a major impact on the schools, namely our pupils, you as their parents and also on our teaching staff.

With this message we would like to inform you which measures the Office of the Secretary- General has taken and will take to support the schools in their efforts to go on providing teaching and learning under these particular circumstances.

Moreover, we would like to address questions you may have with respect to the pedagogical continuity in the coming weeks.

Recommendations on distance learning

On 12 March the Pedagogical Development Unit produced and disseminated among schools a set of recommendations on distance learning (Document 2020-03-D-11-en-2 – “Distance learning recommendations for course continuity during temporary suspension of obligatory regular attendance of pupils at school”).

This document contains recommendations that are mainly proposed to the management, subject and ICT coordinators of the European Schools in order to ensure pedagogical continuity during a temporary suspension of obligatory regular attendance of pupils. We suggested that these recommendations should be adapted to the specific context and

needs, making it possible for schools and teachers to develop their own strategies. This document is dynamic and will be updated whenever necessary.

Recommendations to Parents on how to Support Learning at Home during suspension of obligatory regular attendance of pupils’

The present recommendations (2020-03-D-21-en) are intended to help you, the parents, but can also convey useful information to teachers to take into consideration when planning their teaching and learning activities. The specific context of the schools and the particular classes and pupils should be considered, therefore, if needed, these recommendations could be adapted to the concrete situation.

This is a dynamic document to be regularly updated, based on the experiences and different forms of feedback during the coming period.

“Help-desk” and networks organized by the PDU

In order to facilitate business continuity in the pedagogical area, the Pedagogical Development Unit grants support for schools in case guidance is needed to launch the new set-up for distance learning. We are ready to answer questions from the schools. If needed, we consult the members of the Digital Learning and Teaching team, a network of experienced and dedicated teachers and coordinators, operating under the auspices of the IT-PEDA Working Group.

Collecting feedback and sharing good practices

Most of the schools have launched or are in the process of launching surveys to different stakeholders (teaching staff and/or parents and/or pupils) to get a feedback where the schools could improve the remote teaching and learning. We will analyze this feedback on system level in order to learn from each other and to get better where necessary.

Educational Support

A particular emphasis will have to be given to Educational Support as pupils with particular educational needs might need even more tailor made support under the current circumstances.

As already stated, we are aware that the system may have to take decisions on the pedagogical continuity and in particular concerning the BAC session June 2020 in near future. Currently, we are analyzing the different scenarios and the different measures to be taken linked to those scenarios.

Therefore, proposals will be prepared for the Meeting of the Board of Governors at the beginning of April 2020. In parallel we will closely follow via our national inspectors the approach in the different EU Member States in order to ensure that we align potential

decisions of the Board of Governors with the approach envisaged by the different Member States with respect to their national Baccalaureate examinations. This will ensure that our students will not face a dis-favourable treatment in comparison to the majority of pupils in the Member States systems.

For the time being, we continue preparing the BAC session as foreseen in the General Rules and the Arrangements, and within the agreed calendar. But we are aware that we need to be prepared for a different scenario.

We are aware that the current situation is a particular situation of distress and we would like to ensure you that the schools and the Office of the Secretary-General are doing their utmost to support you and your children in this challenging time.

The challenges of a 21st-century modern education

Gregor Prajs
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The challenges of a 21st-century modern education

For several decades, the nuances of the teaching-learning process have guided the research work of social scientists. The different pedagogical approaches have assigned diverse teacher roles:  in reaching modern education, they have to transmit knowledge, mentor and lecture, a supervisor or guide, and even the educational researcher.

For a pedagogy that meets the challenges of 21st-century education, the role of the teacher as a guide is vital.

Student-centred educational

The student-centred educational models propose that the teacher facilitate the encounter between problems and questions that are significant for the students and the informative content. At the same time, they encourage them to question their surroundings and interrogate themselves. The role of the teacher is to create an atmosphere that incites students to active participation at all times. That will be achieved by creating an environment of respect and reciprocity (in an appropriate place, with teaching materials and participatory teaching methods, and interpersonal relationships based on respect, tolerance and trust). The teacher ceases to be an authority figure and becomes a facilitator.

This approach is based on the belief that the person has an inherent capacity to know and understand himself and make use of this tool; he is curious, eager for information from the world around him and capable of learning. If the individual finds something good for him that serves him to improve himself, and he tends to perform this action.

Student is responsible

The student is responsible for the learning process. It is he who builds knowledge, who learns. The student reconstructs objects of knowledge that are established. For example, students develop their learning process from the written language system, which is already developed and well-established; so are algebraic operations, the concept of historical time, and the norms of social relationships.

The teacher has to be dynamic, be open to new forms of teaching and empathetic. She should provide the necessary resources so that the student can be the most significant expression of himself during the learning process, to enable him to choose the path that best suits him in the educational field.

Learning should not be imposed through exhaustive curricula, compulsory exams or the same benchmarks to measure the knowledge of different individuals. But for meaningful learning to be achieved, it is also necessary that it be self-initiated, that is, linked to the student’s personality, to his personal needs and objectives, thus leading to penetrating learning.

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