OverviewLogo Pedagogical RestructuringPedagogical Restructuring Summary



"PEDAGOGICAL RESTRUCTURING"
- A TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED IN-SERVICE TRAINING COURSE

Background
Purpose
Aims and Objectives
Contents
3 Levels
Working Method
Tutor
Notice Board
Text and Ideas
Pedagogical
Restructuring
Training Course
Enrolment
TESS Network®
Teaching Children		 Background

School is both a societal institution anchored in tradition and at the same time a dynamic factor in the process of restructuring modern society.

This is a fact – or a dilemma – which places special demands on the various actors involved with school; pupils, teachers and parents. Where school was previously an institution which mediated knowledge and values and furnished successive generations with the needed skills, the task of school today and in the coming years is of quite a different nature. While stability and knowledge were the accepted values in the school of yesterday, change and renewal will be positive ingredients in the school of tomorrow.

The wish of pupils to participate in determining the development and tempo will place teachers in completely new roles, where pedagogy, didactics and method will be subject to ongoing restructuring.

These new teacher roles will on the one hand contain a set of values where human resources are given a high priority on society's agenda, and on the other hand assume an active part in the ongoing pedagogical restructuring which accompanies a society undergoing constant change.

The course, "Pedagogical Restructuring" is aimed at groups of teachers who wish to work with this issue.

The Purpose Of The Course

The in-service training course will work with the values needed in a pedagogical restructuring process, where the curriculum will provide pupils with the kinds of challenges that will put school in a better position to keep pupils within an educational context, where room is made for the particular capacities of the individual and the group, and where their participation in social contexts is strengthened.

The in-service training course therefore takes its starting point in the intersection of ethics, philosophy, pedagogy and psychology.

“We have had the time to forget what the time was.”
“We have reflected a great deal about the relationship between the group and the individual pupil, and have had many fruitful discussions/exchanges of experiences around the theme of the individual pupil and her relationship to the group.
Alone the reflections about these things and the conversations in the team have set off many changes in the day-to-day pedagogical work.”
“We have had the opportunity of developing ourselves.”
“It would not have set off so many changes if our day-to-day work had not been incorporated.”

Aims And Objectives

The aims and objectives of “Pedagogical Restructuring” are that participants are made conscious of, and develop pedagogical and methodological strategies:

Prerequisites for participation are:

Contents

The in-service training program is based on a hypothesis that the restructuring process for teachers is most effectively learnt when teachers participate in collegial teams. The course is based on an interchange between the daily practice of teachers which teachers want to change, and the theoretical dimension which is introduced to support the pedagogical restructuring and innovation.

Three Levels

The reflective level is built up on the basis of a key text which contains the chapters listed below.
Each chapter makes up one course module:

  • Restructuring in a historical light,
    Chief School Psychologist, Ole Hansen

  • Ethics and basic values,
    Associate Professor Jørgen Husted

  • The classroom,
    Professor Niels Egelund

  • The pupils,
    Professor Niels Egelund

  • Behavioural problems,
    Assistant Professor, Thomas Nordahl

  • The intelligent school,
    Head of Development, Kjeld Fredens

Working Method

Reflective level:
Each teacher team will collaborate with regard to the individual course modules. This means that each teacher team:

  1. will produce a study plan which gives an account of how it is envisaged the modules will be completed within the allocated course period.

  2. will work with texts, references, tasks directly from the Internet, or material will be downloaded/printed and used as normal physical text.
    The material for each course module will be available on Pedagogical Restructuring web-sites.

  3. will collaborate with regard to reflections, discussions and formulating answers to the module assignments.

  4. will send in their solutions to the module assignments to the relevant study group, after which the tutor will comment the individual team's reflections about practise and theory.

"Discussions in the teacher group of the six different articles and the work on answering the assignments has provided a new insight and a more precise standpoint on where school should concentrate its efforts, what running a school means, what types of competence the pupils need when they leave school, and what I can to in order to assist in this/work towards this. I have incorporated the thoughts from the articles into the planning, execution and assessment of my teaching, and it really works."

"We would never have achieved such close communication without this course."

"We have become acutely conscious about the fact that we ought to work to counter dropout from the elementary school. We are also, for example, working with methodological strategies for academically weak pupils, in particular with a view to an alternative organisation of special needs teaching."

Concentration level:
The course's electronic study groups constitute a meeting point for the teacher teams. Here the teacher teams involved are connected up to the PPR (Pedagogical Psychological Counselling) offices in a network. The purpose of the study groups is to channel thoughts generated in the individual teacher teams by work with the key texts, into the day-to-day work of restructuring one's teaching practise.

The themes of the study groups are identical with those of the course modules. This means that the assignment solutions in the study groups are also open to commenting from the other participants and tutors.

Within the framework of the study group, each individual teacher has the possibility – in dialog with the other teachers – of concentrating on pedagogical phenomena or problems which have their special interest.

All contributions, assignment solutions, expositions, additional comments etc will be placed in the relevant study group domain.

The project level:
During the project period all the teacher teams must plan and carry out a project.

Planning can be undertaken in collaboration with a teacher team from another school.

The project can deal with a concrete parent meeting in one's own or a colleague's class. The theme of the parent meeting is to be defined in relation to the purpose of "Pedagogical Restructuring", and therefore focus is placed on basic values of the school and its teachers, as experienced in the day-to-day work and teaching.

The tutors from the "Reflective level" are attached to the individual teacher teams as advisors for these pedagogical projects.

Tutor

The tutors in "Pedagogical Restructuring" are, as authors of the course, responsible for the contents of the modules. A tutor with specific responsibility is appointed to each course module and study group. The tutors are remote in terms of physical distance – but close in terms of contact.

The task of the tutors is to comment the assignment solutions from the teacher teams and to ensure the kinds of professional discussions in the study groups, which will support the restructuring processes.

Notice Board

The pedagogical notice board is a place where teachers can exchange greetings, tips, references, and put forward ideas and suggestions: a modern-day notice board where all types of message can be found.

In-Service Training – Texts And Ideas

All texts are fashioned using the thoughts and spirit which forms the basis of the following documents:

Pedagogical Restructuring

Pedagogical Restructuring is an in-service training course for teachers from the elementary school (primary and lower secondary levels). The in-service training course has been developed in a collaboration between the Danish Ministry of Education and the PPR office for the municipalities of Hadsten, Hinnerup and Rosenholm (DK).

This in-service training course will provide participants with the competence to undertake ongoing pedagogical restructuring which at all times ensures the role of the elementary school as one of the supporting pillars of democracy. The course follows a technology-supported concept developed by TESS Network® (http://www.tess.dk) and evaluated by Bent B. Andresen, Ph.d.

The In-Service Training Course

The in-service training course, Pedagogical Restructuring, is a 40-hour technology-supported course, which can be followed between September 1 and May 1. The course is structured into 4 activities:

  1. Start seminar: 10 hours for holding a start seminar, where the participants will be oriented about the course, Pedagogical Restructuring. At the seminar participants will likewise present themselves to each other and meet the project authors. An introduction to the course will be given, together with a talk about the contents of the course. Participants will have the opportunity to view and try out the course web pages.

  2. The reflective module: 25 hours for holding 5 sessions which will be carried out in collaboration with colleagues (teacher team) from one's own school.

  3. Study module: 5 hours for concentrated work in study groups. This will be carried out in collaboration with colleagues from other schools. Study groups are electronic forums involving participants from different schools.

  4. Practise module: taking the form of a concrete inter-school collaboration between teacher teams. The hours for this module will be made up of teaching and preparation time.

Price per participant:

Two teachers from the same team: DKK 1,975

Additional teachers from the same team: DKK 1,775

Course supervisors:
Ole Hansen, Chief School Psychologist,
PPR, the municipalities of Hadsten, Hinnerup and Rosenholm.

Søren Grøn Person, Pedagogical Consultant,
Danish Ministry of Education.

Contact person:
Pia Guttorm, Consultant,
PPR the municipalities of Hadsten, Hinnerup and Rosenholm.
e-mail: pgt@tess.dk

Authors:
Associate Professor Jørgen Husted,
University of Århus,

Chief Educational Officer Kjeld Fredens,
Vejlefjord Centre,

Professor Niels Egelund,
the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies,

Assistant Professor Thomas Nordahl,
NOVA, Norway,

Ole Hansen, Chief School Psychologist,
PPR Hinnerup

Enrolment

Enrolment for Pedagogical Restructuring is electronically steered.
Fill out the enrolment form on the web address http://www.tess.dk/paedomstilling/tilmelding.htm

NB ! The course is only available in danish at the moment.

Further information:
Pia Guttorm, tel.: +45 8698 7755 or
e-mail:pgt@tess.dk
or Søren Grøn Person, tel.: +45 3392 5415
e-mail: soeren.groen.person@uvm.dk

Tess Network®

TESS Network® is a network for teachers. The network encompasses a number of Nordic and European schools and provides teachers with the possibility of:

At this website you will find a description of some of the courses which are provided under TESS Network. The courses are all structured as open and distant learning courses. In other words the course material and the assignments are retrieved from the network and the communication between participants and instructors takes place via e-mail or in electronic study groups. In this way the participants organise their course plan themselves.

In addition to these areas teachers will gain an insight into, and experience with using communication and information technology.

TESS Network® can be found on the Internet address: http://www.tess.dk

Teaching Children To Read

Contents

"Teaching children to read" is a technology-supported in-service training course for teachers of children beginning to learn to read.

Using as a starting point the international reading survey, the course will present teachers with new perspectives on the best and most effective key areas. Areas which should receive special focus when children are learning to read:

Module 1: Society and culture
Module 2: The family
Module 3: The school
Module 4: When children start school
Module 5: Learning to read
Module 6: Using reading

The course has been developed under the EU's Socrates program, Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Directorate General Education, and Culture

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