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The Learning Teachermagazine

The Learning Teacher Network No 3/2017ISSN 2000-2610

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2 THE LEARNING TEACHER MAGAZINE 3/2017 THE LEARNING TEACHER MAGAZINE 3/2017 3

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Authors in this editionNicole Andreou, Alessandra Azzopardi, Gerhild Bachmann, Sanda Bordei, Charmaine Cassar, Kyle Cesare, Mathias Demetriades, Bill Goddard, Stacy Duffield, Malin Mattsson Flennegård, Ola Flennegård, Sherryanne Gauci, Herma Korfage, Rainer Kopp, Malin Lindwall Ehrnlund, Florin Salajan, Naomi Temple, Reineke van Tol.

Articles with no author mentioned are produced by the network’s admin team.

Content

Editor ................................................................... 2

The Tolerance Project ................................... 3

Healthfest .......................................................... 4

The Digital Educational Revolution ......... 6

Teachers’ Professional Space ..................... 7

Activating Parents with a Migrant Background ....................................................... 8

Learning in a Living Lab ............................ 10

Virtual Observations in Pre-Service Teacher Preparation.................................... 11

UNESCO update ............................................ 12

Reflective and Collaborative Professional Practice .................................. 13

Waste Water Watts ...................................... 15

Theory of Multiple Intelligences in some Romanian Schools ........................... 16

Information: International ESD Seminar in Palermo ..................................... 18

There was a time when education in schools was ‘school-business’. Parents had hardly anything to do with that and teachers and parents were happy. After a certain period, the teacher informed the parents about the results and behaviour of the child. In the Netherlands there was even the subject called ‘behaviour’ (and also ‘diligence’) on the result report for the parents. Sometimes it was necessary to discuss the behaviour of the boy or girl, but in general ‘behaviour’ was a teacher’s matter. I remember the time when even behaviour outside the school building was part of that concern and was also an educational task. This is hard to imagine nowadays.

As from the 70s, teaching and learning on one side and educating on the other became separated. Schools were increas-ingly focusing strictly on teaching. The English word ‘learners’ also refers to that

Parents and School separation. Over at least the last decade, gradually ‘education’ is coming back in schools. An increasing number of parents are asking for that. And it is for a reason, as in a world like ours, they are getting confused about many things.

Are we doing the right things regarding moral questions, or are we leaving them to wave their hands in the air as they do not know what to do in a fast changing world with the new media. As we know, many parents have not a clue what their children and youngsters are doing e.g. on the internet. So, schools are increasingly coming into the picture as the first ones responsible for support. This tendency is getting stronger and stronger. An increas-ing number of authorities and television shows (!) are looking to schools as institu-tions which have to take back education again, when society is in confusion about values, norms and rules. But, are schools the right place with so many other tasks to fulfil already? If we, teachers/schools are not thinking about that, public debate and social media will take over? From the point of view of the school, what about the role of the parents? Maybe they are confused but, according to the law, they are always the first ones to be responsi-ble for the behaviour of their minors.

Gerard de KruifEditor

The Learning Teacher Magazineis published by

the Learning Teacher Network

EDITORGerard de Kruif,

Badhoevedorp, the Netherlandseditor with legal responsibility

EDITORIAL BOARDCharlotte Tüxen, Naestved, DenmarkAngela Gooch, Bexhill, England, UK

Line Mareel, Brugge, Belgium

GRAPHIC PRODUCTIONShift Brand Design

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

AUTHORS IN THIS EDITIONThe authors are listed in the middle

column of this page

ADDRESSThe Learning Teacher Magazine

c/o The Learning Teacher NetworkBox 5089, SE- 65005 Karlstad

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E-MAIL AND [email protected]

GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS AND AUTHORS

www.learningteacher.eu/magazine

The publication is published four times a year on a quarterly basis.

The publication scheme is posted onthe network website.

Materials in the magazine can be used or copied only by permission by

the author or the editor.

Views expressed by the authors in the magazine do not necessarily

correspond to the view of the editorial board.

VOLUME 8 No.3/2017September 2017

ISSN 2000-2610

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A globalized world leads to a more di-verse society. Consequently, it becomes increasingly urgent to create a social community in a local context. The costs of exclusion tend to become sky high for the individual as well as for society. On this basis, the Municipal Council in Nyköping (a Swedish Municipality with more than 50,000 inhabitants) decided to explore the social teaching model “Tolerance Pro-ject”. The model was developed by the teacher Christer Mattsson just over twen-ty years ago to prevent recruitment to vi-olent right-wing movements. Since then it has been utilized in some thirty mu-nicipalities in Sweden. The aim is to cre-ate safe social spaces for young people, thereby giving them the opportunity to a life within mainstream social community.

In Nyköping, which has no active right-wing recruitment, the flexibility of the model is being adjusted in order to cre-ate social cohesion. As there is a concrete interaction between social services and schools, the project should be seen as an attempt to achieve education for sustain-able development. In a three-year project, fifteen-year students will be given the opportunity to find their role and identity in a positive social context, gain deeper knowledge of human rights, reflect on the consequences of intolerance and the conditions of democracy.

The Tolerance Project - A Dynamic Educational Model for Long-term Social InclusionTowards the end of the day the homework is presented. The twenty-five students start writing under the chosen topic, “My Dark Sides”. One of them silently looks through the window on the nearby lake. When I pass by, she whispers to me: “All assignments we are given are the same - they are about me!”

The structure of the model is as fol-lows: Students voluntarily apply to the Tolerance Project and are divided into heterogeneous teaching groups. Start-ing in October, the group meets every second week outside school on ten occa-sions. Each day has its given features: the theme of the day is presented by an au-thentic narration told by the teacher oral-ly. The discussions then take place. Both existential and ethical issues are dealt with followed by creative assignments connected to the theme. History, Religion and Social science constitute the mate-rial while written and oral presentations together with artistic expression are the skills that are practised. In short, the Tol-erance Project fully embraces the Swed-ish curriculum with special attention to the social dimension developed through teamwork activities.

Included is a seven-day excursion-jour-ney to Holocaust Memorials in Poland. The narratives used during the teaching days are further developed and lead to dynam-ic discussions. For those who have never been outside Sweden, the meeting with another country is an opportunity to get a perspective on Swedish society. In addi-tion, being on historical sites enables the students to reflect on the significance of the historical memory. The teaching tenet of the Tolerance Project is a non-confron-

tational approach. Instead of debating, the dialogue is in focus. Instead of describing others, the students are encouraged to in-vestigate their own identity. By exploring who you are in a social context, the pur-pose is to give young people the opportu-nity to notice how different identities can coexist. Who do I want to be? The ques-tion can only be answered if you first find out who you are. And only then can you choose to be the best version of yourself. As a student writes in her notebook at the end of the day:

“The questions really made me think of something I’ve never thought about before - that’s whether I’m Swedish or Eritrean. I realised I can be both. The thought made me happy.“

Considering today’s polarized social, political and cultural landscape, the Toler-ance Project is not only valid in a Swedish context but also in a broader European perspective. We are indeed looking for-ward to collaborating through LTN with colleagues all around.

Ola Flennegå[email protected] Mathias [email protected] Mattsson Flennegå[email protected] Project in Nyköping/Sweden


As a run up to the event, the pupils dis-cussed what healthy and unhealthy lifestyles are during PSCD sessions. The lessons about leading a Healthy Life-style focused on the benefits of physical exercise, nutritious diet, good sleeping patterns, clean air, personal hygiene and responsible use of medicine. We stressed the importance of eating well, especially the consumption of fruit and vegetables, by asking the pupils to come up with various healthy meals such as breakfast,

Healthfest at Zabbar Primary B, St Margaret College, Malta

lunch, snacks and dinner using different food cards and their personal food draw-ings.

These lessons were followed by dis-cussions on unhealthy lifestyles such as drug and alcohol abuse, the negative effects of smoking and lack of Personal Hygiene. The children were also asked to come up with different charts which were displayed around the school prem-ises as an exhibition to coincide with the Healthfest. Each Year group was given a

As part of the yearly school calendar, the PSCD, Art and PE teachers at Zabbar Primary B organ-ised a week-long Healthfest in May with the Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 pupils.

topic focusing on Healthy Lifestyle, such as Healthy Eating, the benefits of Physi-cal Exercise, Hobbies which help us stay away from bad habits and different ca-reers related to health and food.

These PSCD lessons and activities led to the Healthfest week. The pupils par-ticipated in PE and Art sessions in the school yard. As part of the PE session, the pupils took part in fun games and activities including water and parachute games, golf, football, basketball, handball

and obstacle races using the equipment available at school. For their Food Art session, the pupils worked on a healthy artistic plate using mostly fruit and vegetables amongst other ingredients. The children created fun dishes such as a Fish, an Owl, Mice, Birds, a Peacock, a Mummy, Frankenstein and a House from the Movie ‘Up’.

As a closing activity to the Healthfest, each year group gathered in the school hall for a PSCD presentation summarising

what happened during the past weeks. The children were invited to sing and dance to the music videos related to the benefits of physical exercise and healthy diets. They were also shown photos taken during the Healthfest. After the Health-fest week, two pupils from each class were chosen with the best charts having a good layout, detailed information, best effort and creativity. They were awarded an Achievement Certificate by the Head of School.

PSCD, Art and PE teachers Charmaine Cassar (PSCD)Leonora Azzopardi (PSCD)Kyle Cesare (PE)Sherryanne Gauci (Art)Teachers at Zabbar Primary B, St. Margaret College [email protected]


Sebastian Thrun, a professor from Stan-ford had an ambition – he wanted to give exactly those people, who would never have the chance of going to Stanford, a possibility to get the highest education possible. He saw a potential and founded the Internet-Uni “Udacity”, where students were able to study content from Stanford online without charge. He even quit his well-paid job at Stanford and dedicated himself totally for his new project. At the end, 23000 students received a certifi-cate – this number had never been reached in Thrun’s lecture hall in his entire career (see Dräger/Müller-Eiselt, 2015).

Crowded lecture halls and a variety of studies face students nowadays. The challenges for our education system have never been so high and complex. Is there a solution? Experts see an approach in digital mechanisms. Through the digital world, new doors open – that way every individual has the possibility to use and receive an education. Daphne Koller, founder of the internet-university “Cour-sera” once said: “We don’t know, from where our next Einstein comes. Maybe

he or she lives in a small town in Africa.” (see Dräger/Müller-Eiselt 2015, p. 47). After reading this quote, we might think, that education is only accessible for some of us. But it is clear beyond doubt, that this should not be the case. Education is power and shared education is even more powerful. The “Mentored Open Online Courses” have final rates of 80 percent – how does this work? The “M” in MOOC does not stand as usual for “massive” but rather for “mentored” which reminds stu-dents to have a coach, who mentors the online courses. This makes the change! Together we are stronger.

The University of Graz and the Tech-nical University of Graz provide a free of charge, unique MOOC-platform for all citizens, no matter what educational level they have (www.imoox.at). A huge range of topics is offered e.g. socialmedia and schools, learning in a digital society, start-up journey, OER online-course, etc.

Online Educational Resources (OER) are an amazing possibility to share knowledge for all. A free license makes it possible for all students to use and work with data

The Digital Educational Revolution - New InputsHave you ever thought about an educational revolution - a revo-lution that makes it possible for children from parents with less money, less burning ambition and a poor educational background, to achieve highly? Well, if you have already thought about it, you are not the only one.

In the last decade in both educational practice and academic field ‘profession-al autonomy’, ‘professional space’ and ‘teacher agency’ are subjects of discus-sion, research and policy-development. This discussion seems to be related to the increasing governmental focus on educational quality and yield, and the demand of accountability of non-profit organizations in the industrialized coun-tries since approximately 1990.

Three major phenomena have become visible due to this focus and demand:- Governmental rules and policy on educa-

tional goals and content have increased, which results in standardization of edu-cational programmes and testing;

- Educational institutions have to make transparent to which extent they meet policy standards on educational quality, in a rather high frequency of govern-mental control. Therefore, managers of these institutions feel the need to work with registration and control-sys-tems in the internal organization. This often leads to more bureaucratization;

- Both standardization and bureaucra-tization have an impact on the daily work of teachers. Standardization goes with decreasing influence of teachers on curricula. Bureaucratization has an intensifying effect on a teacher’s work-load, because it is often the teacher who has to provide the data for the registration and control-systems, con-cerning their educational goals, ways of working and results.

Research shows that standardization of educational programs can impede the learning of teachers, and governmental control on educational content can de-crease professional autonomy and respon-sibility of teachers. There is also evidence that educational organizations that show

Teachers’ Professional Space: Room to Move!

a lot of bureaucratic features decrease the experienced professional space of teach-ers. These tendencies, combined with an intensification of workload can result in a negative effect on teachers’ working satis-faction and sense making.

Since teachers and especially the on-going learning process of teachers are crucial in educational development, the processes and effects mentioned above can threaten educational quality. Alto-gether there seems to be some paradox going on: policy that is meant to upgrade educational quality can have side-effects that lead to the contrary. In my opinion, it is this paradox that gives urgency to the discussion on professional autonomy, pro-fessional space and agency. Educational development cannot be established with-out movement of teachers who learn, develop and innovate. And literally and figuratively teachers need room to move.

But ‘to grant more professional space’ might not be as simple as it seems. Think-ing and discussing the matter, a lot of questions emerge:- What exactly do we MEAN by profes-

sional space?

provided by teachers and professors. Fur-thermore, there exists an innovative Open Educational Project to provide learning equipment for self-study, teaching and lecturing, especially for using these mate-rial for life science and STEM fields (www.openeducation.at). It is an important aim to enhance the quality of the system for teaching and learning as well as having the visibility of good practice materials. In order to be a successful school in this digital revolution, it is necessary to have a supportive hybrid network which helps to cater for the exact needs for pupils and students with appropriately differentiated materials and infrastructure as well as dig-ital equipment (www.eeducation.at).

The facts just mentioned seem small steps for humanity, but huge steps for an educational revolution. Think about it!

Naomi [email protected] [email protected] of Graz, Austriahttp://www.uni-graz.at

- Where does professional space begin and where does it end?

- Is professional space the same as pro-fessional autonomy?

- Maybe ‘experiencing space’ is not the same for every teacher, so how do we make general arrangements on this?

- Is professional space an individual mat-ter or a team-matter?

- When we succeed in making a change, and teachers do get some more space, will there ‘automatically’ emerge more educational development?

- Is there a relationship between profes-sional space and educational leadership and, if so, what does it imply for both teacher and leader and their way of co-operating?

Within Stenden University and support-ed by the State University of Groningen, I was given the opportunity to start a PhD-project on this subject and these questions. The purpose is to design (in collaboration with teachers and team leaders) a model for working conditions for teams from the perspective of teach-ers as professionals. I have just finished the first year of research, consisting of a literature review and a pilot study. I am really looking forward to sharing some of my findings with colleagues on the Learning Teacher Conference in Aarhus in coming September. Also, I am curious to hear about experiences concerning pro-fessional space in some other countries and educational contexts.

Herma KorfageStenden University of Applied Sciences Academic Dean The [email protected]


In many regions of the state of North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW) there are schools with a steadily rising percentage of pu-pils with migrant backgrounds; in some they already represent the majority. On the other hand, the proportion of their parents in parent participation bodies in school is rather low, although studies show that these parents are highly inter-ested in the education and future of their children.

The project “Parents Get into the Act” aims at informing parents with migrant

Activating Parents with a Migrant Background

backgrounds and encouraging them to become active. Eltern Netzwerk NRW (Parent Network NRW), the project ex-ecuting organisation, represents some 240 migrant organisations in our state.

The focus of the project is training and coaching of parents with migrant back-grounds to become facilitators of inform-ative meetings and seminars for parents with migrant backgrounds.

My colleague Lars Meyer and I met our future trainees at the opening confer-ences staged in each of the three project

regions. The participants (60 – 80) of the conferences worked on their questions about kindergarten and school and about their needs for information and support.

The target group (20 – 35) in all three trainings – four days split in two parts – was very heterogeneous. Their origin was from different countries, though most of them were born and raised in Germany. There were also differences in German language, in experiences with groups, in knowledge about kindergar-ten and school and so forth. However,

all were highly motivated and curious. The goal of the training was to set the ground and the starting point of a learn-ing process which would continue dur-ing the practical period accompanied by two one-day exchange and coaching meetings plus a “hot-line” via phone and e-mail. During the practical period, the participants were to facilitate in pairs some six ninety-minute informative meetings with parents.

Basic principles for the training were set accordingly: all information input must be closely connected with the knowledge and experience each participant brings with them – in a collaborative way. This requires time for exchange in a positive and supportive atmosphere. It also means that Lars and I as training facilitators are role models. Inevitably we made our mis-takes and made them open.

The first day of training focused on facilitation. The leading questions were “What kind of meetings do I wish to have as a parent?” and “What do I expect of a facilitator of these meetings?”.

Day 2 was dedicated to parents’ par-ticipation in kindergarten and school. An input on the most important legal basics started the day. Discussions in groups and role play in the afternoon helped to put received information into practice.

The goal of Day 3 was to get a deep-er understanding of school as a system, how it works and how it makes teachers think and act. Three teachers from the “Project Teachers with Immigration Histo-ry” took part to answer questions of the participants.

The last day of training was to get the participants set for their practice, to plan their first informative meeting. The day

was rounded up by a ceremonial and joy-ful reception of the certificate of being a “parent facilitator”.

The practice period facilitating inform-ative meetings will begin after the sum-mer vacation, and we are looking forward for the first calls and e-mails and the first exchange and coaching meetings.

Forum Eltern und Schule, institution of adult education responsible for training and coaching: http://www.weiterbildung-fuer-schulen.de/ Finance: Federal state of NRW, ministry for school and ministry for integrationProject website (in German): http://www.elternnetzwerk-nrw.de/projekte/eltern_mischen_mit.html

Rainer [email protected]


Anna’s Tuin & Ruigte: Learning in a Living Lab

Since spring 2011, a faculty in the teach-er education program at North Dakota State University has been experiment-ing with enhanced field experiences and classroom observations. Two cameras have been rotated among various class-rooms in a local school district to provide pre-service teacher candidates with an authentic glimpse into local classrooms from a distance.

The cameras were purchased through a multi-year grant with the purpose of improving pre-service teacher prepara-tion. The cameras allow teacher candi-dates to observe local teachers from a university classroom either in real-time or through pre-recorded videos. However, before virtual observations may proceed, the teachers hosting the cameras secure informed consent from their students’ parents allowing the students to be ob-served by the teacher candidates. None-theless, if after a two-week waiting peri-od, a single parent declines permission for his or her child to be on video, the entire class comprising that student is excluded from observations for the school year. Such parental objections, however, have been very rare over the course of the pro-ject and observations have usually been held with most, if not all, classes. Once this process is completed, faculty mem-bers request permission from the teacher hosting the camera to conduct a virtual observation at an agreed-upon time. The observation sessions can be recorded for later use, or they can be streamed live into the faculty members’ courses.

The purpose of the virtual observation sessions is to expand upon and supple-ment on-site field experiences teacher candidates are required to complete. In addition, the virtual observations are useful in examining the teaching meth-ods, generating discussions about class-room events, and in learning about vari-ous classroom management strategies teachers employ. In the course of a live streamed observation, the faculty mem-ber can remotely manipulate the camera, which can be rotated 360° around its vertical axis. The faculty member may also pan and zoom to focus the camera

on specific individuals, tasks being per-formed or interactions occurring during the lesson.

The project has not been without chal-lenges. First, the program had to identi-fy administrators who were open to the prospect of outside cameras being placed in their schools. Second, although the school district has no shortage of expe-rienced and exemplary teachers, find-ing those confident enough to expose their teaching practices for viewing in a university class was a challenging task. Fortunately, after several conversations with principals at a high school and a middle school, the cameras were placed in two classrooms with teachers in dif-ferent content areas. Third, the technical arrangements of physically installing the cameras in the classrooms and providing a functional connection across self-con-

Virtual Observations in Pre-Service Teacher Preparation

Anna’s Tuin & Ruigte (Anna’s Garden & Wilderness) (ATR) is a piece of nature on the Science Park of the University of Am-sterdam (UvA) (The Netherlands). Before the UvA and research institutes settled here (from 1946 onwards), the area was arable land belonging to several farms of which the last one was the Annahoeve, the farm of Anna van den Broeke (1850). The Annahoeve, now café-restaurant The Polder, is the last piece of history remain-ing at the Science Park. While most of the area is being converted to buildings, An-na’s farmland was left bare and has been neglected for many years.

Some 5 years ago a group of students developed a plan to revive the area into a biodiversity hotspot as well as a food producing garden and food forest, resem-bling its historical function. In coopera-tion with the municipality of Amsterdam and a tremendous group of enthusiastic volunteers, the area (0,8 ha) is now be-ing converted to a permaculture garden

aimed to promote biodiversity, produce food, bring people together and provide a platform for nature education and re-search in a living lab.

The education in Anna’s Tuin & Ruigte is targeting children and students from kindergarten to university. For the youngest we now have established a search tour through the garden. Equipped with a backpack containing a map, binoc-ulars, a loupe and an assignment sheet, the children can explore the nature in ATR through several fun exercises.

For primary schools, we have a now well established learning programme on water quality. Together with the teach-ers and volunteers, the children perform a ‘real’ scientific experiment. They smell and look at the water, after which they catch water creatures with a landing net. With the help of a searching map they determine the species they found and place them in predefined categories of water quality. Based on the found spe-

cies they can now draw their own conclu-sions about the water quality in ATR. The children get really excited about being able to act as real scientists and learning about nature. It is a pleasure to see the children play, learn and gain interest in science and nature through simple exer-cises.

Also the university is increasingly be-ing involved in nature education in ATR. Students of the elective course Farming of the Future came to perform biodiversi-ty and soil assays and did an experiment to test different mulching methods. The results could then be used by the volun-teers designing the garden. More teach-ers are now interested in incorporating field studies in ATR in their courses and some are already on the agenda for next year. This way the team of ATR can work together with the University in sharing knowledge and expanding science to di-rect practice.

Plans are being developed also to pro-vide education for secondary education. ATR could for example provide a living lab for experiments in biology courses. Some volunteers already have plans for making an education programme on biodiversity and sustainable farming. We believe that getting students outside classrooms to actively experience nature and farming is far more stimulating than sitting in-side and passively listen to teachers. In the coming years we will contact schools and teachers to explore the possibility for secondary education in ATR.

Since ATR is in a developing phase, most is about to come. We already have had great experiences with nature education and are looking forward to test and secure more outside education and to involve more schools and teachers in the project. We think actively learning in a living lab is an excellent form of education to get children and students enthusiastic and re-sponsible for nature.

Reineke van TolMaster student Forest & Nature conservation [email protected]

tained institutional networks represent-ed a challenge; fortunately, district and university IT addressed these issues quickly.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the teacher candidates and the university faculty value the use of virtual obser-vations and consider them useful tools in expanding candidate learning about teaching practices. Currently, two faculty members in the program are collecting data via semi-structured interviews spe-cifically to examine the impact virtual observations have had on teacher can-didates’ view of the teaching profession. The findings will inform the program’s continued use of remote cameras for this purpose, but this will depend on the continued availability of the service the program currently utilizes. While the on-line hosting and archiving platform is still operational, it is being phased out by the company that designed it. Therefore, the program is exploring alternative camera solutions that could replace the current platform in the short to medium term, so that teacher candidates may avail them-selves of virtual observations for the foreseeable future.

Florin [email protected] [email protected] of EducationNorth Dakota State University


Leraning Teacher Network colleagues and friends will know that the Network is a UNESCO Key Partner of the Global Ac-tion Programme (GAP) on ESD. We are a partner in Partner Network 3 which has a specific brief from UNESCO to work with other global colleagues on building capacities of educators and trainers. As a non-governmental organisation our role is one of dissemination of knowledge particularly via our membership through the medium of seminars and publication.

In The Learning Teacher Magazine, 1/17, I was able to provide an update of the most recent global forum which had taken place in Ottawa, Canada, in March. What I hope to do here is to continue to provide an update on current develop-ments within our sphere of the GAP.

Apart from the rare occasions for face-to-face interaction UNESCO provides other opportunities for the sharing of informa-tion and developments. One of the most regular is the webinar which is organised from UNESCO in Paris and which involves participants from around the globe who obviously participate in different time zones. As the LTN link person with UN-ESCO and the GAP I have taken part in a couple of these, when they have been par-ticularly relevant to our network aims.

The most recent webinar took place on the 1st August and had 22 participants from across the world and from various of the key partners involved in the GAP. The focus was on Partner Network 3 “Sustainability starts with Teachers” and the session lasted for approximately 90 minutes. For those who are interested in the technicalities the webinar takes place through the auspices of Skype Business and is arranged by UNESCO. On this oc-

casion there were three presentations which were followed by discussion.

The first presentation was made by Shepherd Urenje, from SWEDESD, who talked about a flagship project for Cen-tral Asia and Southern Africa entitled ‘Sustainability begins with Teachers’. The second presentation was made by Tatiana Shakirova, from Kazakhstan, who discussed the findings and opportunities from a sub-regional workshop for teach-ers which took place in Central Asia.

The third presentation focused on a workshop on ESD for Teacher Education Institutions based on Thailand. There were two presenters for this, an unnamed lady from Thailand and a gentleman who was only identified as Robbie from Aus-tralia. Each of these presentations gener-ated their own discussions which is why the total event lasted 90 minutes. Each presentation only lasted for 10 minutes.

The next webinar is scheduled for September, probably prior to our Aarhus Conference, and is entitled “Teaching and Learning for the future: the whole institu-tion approach to climate change”. UNESCO are also planning to hold an independent session in French, in October, introducing ESD practices in French-speaking coun-tries.

There are also occasional messages from UNESCO which update participants in the GAP about current developments. The most recent one in mid-August not-ed three particular publications which are now available in several languages. They are ‘Education for Sustainable Develop-ment Goals: Learning Objectives’; ‘Getting Climate-Ready: a guide for schools on cli-mate action’; and, ‘Action for Climate Em-powerment: Guidelines for accelerating

UNESCO GAP on ESD Updatesolutions through education, training and public awareness’. UNESCO’s Higher Ed-ucation Section has also just launched a publication entitled ‘A Decade of progress on ESD: reflections from the UNESCO Chairs Programme’.

UNESCO also produces an electronic newsletter, the ESD Zoom, every 2 to 3 months which already goes to 7,000 sub-scribers worldwide. They would like to reach a greater audience and so members of the network are encouraged to sign up to either the English, French, or Span-ish version. Also, if members have news, events, or publications which they would like to feature in Zoom and on the GAP website they should send them to [email protected] and mention the connection with The Learning Teacher Network. If anyone does do that it would be useful if you could let me know that you have made the connection.

Some Key Partners are also taking part in COP23 in Bonn, Germany, in Novem-ber although we have no plans to do so at this time. The third symposium on the future of ESD took place in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in June, following the two symposia which took place in Omori, Ja-pan (November 2016), and Gelsenkirch-en, Germany(April 2017).

You can see that there is a lot of ac-tivity taking place around the globe and The Learning Teacher Network is pleased to be involved with this important global initiative. If members have any questions about the detail of the ongoing activity please do get in touch and I will do my best to meet your needs.

Bill [email protected]

“I do believe I can make a difference for my students. Naming just one thing: I certainly want to take advantage of the students’ experiences and thoughts; place them in a relevant context and learning environment and use them as a platform for development in mathematics.”

Mathematics teacher Karen, reflecting upon her practice

Setting the Stage for a Reflective and Collaborative Professional Practice

Mathematics teachers’ professional de-velopment (PD) and learning is a highly relevant topic today. For effective PD, opportunities for teachers to reflect on their teaching practice in collaboration with colleagues are central. However, teaching is a complex process and not easy to assess in order to develop new understanding. So, what can we do to improve the teaching profession, despite the complexity it involves? How can we create an effective professional learning environment and combine it with activi-ties that promote in-depth understanding regarding teaching and students´ learn-

ing? This article outlines the ideas of ex-perienced mathematics teachers as they jointly recognize and learn about issues that shape their practice.

Sharing effective practices and reflecting on student learningIn a school-based PD project, a group of Swedish mathematics teachers collabora-tively analysed their teaching practice to seek understanding of why things do and do not work as well as what is involved.

During the reflective and collabora-tive process, it became evident that by systematically “unpacking” teaching

and learning and making rationalizations about their practice explicit, the teachers began to think more deeply about their own teaching and learning.

ExampleTeacher Karen provided some insight into her classroom practice in relation to her students’ presumed lack of interest and positive attitude towards mathematics:

“A too monotonous task focused work in the text book has led to classroom in-struction that has become very abstract, lacking specific and clear foundations in students’ own experiences and interests


were to improve environmental litera-cy, reduce the schools’ environmental impact and use of natural resources, improve student engagement through project-based learning, increase teach-er knowledge on incorporating Green STEM into the school curriculum, and provide opportunities for community involvement.

Awareness Surveys were conduct-ed at the beginning and at the end of the project to examine the levels of awareness of students on the Themes of Waste, Water and Energy, as well as the teachers’ familiarity with Green STEM Education. In monitoring Waste in participating schools, an average of 15.5% increase in recycling was ob-served from the pre and post surveys across the five participating countries. Water savings increased by 9%. It is noteworthy that location matters a great deal when dealing with the Wa-

ter Theme. For instance, in Norway, no increase in water savings was reported in participating schools, because of the abundant water supplies available. However, knowledge and awareness has now risen in teachers and students and they believe they will make significant savings next year. An 11% increase in en-ergy savings was also reported. As for the qualitative indicators of the teacher surveys, the project reports an 85% increase of knowledge about Green STEM and project-based learning, and an 82% increase in a positive perception on the importance of sustainability issues. Finally, a 12% increase in outdoor teach-ing was noted in the survey results.

ABOUT ECO-SCHOOLSThe Foundation for Environmental Education was founded in 1981. Eco-Schools was launched in 1994 and is currently run in over 67 countries through member organizations that are com-mitted to engaging children and youth in action-oriented learn-ing. In 2003, Eco-Schools was identified by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) as a model initiative for Education for Sustainable Development. Follow FEE on Facebook and @FEEInt on Twitter. Follow Eco-Schools on Facebook and @Eco-SchoolsInt and @FEE EcoCampus on Twitter.

Nicole AndreouFoundation for Environmental [email protected]

and not given enough space for practical work, discussions and reflections.”

In order to promote students’ engage-ment in their own learning, the teachers jointly stressed the importance of making mathematics meaningful by grounding it in the students’ world of experience and to a higher extent placing the content in authentic contexts.

Posing purposeful questions While reflecting on their practices, the teachers also became aware of the im-portance of posing questions in order to move teaching and learning forward.

Example Teacher Anna states that “we must make more explicit the learning goals and what we will be working on, as well as ask the students about their thoughts on this. We also must work on posing adequate ques-tions for better planning of instruction.” The teachers listed a group of questions, narrowing it down to:

• What do my students know? • What are my students able to do? • What is the evidence of that? • How does this shape what I plan for to-

morrow?

Developing practice and theory - side by sideSharing practices in structured conversa-tions with colleagues may open up new ways of seeing things leading to insights into teaching and learning. Jointly the mathematics teachers in this PD-process sought understanding of why things do and do not work within their practices. They seemed to articulate and re-in-terpret what they need to know about teaching and learning in order to organize meaningful classroom practice. However, professional change through systematic and continuous reflection is not automat-ically achieved by “itself” by providing opportunities for the teachers to partic-ipate in a collaborative setting or simply talking about the teaching practice. With-out developing and challenging teachers’

theoretical foundation, beliefs and knowl-edge, the collegial reflections may rather sustain a ‘status quo’ instead of generat-ing new understanding or learning.

Malin Lindwall EhrnlundB, MSc, PhD student Linköping University, [email protected]

Waste-Water-Watts (W³) An Eco-Schools Green STEM, Project-based Learning InitiativeIn August 2016, Eco-Schools, in collaboration with National Wildlife Federation and Alcoa Foundation, launched a global K-12 environmental literacy initiative focused on Green STEM. The pilot project, run in five countries, provides children with knowledge on the themes of Waste, Water and Energy through the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

A GROWING PHENOMENONEco-Schools is a global initiative of over 19 million students com-mitted to helping change the world by protecting their environ-ment. Its foundation is the students’ engagement with their sur-roundings, which enables them to act in their classrooms, their schools, and eventually their communities. Following a carefully designed Seven Step Methodology, students come together, con-duct research, make an action plan for the year ahead, monitor and evaluate their progress, link their work to the school curricu-lum, inform and involve their peers, school staff and the commu-nity, and produce their own code of commitment. What we wit-ness is that this feeling of owning each part of the process and relating to it, involves children in a remarkable way.

GREEN STEM AND THE W³ PROJECT The concept behind the Waste-Water-Watts (W³) project was to see how environment-based education could boost student engagement and academic achievement through STEM Educa-tion. Green STEM facilitates a better understanding of school projects through real-life engagement with environmental chal-lenges, which are identified on the school grounds or in the local community.

Approximately 20,000 students from Australia, Brazil, Italy, Norway and the USA, were given the opportunity to capture the essence of connecting with their environment, as part of a framework of sustainability principles. The project has ena-bled them to identify their schools’ challenges and to act upon them; enhance their critical thinking, problem-solving, coopera-tion and communication skills; and ultimately create positive ac-tion and behaviour change. The overarching goals of the project


In Romania the theory of multiple intelli-gences is quite well known but unfortu-nately more on a theoretical level since it is not very much used in the classroom as it is considered to be not so ”serious” or academic when it comes to learning. That is why it is mostly implemented at kindergarten and primary school levels. Generally speaking it is often used in very structured activities or lessons, even if there are also a few teachers, especially young ones, who use it as a valuable tool in their everyday teaching and learning process. Additionally, we have noticed that it is usually incompletely presented and understood since the focus tends to be especially on the description of the 8 (not 9!) types of intelligences identified so far. There are few to no explanations about some key elements of Gardner`s theory such as: his pedagogical model (entry points, analogies and multiple rep-resentations) or the idea that each per-son has a unique cognitive profile made of the 8 types of intelligences at differ-ent levels of development which can be continuously improved if appropriate en-vironmental and educational contexts are provided. This is the reason why it is fre-quently used as another way of labelling pupils instead of focusing more deeply on the possibility of growth, of continuously developing their potential.

From March-June 2016, we carried out some action-research on this topic in 11 schools from rural areas in two coun-ties, after previously having organized a training on MI for Physics and Romanian teachers with a strong focus on the prac-tical use of Gardner’s theory in designing lesson plans. We worked with 13 teach-ers and 214 children divided into one experimental and one control group. The results were very good, as we noticed a

Results of Valuing Theory of Multiple Intelligences in Some Romanian Schools

statistically significant improvement in school performance in both subjects, but the most notable was in Physics. At the same time we received very good feed-back both from teachers and from pupils who appreciated that valuing MI in the classroom improves the understanding of the contents taught, fosters creativity, communication, motivation for learning, trust, friendship, collaboration, fun and helps rediscovering the pupils through

the new lenses of their strengths. We would like to particularly present the case of B.M., a boy who was initially considered by everybody to be unable to learn. When we started our study we first applied the MIDAS questionnaire in order to estab-lish the cognitive profiles of the pupils at that moment and communicated the results to their teachers involved. Thus we discovered that B.M. had very well developed spatial and kinaesthetic intel-

ligences and low linguistic intelligence. So the Romanian and Physics teachers started encouraging him to develop the linguistic intelligences based on the oth-er two strong ones (for instance he chose to build a model of how eclipses form in-stead of writing an essay as the teach-er had asked the class). In the end B.M. raised his general marks with 2 points in Romanian (from 6 to 8) and 1 point in Physics (from 6 to 7), a big success. Also

he trusted himself more and more and started being appreciated, admired, ac-cepted and integrated by his classmates. That is why we warmly recommend the use of this wonderful and powerful tool and hope to be able to continue a more in-depth field research on this topic.

Sanda Bordei, Ph D Candidate ”Al.I. Cuza” University of Iași, [email protected]


The International GAP Seminar, with in-put from recognized experts and interac-tive discussions among the participants, offers a learning space to explore, learn more and elaborate on how schools and teacher education institutions can han-dle immigration and migration from the perspective of Human Rights and Quality Education.

We welcome you to participate in the Palermo Seminar, which will be enjoyable, inspiring and will address this key issue, crucial to the development of education and training, to ensure inclusive and eq-uitable quality education for all.

We are very pleased that we have Pro-fessor Leon Tikly from the University of Bristol/UK and UNESCO Chair Charles Hopkins from York University in Toronto/Canada as distinguished international ex-perts for good quality education, diversi-ty and ESD with us at the seminar. They will share their wide expertise in two keynotes and in their active participation in discussions during the seminar. Dr. Su-sanne Müller-Using, LTN EC-member and researcher at Osnabrück University will contribute regarding her expertise on good quality education with a keynote on

International LTN GAP Seminar “Immigration and

Good Quality Education”Palermo April 26 – 29 2018

Human Rights Education skills for teach-ers in multicultural settings.

The FrameworkEducation for Sustainable Development (ESD) allows every human being to ac-quire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sus-tainable future. ESD means including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning. The United Na-tions has adopted the UNESCO Roadmap for implementing the Global Action Pro-gram (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development.

The GAP has two objectives:* to reorient education and learning so

that everyone has the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable development – and make a difference;

Professor Leon TiklyUniversity of Bristol, United Kingdom

Leon Tikly is Professor in Education at the University of Bristol. His keynote Towards a quality education for all: how schools can promote inclusion and diversity is embedded in his research over many years into the quality of education in Africa and for immigrant learners in the UK and Europe. In the course of his research, Leon has worked closely with education policy makers and educators to implement evidence-based practice in schools. His understanding of educational quality addresses issues of inclusion as well as social justice. Leon is currently writing a book on quality education and sustainable development.

UNESCO Chair Charles Hopkins, York University, Toronto/Canada

Charles Hopkins holds the UNESCO Chair on Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability, focusing upon the development of an international network of teacher preparation institutions collaboratively working on the reorientation of teacher education to address sustainable development. Hopkins is also a senior advisor to UNESCO’s Transdisciplinary Project, Educating for a Sustainable Future and the Chair of the Education for Sustainable Development Working Group of UNESCO Canada’s Man and the Biosphere Committee (MAB). In addition, he is the executive director of the John Dearness Environmental Society and an advisor to Environment Canada’s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN).

Dr. Susanne Müller-Using, Osnabrück University, Germany

Dr. Susanne Müller-Using is scientific director of the interdisciplinary research cluster Costa Rica Center and speaker for the research group Values and Human Rights Education at Osnabrück University. From 2004 on she works as scientific collaborator at the Educational Institute at the Osnabrück University, taking part in several intercultural and comparative research projects in early childhood and school education. Her research focus is on comparative education research, especially on teacher education, ethics and human rights education, empathy and intercultural competencies of teachers, individual pupil encouragement and creativity, school quality development. Susanne is Executive Committee member of the Learning Teacher Network.

The next issue of the Learning Teacher Magazine will be published in December 2017. Articles may be submitted no later than November 15 2017

* to strengthen education and learn-ing in all agendas, programs and activities that promote sustainable development.

The Learning Teacher Network is an official UNESCO GAP Key Partner on the capacity building of educators and trainers (GAP, Priority Action Area 3).

The Sustainable Development Goal number 4 “Quality Education” - with-in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportuni-ties for all.

Dr. Susanne Müller-UsingOsnabrück University Executive Committee LTN member & leader of the ESD Seminar organiza-tional team

Keynotes

20 THE LEARNING TEACHER MAGAZINE 3/2017

International LTN GAP Seminar “Immigration and Good Quality Education”

Palermo April 26 – 29 2018

Full Conference information on:http://www.learningteacher.eu/palermo-conference-2017

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