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CONTEXT
In October 2000 the Standing Conference of European
Ministers of Education adopted a resolution recommending that the governments
of member states, in harmony with their education policies, implement
or create conditions favourable for the implementation and
wide use of the ELP.
Development and implementation activities of various
types have since been reported from 32 member states.
The numbers of learners so far equipped with an ELP
can be estimated at some 700,000.
Six implementation projects with a target population
of over 10,000 and nine with over 5,000 learners each are being conducted
at present. There are plans to increase these numbers to eight and twelve
respectively in the academic year 2003-2004 and to nearly double the number
of learners involved.
Specific skills are needed to gain and maintain motivation
and commitment of all those involved and to secure mid- and long-term
support and finance, to maintain a process stretching over years, to monitor
and evaluate impact, benefits, costs and to organise and disseminate feedback.
The necessary professional skills go well beyond those traditionally associated
with, and demanded from, project coordinators in the educational field.
Practical expertise and experience are being gained
and are building up among leaders of implementation projects. A platform
for leaders of implementation projects is needed:
- to explore and develop concepts, strategies and feasible
solutions;
- to consider success criteria and to assess project
outcomes.
The project team intends to report at regular intervals
so that the progress of the work and the findings can feed into the overall
work of the Council of Europe on the ELP, coordinated by the LPD. The
final report will be drawn up in consultation with the LPD, submitted
to the European Validation Committee and published jointly by the ECML
and the LPD.
Exchange of information and coherence between this project and the project
on "Training teacher trainers for the use of the ELP" will be
facilitated by the fact that Dick Mijer (NL) is member of both project
groups.
AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES ______________________________
General
aims
Gather and exchange information on experience
in order to provide support for the day-to-day management of ELP implementation
projects on an operational level.
Specific
objectives
-
To gather and analyse information on experience and issues in day-to-day
management of ELP implementation projects;
- to
elaborate sets of planning, monitoring and feedback tools;
- to
test and enrich the planning, monitoring and feedback tools;
- to
initiate a cascading process by making these tools available to project
managers
- to
facilitate and support ELP implementation projects;
- to
disseminate information, expertise and experience in support of ongoing
and future projects.
EXPECTED
OUTCOMES ______________________________
- A shared understanding of
the complexity of the ELP implementation processes;
- examples of well structured monitoring and feedback
plans with proposals for success criteria;
- sets of planning, monitoring and feedback tools via
the LPD website and on CD-ROM available to people responsible for ongoing
and future ELP implementation projects;
- a core group of experienced
experts able to advise the leaders of other ELP implementation projects;
- a number of trained people carrying responsibilities
or preparing to take on responsibilities for the planning, monitoring
and reporting of regional (e.g. provinces, Kantone, Bundesländer),
institutional (e.g. language institutes, universities) or eventually
national implementation projects on an operational level. In addition
to their educational background, these people carry out management tasks
and are often involved in wide-range school development projects.
ACTION
PLAN _____________________ ________________
2004
January to March
Preparation of the first meeting of the project team:
- pilot
version of an information grid in order to obtain structured information
- the
members of the project team test the information grid by presenting
their own projects with the help of it
5-6 March
meeting of the project team in order to
- set the scene and the timeframe
- discuss the grid and the information given by each
member
- agree on further information to be collected and
pooled
- discuss the collaborative working space
- identify the extra experts to be invited in the following
meeting.
The extra experts should be responsible for the planning,
monitoring and reporting on major implementation projects (with important
target population in several school sectors) on an operational level.
They should be prepared to describe and document their project using the
common reporting elements (ie grid) under development by the project team.
March to September
Preparation of the next meeting:
- preparation of the concepts, plans and draft tools
by the project team
- testing of the collaborative working space
- the extra experts prepare the information on their
own project by using the information grid
- compilation of the information by the co-ordinator
and feedback to the project team
24-25 September
Meeting of the project team plus 4 extra experts in order to:
- Present and discuss the information given by the
extra experts
- Present and discuss concepts, plans and draft tools
to be developed
- Present and discuss elements that could/ should be
provided by the LPD website in the end of the project
- Encourage further co-operation with the project team
30 September-2 October
Progress report at the annual ELP seminar of the Language Policy
Division.
October to December
Working on the concepts, plans and tools by the members of the project
team.
Preparation of the web-platform.
Testing of the tools by the extra experts (the same as above). Feedback
to the project team.
2005
25-26 February
Meeting of the project team in order to:
- analyse information collected, select information
to be pooled
- discuss drafts of planning, monitoring and feedback
tools
- discuss a structured monitoring and feedback plan
- trial run of the web-based information platform and
formalisation of the
mechanism for on-going information collection and selection
- planning further work.
March to August
Work on the concepts, plans and tools by the members of the project team.
9-10 September
Meeting of the project team plus 4 extra experts in order to:
- present the work in progress and discuss the challenges
encountered so far
- finalise the planning, monitoring and feedback tools
- finalise a common monitoring and feedback plan
- planning further work.
30 September
Progress report at the annual ELP seminar of the Language Policy Division.
October - December
Testing the common monitoring and feedback plan by the extra experts. Support by members of the project team.
2006
January - March
Testing the common monitoring and feedback plan by the extra experts. Support by members of the project team.
31 March – 1 April
Meeting of the project team plus 4 extra experts in order to:
- present the work in progress and discuss the challenges encountered so far
- feedback on the use of the planning, monitoring and feedback tools
- adoption of the web-based information platform,
April - August
Using of the planning, monitoring and feedback tools. Collecting and compiling information related to implementation issues by the project team.
September/October
Progress report at the annual ELP seminar of the Language Policy Division.
6-7 October
Meeting of the project team in order to:
- feedback on the on-going information collection and selection process,
- feedback on the use of the planning, monitoring and feedback tools,
- present and discuss of an outline final project report,
- preparation of the central workshop.
October - December
Working on the final products and project report and preparation of central workshop by the project team.
2007
January to March
Working on the final products and project report.
29– 31 March
3-day ECML workshop
Overall workshop aims
The purpose of this workshop is to familiarise participants with various strategies for implementing the ELP within their own jurisdictions. The workshop will help partici-pants to establish a network of colleagues for ongoing dialogue after the workshop.
Specific workshop objectives
The participants will:
- identify individual needs in relation to implementation
- focus on key issues of implementation
- examine examples of implementation, identifying elements of relevance to their own practice
- reflect on their own experiences of implementation
- develop an action plan taking account of their own circumstances
- test the tools developed by IMPEL
Participants profile:
The participants carry (or are preparing to take on) responsibility for the planning, monitoring and/or reporting of ELP implementation projects on operational level.
The following persons would not be suitable for selection
- those involved only at classroom level,
- contact persons without direct involvement in the implementation process,
- policy-makers/developers without direct involvement in the implementation process.
19-20 April
Meeting of the project team to finalise
- the planning, monitoring and feedback tools
- the data for the web-site platform
- the project report
Summer
Publication ofCD-Rom and presentation for the web-site platform.
October
Presentation and discussion at the annual ELP seminar of the Language Policy Division.
LANGUAGES
The working languages of the project are English and French. Simultaneous
interpretation will be provided for the central workshop only. The participants
in group work may agree to use other languages, though interpretation
will not be provided.
All reports and tools will be submitted
in English or French. The project team will endeavour, as far as possible,
also to collect and make available information and expertise reported
in other languages than English and French.
The project team comprises native speakers
of Dutch, English, German and Italian.
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