Teacher Training: Individual Pupil Mobility and recognition of its learning outcomes – focus on intercultural competence

18 October 2024
Teacher training

Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Dates: 20/03/2025 – 23/03/2025

Duration: 3 days of training course + 1 travel day

Language: English

Participation Fee: 700€

This training course complies with the Quality standards for courses which can be funded through Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (learning mobility of individuals). Institutions in possession of such Erasmus+ grants may use their funding to cover the participation fee for the training course.

What is the training about?

More than 60.000 secondary school students enrol in a long-term Individual Pupil Mobility (IPM) every year through different programmes and providers, and since 2021 the EU has made this activity one of its flagship actions within the new Erasmus+ programme.

However, the majority of secondary education institutions miss the opportunity to foster IPM as transformative experience for the pupil, and a key driver of internationalisation of schools. One of the main causes is the lack of recognition of learning outcomes of IPM in the majority of EU countries and lack of assessment of the intercultural and other transversal competences by pupils during their period abroad.

In November 2018, EU Member states adopted the Council recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad, in view of the creation of an European Education Area by 2025.

Automatic recognition is centred around the principle that curricula of the sending and host countries are ‘broadly in line’, and acknowledges that the learning outcomes of mobility include not only subject-based but also transversal competences. More so, since subject-based competences may be seen as specific to each country’s context, the development of transversal competences in learning mobility can be assessed despite differences between national curricula.

To better promote IPM and apply the Council recommendation in the field of recognition of the outcomes of learning periods abroad during upper secondary education, the European Commission entrusted a consortium composed by the European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL – organiser of this training), the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (EIESP) and the European Centre of Studies and Initiatives (CESIE) to coordinate the work of an Expert Network on this topic. This Expert Network has developed concrete tools that will eventually lead to a real automatic recognition Europe-wide. One of the tools is the Training Model for education professionals on Assessment of Transversal Competences developed in long-term individual pupil mobility on which this training is based, and the Intercultura Assessment Protocol. Both tools are now being piloted within the project ‘Empowering Teachers for Automatic Recognition’. Learn more at pupilmobility.eu .

The aim of the training is to prepare and support schools in promoting Individual Pupil Mobility – through Erasmus+ and other programmes – and in designing learning agreements which foster automatic recognition of pupils’ learning outcomes. Teachers and relevant staff will learn how to capitalise on IPM experiences for internationalisation in a whole school approach and improve their ability to formulate and assess intended learning outcomes in terms of competences, which will support them in finding alignments between curricula. On top of that, teachers will also discover ways to apply non-formal education methods within individual pupil mobility programmes to foster the development of transversal competences, notably intercultural learning.

What are the training objectives?

Getting to know the specificities of Individual Pupil Mobility and its main learning outcomes
Know how to design a feasible and relevant Learning Agreement for Individual Pupil Mobility
Try out tools for assessment of transversal competences developed within individual pupil mobility, notably the Intercultura Assessment Protocol
Get inspired on non-formal education activities which will form part of Individual Pupil Mobility
Exchange good practices with teachers from all over Europe

Teaching methods

The training course will include both theoretical and practical elements to provide a well-rounded experience for the participants. The theoretical part will comprise presentations that will lean on relevant academic research in the field as well as pertinent case studies. The practical part will prevail and will cover various kinds of activities, such as team building, discussions, quizzes, games, working in small groups or daily reflections/evaluations. Non-formal education will be the main methodological instrument to guide the different sessions, which will, among other things, include experiential learning, group activities and learning by doing. Participants will have the chance to meet former participants of Individual Pupil Mobility programmes and explore the development of their transversal competences. Last but not least, emphasis will be placed on sharing best practices with other participants.

Whenever relevant, participants will be given checklists, activity toolboxes or other tools to continue their learning experience and be able to practically implement their course findings at their institution.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the training, you will be able to:

Understand the context of long-term individual pupil mobility, including relevant programmes, European and national legislation
Develop openness and positive attitudes towards internationalisation of schools, long-term individual pupil mobility and its pedagogical value
Become familiar with existing resources linked to assessment of learning outcomes of individual pupil mobility
Know how to design a feasible learning agreement with realistic learning outcomes
Become aware of the existing transversal and especially intercultural competence frameworks
Plan non-formal activities which will contribute to the overall impact of a mobility abroad

Who should join

Teachers from secondary schools
School heads from secondary schools
School counsellors/Career advisors
Any educational staff working within intercultural learning and/or learning mobility
Administrative officers in charge of learning recognition

Participation fee

Includes:

Course fee
Course material
Accommodation in a hotel for 3 nights
Meals – full board (3 meals, 2 coffee breaks)
Local transport
Social programme
Certificate of participation and Europass Mobility

Doesn’t include:

International travel
Local transfer to/from the venue from/to the airport/train station
Participants’ insurance

Agenda

Day 1 (half day/afternoon session) – An introduction to IPM

Welcome and Ice Breaking activities
An introduction to long-term individual pupil mobility: programmes and pedagogical value
Long-term individual pupil mobility in a whole school approach to internationalisation
End-of-day reflection

Day 2 – Transversal competences

Assessment and recognition of transversal competences within individual pupil mobility
Existing tools for transversal and intercultural competence assessment
National specifics/legislation on recognition of learning periods abroad
End-of-day reflection

Day 3 – Planning a meaningful educational journey

The Learning agreement, introduction
Roles and responsibilities within the Learning agreement
Designing a feasible and relevant Learning Agreement
Using Europass for mobility
End-of-day reflection

Day 4 (half day/morning session) – Non-formal education activities as part of mobility experience

Group work on drafting Learning agreements + feedback
Final evaluation of the training course

About the hosting organisation:

The European Federation of Intercultural Learning (EFIL) is the European umbrella of the 24 AFS organisations in Europe, which promote the development of intercultural competence through individual pupil mobility and volunteerism since the 1950s. Today, AFS is the second biggest secondary school exchange programme provider globally with a network of 500.000+ alumni. In 2022, AFS organisations around the world sent and hosted almost 24000 young people in 98 countries, and formed 15.500 + school alliances.

EFIL pursues the AFS mission within the European context, and is a key partner of the European Union and the Council of Europe on matters related to intercultural learning, pupil mobility and recognition of outcomes of learning periods abroad. Providing intercultural learning opportunities to all young people is the main objective, therefore EFIL supports its members in developing partnerships with schools for internationalisation through mobility and non-formal education opportunities. For this purpose, EFIL organises international teacher trainings delivered by its European Pool of Trainers.

For questions, contact emma.varan.oien@afs.org