A4 Together with parents

Socrates programme, Comenius Action 2, DG Education and Culture

1. Aims and objectives

1. To prepare and carry out actions to inform occupational parents about the educational possibilities for their children and to encourage and motivate them with regard to their children’s education.
   
2. To bring the interests of travelling parents to the notice of parents’ associations of regular schools involved in the education of travelling children in order to make them aware of the specific problems travelling children experience with regard to their education and to promote (indirectly) mutual understanding between travelling and non-travelling parents (via member associations of the European Parents’ Association [EPA] and the Organisation Européenne-Groupements International des Associations de Parents d’élèves de l’Enseignement Catholique [OE-GIAPEC] in the Member States involved).
   
3. To explore and share good practice in efforts to involve parents in the learning process itself. Very often when planning ODL schools seem to focus on the child, supporting the learner and giving the parent a background role. There is evidence that more active mentoring roles are successful, and this objective is part of an effort to explore possible changes in traditional approaches. Within these changes the teacher-parent relationship becomes much closer to a partnership, and becomes much more central to the planning and supporting distance learning.
   

2. Planned activities

To 1:

1. Organisation of info-meetings for occupational parents in the Member States involved in order to inform them about the EU-institutions, the educational programmes of the EU and tools developed for them in the frame of Socrates, Comenius Action 2. Besides providing them with information, their needs and expectations regarding education and training will be discussed and analysed. Furthermore information on and examples of models of school provision in other Member States will be exchanged. In Frankfurt (DE) we will organise a European seminar on pre-school provisions and exchange information regarding good practices in this field. For this purpose, experts (practicioners) from other Member States will be invited.
   
2. As from September 00, the booklets ‘Schule unterwegs. Anschriftenverzeichnis für beruflich reisende Eltern’ and le ‘livret pour la scolarisation des enfants de forains’ will be disseminated. This dissemination will be continued during the info-meetings.
   
3. The Steering Group responsible for the ‘livret pour la scolarisation des enfants de forains’ will evaluate the booklet by contacting families in the field. Afterwards they will have a meeting to discuss the outcomes of their contacts in the field.
   

To 2:

1. In collaboration with the European Parents’ Association (EPA) and the Organisation (OE-GIAPEC), initiatives with regard to objective 2 will be taken. (organise, for instance, a meeting in Norway or France to which travelling and sedentary parents are invited.)
   

To 3:

1. The exchange of experiences between a small number of partners who work with Traveller children and have actively focused on work/involvement with parents. The intention is to look at different ‘realistic’ approaches to involving parents in the learning process in traditional supported distance learning settings and in telematic settings. This exchange will be supplemented by expert input from the University of Sheffield, who have explored the role of parents as mentors in the context of inner-city literacy for young learners
   

3. Expected outcomes

• Report of the kick-off (incl. detailed work and task division plan)
  To objective 1
  
• Report on the different info-meetings
  
• Evaluation report regarding the booklet ‘livret pour la scolarisation des enfants de forains’
  To objective 2
  
• Report on the consultations with the European Parental Organisations
  To objective 3
  
• Report of 2 meetings with regard to objective 3
  
• A short practical report (aimed at schools, support services and policy makers) containing recommendations based on good successful practice and raising some of the key issues in this area
  
• A set of recommendations for more detailed investigation by EFECOT (for the future)
  
• A report describing the process and outcomes, including theoretical input for the University
  
  

4. Target groups that will benefit

Travelling families, and particularly children, will, in the end, be the real beneficiaries.
The recommendations should help schools, services and policy makers to plan for realistic, and hopefully effective, ways of involving parents in the supportive/mentoring role. They should also highlight the critical importance of this role with young learners, and the need to plan this involvement systematically and to include parents in the planning process.

5. Expected impact on the education of the addressed target group

See 4

6. Project Methodology

The Steering Group will consist of 5 persons. There will be 3 Steering Group meetings: at the start of the project, in January (follow-up different actions) and in June (final project meeting). Further communication will take place via phone, fax and the Internet.

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