News and Events

2013 

KeyCoNet Project Video Now Available

A video aout the KeyCoNet project (more information under 'Projects' ) is now available at the following site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xej5SHqvf18

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children from disadvantaged backgrounds: Findings from a European literature review and two case studies.

This report, in which the EIESP was involved, with the literature review, case studies and policy brief, can now be downloaded from the site of DG EAC: http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/reports-and-studies_en.htm
For more information see project fiche in this site:

http://www.eiesp.org/site/pages/view/97-early-childhood-education-and-care-ecec-in-promoting-educational-attainment-including-social-development-of-children-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-and-in-fostering-social-inclusion.html

EU Presidency Conference in Dublin (18-19 February 2013) on the Professional Identity of Teacher Educators

This was an Irish Presidency event focusing on the characteristics of and main challenges provided by the broad range of actors who play a role in initial teacher education, as well as the continuing professional development of teachers. The conference was opened by the Ministers of Education of the Republic of Ireland and of Northern Ireland, as well as by the Deputy Director-General of DG Education and Culture of the European Commission.

Alain Michel was the general rapporteur for the conference and participated in the final panel with Professors John Coolahan and Ciaran Surgrue (Ireland), Kay Livingston (Scotland) and Kari Smith (Norway.

You can find conference documentation and the report on:
www.teachingcouncil.ie/teacher-education/eu-presidency-conference-2013.1587.html

First Meeting of the Transatlantic Forum for Inclusive Early Years - January 

The King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium) has brought together a consortium of European and North American foundations to support the Transatlantic Forum for Inclusive Early Years. UEF is a member of this consortium. The Forum will meet twice a year over the next 3 years bringing together high level policy-makers, experts and practitioners from different European countries and the USA. Forum participants will explore policies and projects supporting the early childhood development of children from migrant and low-income families. The first meeting of the Forum took place in Ghent from the 21st to 23rd January. Jean Gordon participated with Daniel Kropf on behalf of UEF.

The early years are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional, linguistic and social development. During these early years, development outcomes differ for children from middle- to high-income families and those from low-income families, and the gap widens as time progresses. Early childhood development and quality interventions give children, regardless of family income, an opportunity to reach their full potential.  For more information: http://www.kbsfrb.be/otheractivity.aspx?id=293963&langtype=1033

2012

The Passing of George Papadopoulos, December 

We were sad to learn of the death of George Papadopoulos, a long-time friend of the EIESP, who died at the end of December at the age of 87. For many years George was the Director of Education at OECD and after his retirement he chaired the Scientific Advisory Board of the EIESP in the early nineties and then Chaired the Editorial Board the European Journal of Education from 2001 to 2005.

Professor Roberto Carneiro, the Chair of the Editorial Board wrote: "I feel devastated and shocked by this sad news. Moreover, I share a sense of loss and orphanhood in this sudden departure of a genuinely wise Mediterranean. We are all indebted to him for his permanent display of a remarkable spirit of service and for his inherent kindness. George has always made me feel a novice next to his encyclopaedic knowledge combined with a towering gentlemanship. A man of values and convictions he fought valiantly for ideals. And he pursued his combats in a manner that only the very few elected and gifted did: Not through forceful reasonings nor invoking arguments of authority; but using the art of asserting his ideas gently, even humbly, however eloquently. George will always be part of the most rewarding sections of my album of memories. He managed a magical mix of intellectual finesse and human wealth. All in all, I consider George to be the epitome of the full-fledge educator. In this respect he behaved well in line with his Greek ancestors, the first body of professional educators, the Sophists."

Participatory Citizenship in the European Union:

Two dissemination meetings were organised by Dr. Bryony Hoskins (the project leader) in London and Southampton on the 6th and 7th December. They were a very interesting conclusion to the European research on participatory citizenship in the EU, in which the EIESP participated. Professor Antoine Bevort (CNAM), who undertook this work for the EIESP, was invited to make a presentation during these meetings and sent this summary:

"A debate was organised in the British Parliament on the 6th December and a seminar in Southampton University the following day on the theme of the effects of austerity policies on active citizenship. They provided opportunities for very informative and stimulating presentations and discussion. I found the presentation of the British situation particularly interesting and also the Danish and Swedish examples. All the cases presented highlighted in a very relevant way how political tensions across Europe are aggravated by austerity policies. In the majority of European countries, the notion of "austerity politics" has become much more common than in France where we prefer to talk about "rigour" in a rather euphemistic and technocratic manner. Click here and here for the presentation. 

Seminars at CIEP Sèvres

On 15 November 2012, Alain Michel participated in an International seminar (including an important Chinese delegation) at the Centre International d'Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP) de Sèvres about the evaluation of schools organised by the Directorate for Evaluation, Performance and Foresight of the French Ministry of Education.

On 21 November he participated to another seminar at CIEP organised by the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates (SICI) on "Teacher performance assessment in a context of change and innovation". Among the participants: Isobel Mc Gregor and Graham Donaldson (Scotland) who have been associated to the activities of EIESP and members of inspectorates of the Czech Republic, England (OFSTED), Estonia, the Netherlands, Scotland and Sweden.

Participation in KeyCoNet Meeting and Peer Learning Visit

L4WB Participation at ISSA-DECET Conference

On October 15-17 Jean Gordon attended- with Daniel Kropf and Linda O'Toole of UEF- the conferece Co-constructing Professional Learning: Pathways towards Quality, Equity and Respect for Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Care. The conference organised by ISSA-DECET and the Open Academy Step by Step Croatia, was held in Opatija, Croatia. For more information please click here.  

L4WB Participation at DG Sanco & EAC Workshop on Mental & Health & Social-Emotional Learning

LADISLAV ČERYCH

The final reports for the Participatory Citizenship in the EU project

February - Learning for Well-being: A Policy Priority for Children and Young People in Europe - Policy Glossary Conference (27 February in Brussels)

The Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations in Europe successfully launched ‘Learning for Well-being; A Policy Priority for Children & Youth in Europe. A process for change.' on 27 February 2012 during a conference in Brussels in the Palais des Academies in front of 150 participants from a range of organizations (foundations, NGOs, research, government, EU, European Parliament, OECD, etc.) and from various fields and policy sectors (education, youth, social welfare, health, etc.). Please click here to read more about the launch and to download the policy glossary.

2011

January - New Elected Chair of EIESP

The EIESP is pleased to announce that at the Board meeting on the 20th January 2012, Jean-Claude Ruano-Borbalan was elected as the new Chair of the institute, Michèle Sellier and Luce Pépin as Vice Chairs; Jacques Bessières as Treasurer and Alain Michel as Scientific Advisor.

 

Raymond Georis, A Quiet European Gardner

 

 

Active citizenship in the European Union

The EIESP is participating to the project “Active Citizenship in the E.U.” as member of a consortium, coordinated by the Institute of Education (Llakes Centre) of the University of London, The consortium coordinated by Bryony Hoskins (Llakes Centre) includes also the U.K. National Foundation for Research in Education (NFER) and 5 universities of 5 European countries: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Slovenia. Alain Michel will participate in the kick-off meeting in London on June 20th 2011. The study aims at clarifying the concept of active citizenship and its perception among the member States, describing what is actually happening in each country, analysing the favourable factors and he obstacles, singling out interesting innovations and good practice, and formulating recommendations to enhance active citizenship at European, national, regional and local level. On behalf of EIEPS will participate to this project: Gloria Arjomand, Antoine Bevort (professor CNAM), Jean Gordon, Alain Michel, Michèle Sellier and Diane Michel (during her internship).

Education and training in France in 2025

EIESP is participating in a foresight study about education and training in France in 2025 coordinated by Futuribles International. EIESP is bringing in the European context and comparative perspective. Alain Michel gave two lectures on this topic at two 1-day seminars at Futuribles in May 2011. For EIESP, Jean Gordon, Janet Looney and Diane Michel also participate in this project.

 

Learning for Well-being: A Policy Priority for Children and Young People in Europe - A Consultation

The Challenges of Education Systems in Multicultural Societies

Study on policy measures to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession in Europe

2010

Key competences in Bosnia and Herzegovina

DISCO II: a multi-lingual thesaurus of skills and competencies

Learning for Well-being Policy Glossary

Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage

This Belgian Presidency conference held in Ghent from the 27th to 29th September aimed to put European, national and regional policy and models of good practice under the spotlight with a view to promoting equality and inclusion across all levels of education (preschool, compulsory, higher and adult education). Jean Gordon was invited to chair a workshop session on "Pupils at risk of social exclusion: overcoming school failure and reducing school drop out".

More information can be found on the conference website: www.eutrio.be/breaking-cycle-disadvantage-social-inclusion-and-through-education

 

European Foundation Centre Annual Conference

From the 31st May to 4th June EFC (www.efc.be ) organised the first ever Foundation Week which included Open Days that showcased the work of foundations and offered free admission to a variety of debates on issues that affect the lives of citizens across Europe and globally as well as the annual conference. The Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations in Europe joined forces with the EFC Children and Youth Funders Group and Eurochild to organize a full-day event on the 1st June dedicated to children and youth, celebrating international children’s day. It consisted of three consecutive sessions focusing on different aspects of children’s rights, participation and learning for well-being. As well as debates, there was a networking lunch where foundations could showcase their work with children and youth. As Secretariat to the Consortium, Jean Gordon and Gloria Arjomand organized and participated in the Consortium session which was attended by about 45 representatives of foundations and their partners, government, NGOs and researchers. You can find a report on the session on the Learning for Well-being Consortium page.

Romania - higher education foresight

On June 2nd 2010, Alain Michel participated in a seminar on the future of higher education in Bucharest, organised by the Romanian authorities. It is the third seminar of this activity, financed by the European Commission, in which EIESP is participating since October 2009

Capacity-building for education reform - Turkey

On May 28th and 29th, Alain Michel gave a lecture in Ankara at the final conference of the European project on ‘Capacity-building for educational reform’ organised by the Turkish Ministry of Education. This was the 4th lecture given by Alain Michel during this project. The others were: in Istanbul in June 2009 and in Paris in October 2009 and in March 2010 when EIESP organised with SOFRECO a study visit to Paris for senior civil servants from the Turkish Ministry of Education.

People to People Programme - seminar in Sarajevo

On the 18th and 19th May, the People to People programme of DG Enlargement organised a seminar for civil society organizations and education stakeholders in Sarajevo on Education in a multicultural society. Jean Gordon gave an overview presentation: ‘Key competences for Education in a multicultural society’.

More information is available on the website of TAIEX: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex/p2p/index_en.htm

Future of higher education

Alain Michel participated in an international seminar in Paris on May 7th on the future of higher education organised by the Foundation Leopold Mayer.

EU Thematic Forum on School-Business Cooperation

DG Education and Culture organised the first EU Thematic Forum on School-Business Cooperation on the 24th and 25th March. Jean Gordon was invited to participate in a panel discussion on Transversal Competences.

Seminar on foresight - Brussels

Alain Michel participated in a seminar on foresight organised in Brussels on March 12th 2010 (second one after the seminar organised in Brussels in September 2009).

University of Creteil - lecture for school principals and teachers

Alain Michel gave a lecture at the University of Creteil on March 9th for about 45 principals and teachers coming from about 23 countries on the salient features of the French education system and the main ongoing reforms.

2009

Participation in the Council of Europe’s ‘Building a Europe for and with Children’ – December 2009:

A consultative roundtable was organised by the Council of Europe on children’s participation in the framework of their project, “Building a Europe for and with Children” in Helsinki in December 2009. Daniel Kropf and Jean Gordon attended for UEF. This roundtable discussion aimed at introducing the Roadmap 2000 – 2011 for Council of Europe actions on participation of children and young people under the age of 18, and in particular to exchange information on good practices and to seek advice and input from stakeholders for future actions on participation.

European Training Foundation symposium

Alain Michel participated in a European symposium held at the European Training Foundation in Torino (Italia) on November 10th on 'Education and training for Change, Sustainability and Social Gain'. It was organsied in the framework of the issue of the European Journal of Education guest edited by ETF on this subject, which was published in June 2010. Alain represented the editorial board of the journal.

European Training Foundation - seminar in Albania

Alain Michel participated in a seminar on October 28th and 29th in Tirana (Albania) organised by the European Training Foundation on short higher technological education.

The 6th Annual Eurochild conference:

The 6th Annual conference organised by Eurochild was held in Cyprus from 11-13 November 2009 and was entitled ‘Monitoring child well-being: better policy and practice’. Daniel Kropf and Jean Gordon participated for UEF and were invited to make a presentation ‘Engaging Children and Young People in Shaping their Learning Environments’. This conference was an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how indicators are being used in policy development at national and regional levels in advocating for children’s rights and well-being, as well as in improving practice and setting standards in service delivery to families and children. A key question for the conference was how indicators are being informed by children and young people themselves.

Child Well-being Expert Consultation organised by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, OECD and the European Commission:

Jean Gordon participated with Daniel Kropf, representing Universal Education Foundation, in the OECD/EU/Innocenti Centre consultation meeting on data for monitoring child well-being in late May 2009. There were about 50 participants from major international organizations and a number of representatives from OECD and partner countries. The purpose of the consultation was to develop a shared understanding of a set of data that countries should monitor in order to inform policies for children’s well-being.