-er navnet på et EU-finansiert Comenius-prosjekt, som vi har hatt sammen med partnere i England, Sverige og Spania. Formålet med prosjektet var å finne ut hvordan vi kan vurdere barns læring, uten bruk av tester. Vi ville prøve ut forskjellige metoder, og håpet at dette skulle resultere i en internasjonal idébank, fylt opp av nyttige og sikre måter å vurdere hvordan barn lærer best.
Partnerne
I England er det to partnere. Den ene er Fortune Park, som er en barnehage i hjertet av London, den andre er en barnehage/skole i utkanten av London. Disse er også initiativtakere og koordinator for prosjektet. I Spania er partneren en tospråklig skole der barna har flere engelske lærere, og barna har engelskopplæring fra treårsalderen. I Sverige er partneren en to-avdelings barnehage med ca 35 barn, i alderen 0-5 år.
Hva har skjedd?
Tilsammen i prosjektet har vi hatt fem møter. Et forberedende møte i Kopervik, Norge, der representanter for partnerne i Norge og England laget grovskisse over innholdet i prosjektet og skrev søknad. Det neste møtet fant sted i London, England. Dette var et kick-off møte, der alle partnerne var til stede. Her la vi mer detaljerte planer og tidsrammer for innhold og aktiviteter i det kommende året. 
Her i Rusvik Naturbarnehage startet vi med å gjøre oss kjent med Howard Gardner sine teorier om mange intelligenser. Vi utarbeidet et omfattende observasjonssystem, som vi ville bruke til å kartlegge våre barn i forhold til de mange intelligenser. I tillegg til dette har vi hatt et felles samfunnsfagprosjekt som handlet om "meg og hvor jeg bor". Vi begynte med en busstur rundt til alle barna sitt hus. Det ble tatt bilder av alle husene, det ble laget kart og veier, hus ble tegnet og laget, vi besøkte andre "hus" i nærmiljøet som bibliotek, butikk, politistasjon, brotårn og kirke. De minste laget modeller av sin egen familie. Dette ble alt gjort med tanke på at vi skulle evaluere hva og hvordan barn lærer.
Neste møte fant sted i Skutskar, Sverige, i midten av mars 2004. Også der var alle partnerne tilstede. På dagsordenen stod evaluering av hva vi har gjort så langt, og planlegging av aktiviteter og utvekslinger for resten av dette barnehageåret og neste barnehageår. En oppsummering av hva vi presenterte for hverandre og hva vi planla videre kan leses her.
Det neste skritt for oss var lærerutvekslinger. Rusvik Naturbarnehage sendte i månedskiftet mai/juni 2004 to av pedagogene på utveksling til henholdsvis Spania og England. De ble godt mottatt og fikk god anledning til å studere nærmere hvordan de engelske og spanske pedagogene driver med vurderingsarbeid i sine skoler. Vi fikk også selv besøk av en lærer fra Sverige. I tillegg besøkte en svensk lærer England, også det i juni 2004.
Vi søkte om å få utvide prosjektet med et barnehageår slik at vi kunne fortsette til sommeren 2005. Den ene av de engelske partnerne trakk seg, men vi andre fikk støtte av EU-kontoret til å fortsette.
Det førte til at vi hadde planleggingsmøte nr. fire i Gijon i Spania i november 2005. I tillegg til at vi hadde mye moro og fikk se mye fint fikk vi også besøkt vår partnerskole og evaluert det vi har jobbet med så langt.
Vi avsluttet prosjektsamarbeidet sommeren 2005. Men før det utvekslet vi lærere med den svenske samarbeidspartneren, og hadde felles sluttmøte med partnerne her på Karmøy. Her oppsummerte vi hva vi hadde gjort og lært, og hva de forskjellige partnerne eventuelt ville jobbe videre med. Det ble også bestemt at vår koordinator skulle ha ansvar for at det ble laget en nettside med erfaringer, rapporter og tips fra de involverte.
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| Ettertenksomme gjester fra Spania, England og... | ...Sverige... |
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| ....lytter til.... | ...presentasjon av engelske Profile Books |
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| Etterpå blir det tid til omvisning... | ...og mat |
I Rusvik Naturbarnehage sitter vi igjen med litt blandede erfaringer etter prosjektsamarbeidet. Samarbeidet på tvers av landegrensene gikk fint når vi hadde møter og utvekslinger, og da hadde vi lærerike diskusjoner og utvekslinger av erfaringer og materiale. Men det var vanskelig å holde på kontakten mellom hver gang vi møttes.
Internt har vi lært mye om Mange Intelligenser og læringsstiler, observasjonsmateriale og profilbøker. Dette har vi satt i system og det er for oss blitt en måte å jobbe på som vil fortsette uavhengig om vi er med i et prosjekt eller ikke.
Bilder fra møte i Gijon, Spania
Tenke, tenke... Alle møtedeltakerne
Glimt fra Gijon Kastanjefest...
Adresser til våre partnerbarnehager:
England:
Caron Rudge,Fortune Park Children’s Centre,86 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0QTTes:020 7638 1272 Fax: 020 7628 0261 email: Caron.Rudge@islington.gov.uk
Sue Cook. Professional Development Centre, George Spicer Site, Sketty Road, Enfield EN1 1YF Greater London
Tel: 020 8351 5277 Fax: 020 8367 8626 email: sue.cook@enfieldpdc.org.uk
Spania:
Sara Prendes Fernandez and Rosa Martinez, Collegio Camino Fabrica de Loza s/n,cp 33212Tel: 00 34985 323644 Fax: 00 34985 323644 email: atalia@educastur.princast.es
Sverige:
Maria Perlefelt-Ostlund and Ann-Margaret Sandstrom, Bryggens Forskola, Group Sjöstjernan, Teggatan 10, 814 40 SKUTSKÄKT
Tel: +46 (0) 26 83060
Fax: +46 (0) 26 76973
Email: Marita.perlefelt-ostlund@fcedu.alvkarleby.se
Ann-margaret.sandstrom@fcedu.alvkarleby.se
Vi ber partnerne ta kontakt med oss dersom dere finner feil i informasjonen her.
Referat fra prosjektmøtet i Sverige, mars 2004:
Minutes of Project meeting, Alvkarleby, Sweden
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The meeting was held after the project partners had spent the day visiting Marita’s and Annie’s pre-schools and the school to which they are attached. Marita spoke about their pre-schools and the history of pre-schools in Sweden. She had previously emailed us a newsletter about the autumn term in Sjostjarnan Bryggans pre-school in which she explained this in more detail.
The project partners shared the work which they had contributed to the project to date.
Spain
Rosa, Sara and Jose shared the work they had done with the children around the story of Ferdinand the Bull. This was for Peace Day.
Rosa brought books for the project partners to share.
Rosa also spoke about the booklet which she is producing with her colleague to assess children’s progress in the English language. Everyone was interested to hear about this and it will be emailed to project partners.
Fortune Park
Caron spoke of the significance of this visit as it has ‘brought the project to life’.
The team will use the internet to exchange information and materials – emailing has been problematic but should improve and they expect to have a website quite soon.
During the Autumn Term:
the keyworker groups worked on the theme of ‘Me and my family’ and this was done through the children’s profile books. Some of these were shown at the meeting
Other themes have been:
Celebrations
Food around the world
Travel - The team shared how they introduced the topic, including with the under 3’s.
Birth to Three matters was discussed and Sandie spoke about the new planning and evaluation sheets which are being devised as a result of this
Introduction of a Personal Passport to support transition into a new setting – this initially is for children with special educational needs. Plans to extend to include all children as they move from Fortune Park.
Norway
Mary Ann and Hildegard spoke of the need firstly to discuss whether they should assess children and what format the assessment should take
The staff studied Howard Gardner’s ‘Multiple Intelligences’
They want to focus on children’s strengths but identified a need for some guidance
They have devised sheets to observe children – Mary Ann will translate these and circulate to the partners
The next step is to start project books - Caron will contact a local supplier of the books and see if they can be delivered to our 3 partners.
Rusviknaturbarnehage children worked on ‘Me in Society’. They hired a bus, visited each other’s homes and took photos standing outside. These were then mapped
Other themes have been ‘my family’, ‘home and family’ and ‘my environment’.
They made books and maps to share their work.
Mary Ann feels that they are holding on to their beliefs of the values of early childhood but are also considering the inclusion of some assessment tools.
Sweden
In addition to the newsletter and the information presented to us during our visit to the pre-schools and school, Marita had written an article in a teaching newspaper about young children’s learning and the importance of play
In order to ensure that all children settled in their new environment, Annie and Marita had focussed on this. It was important for the children and families to feel secure and for the staff to get to know their children well. Working with a mixed age group of one to five year olds is unusual in Sweden and has to be planned very carefully. There are staffing implications for this way of working.
Annie and Marita intend to produce a video for the project
They have moved from a teacher focus to a child focus in their planning - this supports the democratic way of working.
They have interviewed children to find out what they want to share with project partners.
They have parent meetings twice yearly and focus on the child’s strengths
They intend to develop more structure around their work and to find a structure which includes full-time and part-time children.
Chesterfield
Christine gave the statutory curriculum and profile documentation to partners outside the UK. Also sent to partners were two video packs: Birth to Three Matters and Foundation Stage Information pack for parents.
Christine presented books that she had made for projectpartners to share the work that her class has produced.
Everyone was delighted to welcome Christine to the project and we are looking forward to working with her.
Christine was able to share some of the monitoring and assessment which she is being asked to do as a result of the school’s OFSTED inspection.
The group then discussed the next theme to be worked on together between now and October:
It was agreed:
that all partners would work with their children on a topic of ‘Journeys’ – travel; trips – local/national. International. Each setting can interpret this to best suit their context.
Project partners will share assessments which they make around the topic – for individual children, the group and to meet one of the aims of the project – to develop a common framework of assessment tools which we can all use.
An end of year report to our funding agencies will include an overview of the work to date and will also outline the proposal for future meetings
To include the children in the project, Mary Ann’s idea that we should all learn and share two common songs which can be exchanged via tape, internet, photos etc.
Songs to be learnt are:
The wheels on the bus
Incy Wincy Spider
These songs are familiar in partner countries.
PROPOSED DATE FOR NEXT PROJECT MEETING: November 2004.
Sara and Rosa will check their calendars and suggest dates for us.
This meeting will enable us to further share and develop our work - which is working towards the development of a common framework for assessment.
It was agreed that contact between partners will be made during the first week of every month – this can be as simple as an email but it can be an exchange of work. Even if you feel that you have nothing to share in a particular month, it is important that we keep in touch. We all feel that the project will now come to life and we will begin to really share our ideas for assessing young children’s learning.
TEACHER VISITS/EXCHANGES
Annie working in Chesterfield and visiting Fortune Park – week beginning 7 June
Christine visiting Fortune Park with Annie –week beginning 7 June
Fortune Park staff visiting Chesterfield Infants sometime in May
Torgeir working in Fortune Park week beginning 7 June
Shoshi working in C.P.Atalia for last week in May
Two staff from Fortune Park working in Sweden or Norway prior to Annie’s and Torgeir`s visit to England
Marita working in Rusvik Naturbarnehage in June