Cross-training
In June 2001, the IUFM (Faculty of Education) of Orléans-Tours was one of 6 IUFMs to respond positively to a proposal from the French Ministry of Education to take part in a pilot program to exchange PE2 trainees with students from English universities.
A team of partners was thus formed:
IUFM Orléans-Tours / University of Surrey (St Mary's College Twickenham).
11 PE2s from 4 IUFM sites teamed up with 11 English students. Each spent 4 weeks in the host country - on a practice internship in a school. Trainers from both countries accompanied the trainees in their work. A “steering group” made up of the Deputy Director of Primary Education and the Head of the International Relations Mission, together with their British counterparts, ensured overall coordination. The operation was unanimously considered a success, both linguistically and professionally. It has since been repeated for 15 trainees from each country. Accommodation was provided by the host establishment.
Internships in schools
IUFM Orléans-Tours / International Learning and Research Center Bristol
Thanks to relationships forged during one of the LINGUA projects, it was possible to set up the same 4-week in-school placement scheme as for the Surrey/Twickenham program, with the Bristol region, again to the complete satisfaction of those involved.
It has already been agreed that this scheme will be renewed. Six trainees will leave in 2009-2010.
IUFM Orléans-Tours/ Facultad de educacion Grenada
Cooperation agreements between the Académie d'Orléans-Tours and the Delegacion de Granada are in the process of being signed. An agreement is currently being drawn up between the two teacher training institutions in the two regions for initial training courses for PE2s and PLC2s in Spanish and French, as well as in other subjects such as mathematics and EPS. Pilot projects were launched during the 2001/2002 academic year, to enable an initial assessment of their impact and the development of relevant projects for future years. A precise set of specifications, the outline of which has already been discussed, will form the reference document for the bi-lateral work.
Eleven PE trainees have been selected for 2009-2010.
Testimonials
Two weeks in Western Ontario... : 476 Ko
Other destinations:
- Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Five PE2s will leave in 2009-2010.
- Florina, Greece, six PE2s will leave in 2009-2010.
- Magdeburg, Germany, one PE2 will leave in 2009-2010.
- Lucerne, Switzerland, two PE2s will leave in 2009-2010.
London, Ontario, Canada. Nouveau projet élaboré en mai 2009 avec l'université de Western Ontario.
An agreement between the University of Orléans and the University of Western Ontario will enable the exchange of ten PE trainees from both countries over a four-week period, organized in the same way as the cross-training courses.
Socrates-LINGUA
1. The Orléans site is taking part in a 1999/2002 LINGUA project on “Evaluation of language learning in elementary school” (PAMLA), coordinated by a Danish institution and including institutions in Romania and Great Britain as partners. This project is now in its final year of operation.
2. The Châteauroux site is taking part in a LINGUA D Project, 2000/2003, on “Early language teaching and ICTE”, and is coordinating the network of 10 Indre classes involved. The Academy of Orléans-Tours is also involved. The partners are an English institution in Bristol (providing overall coordination) and an Italian institution in Florence, each running a network of 10 primary classes.
Socrates-Comenius
The Janua Linguarum / “Gateway to Languages” program (2000-2002), which focuses on the curricular integration of multilingual education, is supported by both the European Commission (Comenius program) and the Council of Europe (part of the program of activities of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz. The IUFM is an official partner in this project. It is coordinated at national level by Martine Kervran, and is based on a national network of over 100 experimental classes, including a good thirty in our academy. The aim of the project is to prepare pupils for life in linguistically and culturally diverse societies. The objectives are to develop positive attitudes towards linguistic and cultural diversity, and to build metalinguistic and transversal skills. Participating classes experiment with and exchange pedagogical activities, including extensions into other disciplinary and cross-disciplinary fields, with the aim of integrating activities involving comparison and reflection on languages and cultures into school curricula, from nursery school through to secondary school.
Gateway to Languages / France: http://www.chez.com/jaling/
Ja-Ling Europe (CELV - Graz) http://jaling.ecml.at/
Ja-Ling European Center for Modern Languages
Exploratory missions abroad
Poland:
Bourges is twinned with Koszalin. The Institute for Teacher Training in Koszalin trains teachers of French. For three years, students from this institute were welcomed at IUFM sites, in particular Bourges and Châteauroux, (but also Tours-Fondettes in 2000).
The Koszalin training institute belongs to the University of Poznan, which IUFM has included in its list of partners for the Socrates-Erasmus contract for 2002-2003. An exchange of four students was planned.
Trainers from the Bourges IUFM site are working to relaunch a European Socrates LINGUA project, involving Polish colleagues.
An IUFM Orléans-Tours mission coincided with a visit to Poland by elected representatives of the city and the Cher General Council from May 23 to 26.
Croatia:
IUFM was asked by the head of the mission entrusted to the Centre International d'Etudes Pédagogiques (Sèvres) by the French Embassy in Croatia to respond to a request from the Teacher Training Academy (for primary education) of the University of Zagreb, which wanted to open a French department, along the lines of the English and German departments already in existence. Involving the IUFM of Orléans-Tours was an obvious choice, since the University of Orléans has an agreement with the University of Zagreb. What's more, the IUFM Orléans-Tours had been involved in a Lingua program on early language learning, with English and Italian partners (see above).
Early language learning is a topical issue of growing importance, particularly within Europe (EU and other countries, especially those in the process of accession).
At the end of the mission, the following priorities were identified:
- start with a bilateral project, and build a Tempus project on this basis;
- focus on early language learning and teacher training (initial and in-service) in this area;
- draw on specialized expertise and the IUFM Orléans-Tours.