Network of School Innovation

From Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education

The Network of School Innovation (NSI) is the focal activity of “Protovoulia” . The main goal of the NSI is to provide training and support to K-9 teachers and schools in order for them to establish those conditions which favor sustainable educational innovation within the school environment. The NSI addresses many aspects of school education and introduces a state-of-the-art pedagogical approach to instructional, competence-based design and assessment, deploying the Key Competencies (the new literacies) agenda, while it proposes action on two tracks: the school development and the teacher professional development.

The NSI main objectives are

• to develop solid reliable and user friendly types of educational innovation
• to develop and implement integral educational activity plans, which aim at shifting from memorization teaching and learning practices to educational activities which actively involve teachers and students and enhance development of creative skills
• to empower schools and teachers and enhance their relative autonomy in the (centrally administered) Greek school system
• to support teachers in effectively assessing the needs of their school community, proposing activities that meet the "diagnosed" needs, planning, implementing and evaluating those activities
• to support teachers in planning and monitoring their professional development through the adoption of reflective and self assessment procedures
• to enhance procedures which involve debate, cooperation, sharing and collaborative knowledge building
• to engage members of the school community in creating a learning culture which promotes development of key competencies for students
• to create and gradually implement a framework of depicting and assessing educational practice and integrating it in the school's developmental course
• to produce educational resources that enrich those already available in Greek schools
• cooperation of NSI members in order to reveal good practices of school innovation
• critical integration of international experience in education.

The NSI schools and teachers meet on an e-learning platform. The platform offers a) teacher and school development programs, b) access to educational resources and c) interaction opportunities. The NSI uses a broadly known free and open source e-learning platform, the MOODLE (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment).

Description of Training Procedure NSI teachers are initially familiarized with the international discourse on school innovation. The discourse then evolves among members of the e-network. Before proceeding with their work teachers go through a self - evaluation of their professional status. This procedure allows them to reveal their areas of strength and areas of growth and consequently customize specific supplementary learning objectives of the training program they are about to participate in and at the same time make their own long term professional development planning. Teachers of the same school make up a smaller group within the learning platform. These groups start their collaborative work by preparing an extensive profile of their school. The school unit's areas of strength and areas of growth are explored in the same way this occurs for each teacher. The school team then decides on the area of their activity for the initiating training period. There is no limitation as to the activity's subject, which may vary among the fields of pedagogy (e.g. differentiated teaching, etc), instructional methodology (e.g. didactic in math), co-curricular activities (e.g. environmental, health education activities etc), school development (e.g. dropout rate reduction), psycho-social support of students and / or teachers (e.g. newcomer induction programs, teacher burnout etc), parent involvement, school - community relations (e.g. cooperation with municipality or local industry or market, organization of intercultural festival etc), regional, national and / or international cooperation, administrative issues (e.g. extensive use of IT solutions in everyday operations etc.), infrastructure etc. The NSI offers training on two tracks, each of which evolves in three training programs, as follows: 1. Teacher Professional Development Program A: "Exploring the Innovative Teacher" Program B: "The Reflective Teacher" Program C: "Teacher Leadership" 2. School Development Program A: "Introduction to Innovation" Program B: "Targeted Innovation" Program C: "Sustainable Innovation" Learning objectives, content and assignments vary by course and so does the degree of support offered to school teams and/or individuals. Track 1 is a personalized training program, attended by teachers who participate in the NSI Workshop as a school team, as well as by independent teachers who do the training as individuals. In any case this track does not require any team work. Placement in one of the three programs is made depending on the trainees’ qualifications, skills and competencies. Teachers progress at their own pace depending on their time effort and capacity. Teachers who join the NSI training programs with their school team attend at the same time both tracks (the professional development and the school development). Depending on the school’s competencies it is placed in program A or B. Placement in program C requires completion of program B. All participating teachers of the same school are placed in a team within the learning platform. The assignments they are asked to work on require team work, which sometimes involves participation of other teachers, students and/or parents of their school. The school principal is encouraged to attend, but even in cases where he/she does not attend the training program, he/she participates in the school development procedure that the school team implements. Due to the nature of this training track every program almost coincides with a school year; thus accelerating progress is not feasible in the way it is in the teacher development program, where one can speed up and achieve learning goals of two programs within one school year. Regardless of whether a teacher participates individually or as a member of his school team he is required to plan, implement and evaluate an educational activity or project that is destined for use in the school. School teams can work on one or multiple activities which involve cooperation of teachers and students from their own and/or from other schools. Upon completion of Program C all school teams must have participated in at least one cooperation with other school(s). In Programs B and C teachers are encouraged to plan a joint activity with NSI members from other schools and implement it in their own environment. With the assistance of the NSI Facilitator results of the parallel implementation of the activity are compared and the teams work together to draw conclusions and make proposals regarding good practice. Individual teachers are encouraged to search for an activity partner within the network. All activities are planned and implemented according to the NSI methodology. Their duration varies between 5 and 7 months depending on performance pace and on type of activity. Individuals and teams are supported by the NSI Facilitator. School teams are assigned a Facilitator who coordinates and supports the team’s work and provides guidance to the team’s members during their course in the teacher professional development track. As a school team proceeds in program B of the school development track, a member of the team overtakes the role of the Innovation Coordinator (IC). Appointment of the IC is a result of the team's proposal and the principal's approval. The Innovation Coordinator and the team are supported by the NSI Facilitator, whose role in this Program becomes more consultative rather than coordinative, thus enhancing team autonomy. The IC may be the same person every year or may be substituted by another team member with the same procedure he or she was appointed.

As school teams proceed in the school development track, it is required that new members join the NSI, thus enabling diffusion of innovation. Newcomers join their team by entering in the actual program their colleagues are in; at the same time they need to invest extra effort in order to meet the objectives of the previous school development programs, which their team has completed. To this end they are assisted by the Innovation Coordinator. Since the professional development program facilitates progress at one’s own pace, placement of newcomers in that program does not interfere with the team’s progress. Individuals attending the NSI workshop training programs are offered limited support, as they follow a self-learning program. In this case, the Facilitator’s role is mainly to give initial guidance and to comment on the quality of the work delivered by the trainee. The NSI programs offered to schools are a blended training scheme, which combines distance education and live seminar attendance. Teachers of the NSI schools participate in two seminars, an introductory and a mid-term. The introductory seminar takes place in Athens and is attended by teachers from all over Greece, who have the chance to get acquainted and to interact upon training. Mid-term seminars are organized in 8 cities around the country. Clusters of schools from a broader area are invited to attend these seminars, where teams get the chance to work closely with their Facilitator and to exchange information and experience with colleagues from other schools. The NSI has developed an evaluation and accreditation system based on desired skills and competences as training goals for teachers and schools. The goals of each training program of the two tracks (teacher professional development and school development) are described in terms of skills and competencies. Those goals are paired to behaviors and/or activities (assignments) which prove achievement of goals. This system is used by the teachers (in the professional development track) and the school teams (in the school development track) with the advice of their Facilitator in order to assess their progress and lead to their accreditation. Networking The contribution to developing a network of schools and teachers is a parallel goal to the training procedure. In this framework participating teachers are encouraged to

• participate in the fora discussions on the NSI site
• post instructional materials on the NSI resource center
• propose bibliography, articles, links and other educational resources
• attend the introductory and mid-term seminars.

In addition, an annual Comprehensive Meeting is organized in November, where NSI schools and their teachers from all parts of Greece have the opportunity to present their work. This meeting is open to all teachers and the educational community as well as policy makers who participate in workshops and international level discussions about school innovation.

NSI Active Membership Teachers and schools that complete the NSI training programs are required to exhibit sustainability of their innovative practices in order to maintain their NSI membership. They need to consolidate those conditions and the kind of school culture which foster autonomous and sustainable innovation at school level. Teachers are required to:

• consistently implement professional reflection procedures and develop and monitor their personal professional development plan
• pursue professional development opportunities
• act as teacher leaders within their school in order to ignite change
• network with innovative teachers within their school, their country and internationally
• be informed on current educational policy issues
• adopt a lifelong learning perspective.

Schools are required to:

• foster and sustain those conditions which enhance innovation within the school's environment (inclusion, collaborative learning and knowledge building, allocation of resources, parent and community participation, etc)
• implement the Network's (NSI) pedagogical and methodological approach in all of the school's activities
• consistently update the school's needs assessment data
• formulate long-term and short-term goals set at school unit level, based on needs assessment results
• perceive the teachers’ activity as part of a broader action plan, which is designed and implemented at school level
• develop in the school a framework of operation which calls for cooperation at various levels and internal assessment of all initiatives
• establish open channels of cooperation with social partners
• pursue opportunities to improve the school’s infrastructure
• communicate the school’s identity and achievements to its environment
• network with other schools also at international level.

The NSI perspectives The NSI was introduced into the Greek school system in September 2007, when the first team of NSI Facilitators was trained. After three years of operation and constant development, with 216 schools and approximately 670 teachers having participated in its training programs, the NSI was evaluated in September 2010. The evaluation report, which was published, was overall very positive. A core of schools and teachers has been created within the Greek school system,that are ready to take action in order to bring the desired change into the schools. These teachers have adopted participatory systematic customized educational design, implementation and evaluation procedures, they are acquainted with self- and peer evaluation practices and they act from a development perspective which requires constant monitoring and feedback. They look into learning outcomes, enhance creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and foster connection of school with the market place. These teachers and schools can act as leaders of innovation within the school system at national and European level as well.

The Network of School Innovation web site is at http://www.protovoulia.org

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