Current education faces multiple challenges, significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Education systems vary across countries, as well as the education level of the Romani children.
In the 21st century, a person needs to be reinforced with multiple skills and competencies, such as basic skills, digital skills, critical-thinking, entrepreneurship, and various soft skills, in order to have more possibilities to prosperity. To face this challenge, more inclusive practices in education should be proposed, that can be adaptable to education systems across Europe, and beyond.
The aim of the “PAL LAB – Pedagogical approaches for upskilling of teachers, mediators and experts working with Romani children and youth -Equal Opportunities and reducing early school leaving” project is to support the teachers, mediators, and experts working with Romani children and youth, though upskilling of their qualification in intercultural training and pedagogical techniques. They will be provided with valuable tools to working with marginalized groups with segregated or not background, helping the learners comprehend the material, interact correctly and effectively with them and help reducing early school leaving. The project will work on the development of Pedagogy Toolbox for teachers and mediators, oriented both to schoolteachers and mediators working in segregated schools and to school teachers and assistants working in normal schools with high percentage of Roma children and other excursion groups.
The rationale behind the project approach is the belief that the high rates of early school leaving and poor learning outcomes of the Romani children, but also other segregation groups, are symptoms of the traditional teaching methodologies’ inability to adapt to these new realities. The specific objectives of the project are:
Obj1: Promote equal opportunities and access to quality education of Romani children and youth, upskilling schoolteachers and introducing them to new techniques supporting the social integration process.
Result: an inventory of the skills needed for a transition to more effective training programs reducing the early school leaving of Romani children (Competence Matrix for teachers).
Obj2: Supporting the creation of competence matrix for intercultural skills and social & inclusion competences for schoolteachers working in segregated schools.
Result: mapping the specific needs and requirements of schoolteachers to support the school performance and increase the rate of attendance of Romani children (creation of 5 Modules )
Obj3: Promote equal opportunities and access to quality education of Romani children and youth, upskilling schoolteachers and introducing them to new techniques supporting the social integration process.
Result: creation of valuable and effective PAL LAB Training Curriculum and its piloting among trainers oriented to the needs of the target groups.
Obj4: Creation of digital platform supporting the practical application of the pedagogy tools and materials.
Result: PAL LAB Platform to be used from schoolteachers and trainers to get enrolled on the digital webinars.
PAL LAB partnership includes 5 EU countries (Romania, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Belgium) giving the possibility to strengthen the connection among school teachers with guaranteed success. The main benefit of the collaboration is included in the process of exchange of experience and good practices, as well as the transfer of knowledge within the partnership from high-cultivated partners to less developed ones, in terms of digital technologies and pedagogical skills.
The partnership consists of the following organizations:
CJRAE, Romania
MUSEV, Turkey
AELIA PATH, Greece
PAL NETWORK, Belgium
ESF, Bulgaria
Online Kick-off Meeting
Competence Matrix
Second Online Meeting
Our First Newsletter!
First Transnational Project Meeting in Brasov Romania
More information about this project can be requested at info@palnetwork.eu and the official website of the project (available soon).