This is the coherence page, getting a grip on the overall direction of the project. When we put S-TEAM together, we had a diverse collection of individual ideas for contributions, and we still retain this diversity. The structure of the work packages reflects this diversity and copes with it using themes such as scientific literacy, professional development etc. One possible way of moving this forward might be to regard the training packages and related items as course modules for a professional development qualification at a European level. This would fit with the European principles for teacher competence, including the suggestion that teachers should be part of a learning organisation, that they should be lifelong learners and that they should be mobile within Europe. This is also in line with ideas about key competences in Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/basicframe.pdf It also fits with the ideas embodied in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the European Credit Transfer and accumulation System (ECTS). The qualification could be called: Science Teaching in Europe - Professional development - Unified Programme (STEP-UP) It would carry points according to the EQF level 6 - advanced knowledge of a field of work or study, involving a critical understanding of theories and principles. The importance of the qualification is that it will be the first teacher professional qualificationto be designed as a European qualification from the beginning, and thus fulfils an important role in one of the EU "Common principles for Quality assurance in higher education..." (EQF brochure p.15): Quality assurance orientations at Community level may provide reference points for evaluations and peer learning There is of course no European structure for accrediting or administering this type of programme, since the intention of EQF is to bring coherence and transferability to national programmes. The precedent might be (e.g.) the European Computer Driving Licence, a qualification which essentially filled a vacuum in IT qualifications at a basic level and which is now about to be transformed into the International Computer Driving Licence. |