Open Society Education Update

If we train children to take orders, to do things because they are told to, and fail to give them the confidence to act and think for themselves, we are putting an almost insurmountable obstacle in the way of overcoming the present defects of our system and of establishing the truth of democratic ideals.

John and Evelyn Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, 1915
As quoted in "How Children Learn: A Statement of First Principles",
prepared for the Reading & Writing for Critical Thinking Project

NEW REGIONAL PROGRAM - READING AND WRITING FOR CRITICAL THINKING

The ability to think critically, to question one’s environment and to build one’s own understanding of truth is central to developing open society. The content and teaching methods used during the previous regimes did not promote individual or critical thinking. Rather, the school environment emphasized passive learning and memorization of information. As written by the designers of the program, the "the term ‘critical thinking’ implies that students sometimes go beyond the active search for information and do something more: associate what they have learned with their own experience, compare it to other works, question its veracity or authority, examine the logic of its argument, derive implications from it, construct new examples of it, imagine solutions to problems it poses, examine the causes and effects it demonstrates, and so on." The Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Regional Project (RWCT) has been designed to promote teaching for critical thinking throughout the region.

ROMANIAN AND SLOVAKIAN MODELS: The OSI Network Programs Office in New York became aware of two successful programs in the region. Reading for Understanding, a Soros Foundation initiative in Cluj, was being implemented by Professor Charles Temple of Hobart and Smith Colleges in collaboration with the International Reading Association. Simultaneously, the Orava project in Slovakia funded by USAID, was being implemented by Professors Jeannie Steele and Kurt Meredith of the University of Northern Iowa. Based on these model programs in Slovakia and Romania, the RWCT program was developed collaboratively with the OSI Network Programs Office. The International Reading Association through its network recruited 30 volunteer professors and other educators in North America who have been granted leave by their universities or school systems to provide training in the region. These highly qualified volunteers (most of whom have PhDs and years of experience in educational research, textbook writing, teaching and other fields) are working directly with the countries participating in the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking program.

PROJECT STRUCTURE: INTRODUCING A NEW MODEL: Four volunteers are assigned to each country participating in the program. A workshop with all participating countries and volunteers was held at Lake Balaton, Hungary in June 1997. The three-year program will work progressively to develop local trainers and spread the content and methods of RWCT. In the first year, volunteers will make four visits to each country providing training and follow-up support to the networks of trainers and teachers. In the second year, the volunteers will act as mentors to the local trainers while the local trainers take the lead in delivering actual workshops for educators. In the third year, the process will be evaluated.

FOUNDATIONS TAKE ACTION: Albania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania and Russia are participating in the Program. Several other foundations have asked to join. Foundations are taking quick action to get started with the program in their countries. Remarkably, the RWCT program has been accepted as part of a three-year MA program for practicing teachers at the Tallinn Pedagogical University in Estonia. The Foundation has already begun to develop its teacher training program. "The network of teacher trainers – peer trainers – will be called the Open Mind Institute and it will have two support centers based in schools," writes Program Coordinator Hannes Voolma.

For more information regarding the RWCT Regional Program, contact Ami Golden at agolden@sorosny.org.

SEMINAR ON STATE POLICY TOWARD REFORM OF EDUCATION IN UKRAINE

On July 4-6, 1997 the International Renaissance Foundation in cooperation with the Secretariat of Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine and International Center for Policy Studies held a seminar "State Policy Toward Reform of Education in Ukraine". The seminar aimed at forming a concept of strategy for reforming education in Ukraine. More than 70 participants (Members of the Parliament, officials from the Cabinet of Ministers officials, heads of departments of the Ministry of Education, leaders of professional associations, rectors and professors of universities, representatives of donor organizations in Ukraine) worked for three days to develop a common vision of educational reform. Experts from Czech Republic, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia shared the experiences of education reform in their respective countries. By the end of the seminar, a draft report on the concept of reforming Ukrainian education and priority tasks for 1997 and further was prepared. Finally, the participants initiated creation of the inter-institutional group on strategic planning and administration of education reform in Ukraine which would continue developing proposals for government and will audit reform implementation. The seminar was held in the framework of the International Renaissance Foundation’s on-going roundtable discussions project "Society and State: Dialogue for Education Development". Under this project two roundtable discussions related to issues of interrelation between education and system of national security took place in June-July 1997. For more information, contact Director of Education Programs, Anatolii Oleksienko, ao@issep.freenet.kiev.ua.

MINISTRY PARTNERSHIP WITH DEBATE PROGRAM IN SLOVENIA

The Debate program in Slovenia began in Fall of 1996, starting with 12 high schools participating in the program. As debate clubs and debaters improved their skills over the year, the summer debate camp at Pokljuka impressed the organizers and received coverage in the media. Topics such as "To be different is a basic human right" and "Soft drugs should be legalized" demonstrated debaters skills and piqued the interest of the audience. The Ministry of Education has provided limited funds to the program and has recognized the debate program as an optional extra-curricular activity for all schools. The Ministry "has also confirmed that every high school teacher receives certification for [participating in] debate seminars organized by the program," reports Alenka Makuc, Programs Coordinator. The program is has also expanded to the university level. For more information, contact Alenka Makuc at alenka@soros.si.

STEP BY STEP FACULTY SEMINAR, PART II

Over 50 participants from 13 countries in the Network participated in the second Faculty Seminar for pedagogic institute and university faculty members. The Seminar was held at Lake Balaton, Hungary, July 30 - August 12. The Seminar was a follow-up to the work that began last summer where faculty were provided with the content and methods to teach courses in School and Family Partnership, Individualized Teaching, Learning Through Play, and Principles of Adult Learning. Based on feedback from participants, the next steps in the faculty development provided this year were: Interactive Teaching Methods, Observing and Recording the Behavior of Young Children, and Child-Centered Curriculum. As participants have already been working with Step by Step materials and methods for a year, they were able to enhance their learning by sharing experiences, problems and ideas.

"The most important aspect of the program is that the experimental work at the university is built on the experimental [Step by Step] sites in the city," said Maria Pereteatcu, Head of the Department of Early and Elementary Education at the Pedagogical University in Bathi, Moldova. This opinion is shared by program organizers. Carolyn Rutsch, Associate Director of the Step by Step Higher Education Initiative points out that "the practical models in the classroom are what makes this model successful."

New methods for professors: The Faculty members were not only introducing new content areas to prepare new teachers, but they began using interactive teaching methods in their own classrooms with adult students. "In order to make changes in students, you have to start with yourself. Since my attitude and beliefs were changed, I did the same thing with the faculty. Each faculty member and student could change from passive consumer to active idea generator," commented Liubov Artemova, Head of Preschool Pedagogical Department at the Ukrainian State Pedagogical University. Ms. Artemova organized regular Wednesday meetings of the Faculty in her department that were teaching courses in the new methods. Natalia Luzina from Kyrgyzstan commented that "Interactive teaching methods require much more time for planning and arrangement of materials. In addition the method of assessment must change. We tried having students assessing themselves and practicing self-assessment." All in all, these faculty seminars have succeeded in building sustainability of the program in the region through successful integration into formal teacher training structures. In addition, at the Seminar, participants decided to form an international organization of innovative early childhood educators to share experience and research to document the achievements. Zsuzsa Szabo (email: szabo@soros.hu) from Hungary volunteered to coordinate the effort.

REACHING OUT TO CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN UKRAINE

In Ukraine, as in many other countries of the region, children with disabilities are separated from the mainstream school system. The network of special schools for children with disabilities have specially trained teachers and clinicians as well as equipped facilities. According to the traditional theory, this model is quite exemplary and indeed Ukrainian educators are proud of it. The question of whether children with special needs should be included in mainstream classrooms is met with doubt and skepticism among policy makers and educators. With the help of Children’s Resources International, the Step by Step team in Ukraine began discussions and training sessions to raise awareness of the issue. Step by Step sites work with special kindergartens to bring children with special needs into the Step by Step classrooms for a few hours per week. Parents of the special needs children were so happy to have this opportunity for their children, as well as a chance to meet other parents with disabled children. However, the obstacles to systemic integration of special needs children are huge. "We haven’t succeeded in changing the attitude completely of the Ministry and local education authority, but they are beginning to think about the issue," said Natalia Sofiy, Step by Step Master Teacher Trainer in Ukraine. "But, the attitude of the principals and teachers [of regular schools] are more important than the regulations. Parents of disabled children have no rights; the principal tells them the school is too crowded to accept their child." The Foundation is continuing its work to train teachers and raise awareness on the issue. For more information, contact Natalia Sofij, at the IRF Ukraine, uarf@vidr.kiev.ua.

PARTNER PROFILE: AUSTRIAN KULTUR KONTAKT

KulturKontakt Austria, founded in 1989, is registered as an association in Vienna. It initiates, promotes and supports bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Federal Chancellery of Austria. The main fields of work are education, culture, and exchange of information, particularly between Austria and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The number of permanent staff is 11 with approximately 300 part-time consultants.

Educational Programs in East / Central Europe

Special emphasis has been given to pilot projects including curriculum development, adaptation of teaching materials, reform of school administration structures, management training and organizational consultation, establishing training firms, language teaching for special purposes. The experience in educational planning, is supplemented by the tradition of strong cooperation in Austria between the educational authorities and the social partners in providing education and training.

In the field of school development and school management, KulturKontakt has promoted modular seminar cycles on multiplier training in Central and Eastern Europe. Consultancy and train the trainers workshops make up a priority area in the program of KulturKontakt. Examples of the range of KulturKontakt's work include courses for teacher tutors in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, seminars for head teachers in Hungary, courses for school inspectors in Romania, for heads of pedagogical much in demand as a partner in the sector of civic education.

Currently the British Council and Belgium are also participating in a joint project to disseminate of results of international education projects in Russia. KulturKontakt has emphasized the fields of economic teaching, ecology, school management, history and civics. In the foreground stands the management of educational innovation. In addition, KulturKontakt has conducted events on topics like development of educational standards, economics education at school; school profiling; curriculum development; modern approaches in history teaching; educational management; integration (children with special needs); environmental studies; civics education.

Educational Coordinators

10 permanent consultants acting on behalf of KulturKontakt in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, Sofia, Bucharest, Tirana, Zagreb and St.Petersburg are funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and form a network of pedagogical cooperation. They are contact points for the local officials responsible for education, and undertake advisory activities. "Multipliers" or educational partners and trainers are supervised, programs of further training and school development projects are initiated and carried out.

KulturKontakt is interested in cooperating with the Soros Foundation Network in education and culture programs. To receive contact information on their Central and Eastern European liaison offices or a copy of their annual report, contact Gerhard Kowar, Department Head of Educational Cooperation KulturKontakt Austria, Spittelbergergasse 3, Wien 1070. Tel: 43 1 523 87 65 60 fax: 1 523 87 65 20.

This information was compiled by Andrea Feld, EPSU Program Assistant, felda@osi.hu.

SUMMER INSTITUTE AT MCGILL UNIVERSTIY

This summer Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldovan and EPSU representatives of the Soros network met at McGill University Center for Educational Leadership (CEL). CEL hosted summer institutes in Managing School-Based Change and Classroom Management. CEL organizes summer institutes matching the needs of educators preparing for the new school year. The most urgent issues facing educators are covered. School-based management of change is an important topic currently as changes in education affect schools at every level in North America. School teams from all over Canada, the United States and South Africa took part in the institute and it was an excellent opportunity to learn new content and to set East-West cooperation by participating in group work with teachers and administrators from and USA. "It was very

Congratulations to Latvia!

Participants of the "School Improvement and Effectiveness Conference" (May,1996, Budapest) may remember the exciting raffle of scholarships which were donated by the presenters. Eight scholarships for professional development in school improvement at McGill, Toronto, Nottingham and London universities were won by Ukrainian, Latvian, Czech and Russian foundations (branches of Moscow and St.Petersburg). Unfortunately almost all the winning foundations did not use the scholarships and did not pass them to colleagues in the other foundations. But one scholarship was used !!! The Latvian foundation sent their representative the summer course at the Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) at McGill University this summer.

interesting and inspiring for me to learn that the problems facing educators in North America are exactly the same as those we face in Eastern Europe," remarked Egle Pranckuniene, Visiting Fellow at EPSU. Another highlight of the Institute was the participation and presentation of a team from South Africa who are working on a joint CIDA/McGill University partnership to improve school management in South Africa. For information on next year’s programs, check our Bulletin Board in Spring, 1998! Contact - Sylvia Sklar, Director of the Summer Institute, Center for Educational Leadership, McGill University, 3724 McTavish Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1Y2 Canada, tel.:1 514 398 7044, fax: 1 514 398 8260, email:sylvia@cel.lan.mcgill.ca).

STEP BY STEP COORDINATORS MEETING IN MACEDONIA

The 1997 Coordinators Meeting for Step by Step, will take place this year in Ohrid, Macedonia from September 22 (evening) through September 25. This year the participating National Foundations are invited to send one Board Member from the Executive or Educational Board, one National Foundation Education Program Director and two members of each Step by Step team. For more information, contact Step by Step Program Director, Sarah Klaus, sklaus@sorosny.org.

Reminder for the participants of the workshop "Managing the Process of Change" (Balatonvilagos, May 12-15, 1997)

Program managers from 23 countries agreed to send the description of follow-up activities spreading the knowledge and experience gained in the workshop "Managing the Process of Change" by SEPTEMBER 1, 1997. EPSU is still looking forward for receiving them, especially if your foundation is interested in continuing the program. EPSU is planning a follow up workshop in November (more information will be sent in the coming weeks). NOTE: Only those Foundations that participated with a team of trainers in the May workshop and submit action plans by September 20, 1997 will be eligible to attend the follow-up workshop. So send in your plans as soon as possible! The action plans were discussed at the May workshop. If you need more information on what should be included, contact Egle Pranckuniene, email: pranckuniene@osi.hu.