Edu2grow

Topic/ theme: Harness the power of creativity in the classroom through intercultural exchange, Intercultural education, Pedagogy and didactics,

At your request, the courses can be structured for a different schedule (5 or 7 training days).

Sending partners: educational organizations involved in formal, non-formal and informal learning: kindergartens, schools, adult training centers, resource centers and other relevant organization active in the adult education field established in Erasmus+ program countries.

Participants: 20-25 adults involved in education

Course fee: According to the Erasmus+ guide, 80 euros / training day, including course preparation, training, training materials, administration costs, organizational costs, 24 hours emergency support.

Trainers: multinational team of trainers – Portuguese, Romanian and Maltese, SALTO affiliated, with specialization courses in more than 15 European countries.

Languages used: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French. The training materials will be provided in English. On request, Spanish and French.

Profile of the participants:

The participants are teachers (working in kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools etc.) or adult trainers active in the sending organization interested in using creativity as resource and method of teaching, with or without previous experience, willing to develop themselves professionally not only through the course, but by involving themselves in preparatory and follow up activities. They must be interested in other cultures and in developing the institution’s European dimension.

Objectives:

During the training course, the participants will be:

• Exchanging experiences and intercultural practices in a cooperative and collaborative learning process with focus on creativity and innovation;
• Developing better understanding of their own competence as teacher and learning to develop creative strategies for dealing with multicultural challenges in their own schools and classrooms;
• Developing creative tools and techniques that can be used in order to increase student’s motivation and combat drop-out phenomenon;
• Developing creativity & innovation skills and learn how to use them
• Deepening understanding of the multicultural school content through various creative tools for innovative problem solving
• Learning about different methods (creating story-worlds, brainstorming etc.) in order to boost creative thinking and problem solving skills
• Identifying common criteria and approaches for follow-up projects and initiatives developed on this training course.

Learning outcomes:

The course will help the participants to:  

• Understand the characteristics of creative thinking;
• Share experiences and intercultural practices in a cooperative and collaborative learning process with focus on creativity and innovation;
• Develop creative tools and techniques that can be used in order to increase student’s motivation and combat drop-out phenomenon;
• Learn to use creative tools across multiple situations and fields through activities and exercises;
• Create story-worlds to foster student’s engagement and learning
• Boost creative thinking and problem solving in classroom and in their everyday activity
• Learn how to use brainstorming both as a resource and as a method of teaching
• Nurture students in using creative thinking strategies for their personal and professional growth;
• Develop creativity & innovation skills and learn how to use them
• Leverage and utilize new ideas instead of just getting disrupted by them
• Embed creativity into the students’ curriculum and classroom practices;
• Grasp the aspects shared by creative methodologies in different domains
• Acquire an insight in how a professional teacher will notify and deal with intercultural and multicultural issues in day-to-day practice at schools

Methodology

The course is designed for teachers and trainers of all subjects, offering them effective tools to improve creativity skills of their students as well as their own.

It follows two-way communication process including discussions, interactive games, story-boarding, role-plays, three-step interview working in groups and pairs, presentations, case studies, creative thinking techniques and individual activities.

School teachers will learn what it takes to become a successful cross-cultural reflective teacher to tackle „creativity” problems in order to create an atmosphere in which students like to learn, teachers like to teach and all like to work together.

The trainig course will be supported through preparatory and follow up activities.

Days	Module	Details of activities and methodology
Day 1,2	Team building and group dynamics	Course introduction: aims, content and envisaged outcomes and expectations of participants. Icebreaker activities; Needs and expectations evaluation: Setting out of the participants’ needs and objectives; Creativity – teaching students to think differently.   Intercultural games. Working in an international project – how to communicate and connect. Team building: working with colleagues and stakeholders – practical exercises followed by a debate Stereotypes and prejudices in the classroom. Games, methods and tools for improving communication. Cultural trip – project tour exploring exterior manifestations of culture and creativity
Day 3	Creativity	What is creativity? Creativity and the European Framework. Current approaches used in studying creativity: An exploratory investigation. Creative intercultural approach and school practice: case scenario. How creative are we? Thinking outside the box – Creative teaching methods Creative tools (Brainstorming; Brainwriting; Mind-mapping; Random words) How can these tools be used in teachers’ daily activities? Study visit: Creativity, an interactive factor of interculturality
Day 4,5,6	Multiculturality and interculturality	Why we need an intercultural learning? The meaning and importance of intercultural competence Who should be intercultural competent? Intercultural competences needed by adult educators: teachers, policy-makers and learners Strategies and approaches to developing intercultural competence.   Growing multiculturalism and diversity in schools in Europe. Challenges for the international classroom. The characteristics of intercultural organizations Intercultural policies and strategies How can organizations become interculturally competent: working plan.   Experiences with multiculturalism: Exchanging cases/experiences of participants: identify of different cases for study Assessing intercultural competence Create story-worlds to foster student’s engagement and learning
Day 7	Motivation	Lecture at the university: Creativity and motivation The importance of internal and external motivation both for teachers and students. The value of failure – Fail Faster Motivation game: case study on different target groups. Methods for boosting creative thinking and problem solving in classroom and in their everyday activity Comparing creative tools from different domains; Assessing how to exploit them in the participants educational systems.
Day 8	Transversal links	Intercultural issues- creative solutions The link between creativity, intercultural learning and development education Opportunities for European Collaboration – Partnerships within the Erasmus+. Study visit at local organizations implementing European projects.
Day 9	Evaluation, dissemination and certification	Dissemination and valorization activities planning.Using European certification tools: Europass Mobility certificate, upgrading the Europass Language Passport and Europass Skills Passport Project evaluation.Certification ceremony.