INTRODUCTION by HELMUT LOIDL

is a European project, which started in September 1999. After the first meeting in December 1998 with Bob Blackledge the Mentor of Transition in Europe and his Partner Christine Thompson from the Institute of Education (University of London) we decided to start a Comenius 3.1 Project.

In the first year we found a lot of interest – five nations with universities and pedagogical institutes in Comenius 3.1: Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom,

Two nations with its schools in

Comenius 1: Finland and Portugal.

In European schools, there is a group of pupils who, at the transfer stage between primary and secondary schooling, can be regarded as at risk in their education.  They become anxious for a variety of reasons and this may produce a burden to their educational development.  There are many reasons for this.  But one appears to be the lack of continuity in curriculum during the transfer stage.  Teachers in both stages have been trained differently and are not used to working together.  This division of the stages and their teachers can produce either a standstill in educational progress for the child or, worse still, a falling back in educational development.

In this project, primary and secondary teachers cooperate to develop a common methodology and understanding of the necessity of continuity in the curriculum.

Failure of children, on transfer, has many different reasons:

ANALYSIS

The “Re-Start Effect” in Secondary Education is one of the big problems.

The prognostic effect of tests does not help to select the best secondary for the Child.

There is an independency of the transfer age (9 to 14 years) – across Europe the problems are the same.

The teaching system in Primary and Secondary is very different.

There is no continuity in the methodical – didactical way of teaching.

Methods of selection are often started in the first level of Primary Education.

There is a displacement competition in the job market.

Educational Institutes and In Service Training separates Primary and Secondary Teachers.

There is a different situation in each Primary-class: Children with special needs, handicapped and disabled, behavioural problems, special syllabuses in different classes, measures of different assessment of performance,..

Primary teachers all over Europe are clamouring for more information about Secondary schools.

Children are asking for more information - some children are worried by the change over.

Primary teachers teach “Children”, Secondary teachers teach “Subjects”

The basis of this analysis is the study of R.C.R. Blackledge and Ch. Thomson, which was done on behalf of the European Union 1996.

The key to a smooth transfer is Co-operation:

Co-operative and Common Projects link classes in Primary and Secondary Schools.

Common work in Curricula with area adapted syllabuses (common subject oriented themes: work, industry, tourism...)

Finding effective remedial assistance to help special gifted children, or children with special needs at transition.

Passing on “best practice-experience“.

Involving parents in the process of Co-operation.

Starting common conferences between Primaries and Secondaries.

Teachers – exchanges and joint teaching of Primary and Secondary teachers in some or several lessons should be done.

Reflecting on “reliable Primary Education“  (record systems and tests, marks, reaching aims in curriculum).

Finding specific ways for each school-cluster based on joint planning.

Upgrading teacher’s qualification.

Partners in the

Comenius 3.1 Project L.I.P.S.S.

L.I.P.S.S. aims to increase and disseminate models of co-operation between schools. So it became one of the aims, of this project, to find schools which work together over the whole of Europe, focusing on the transition age.

We wanted to have them work under the main-aims of L.I.P.S.S.

Together with the Austrian National Agency we arranged a Preparatory Group Visit in Linz and invited 24 schools. Out of this visit, the implementation of four Comenius1 projects was possible. 

I am I (Individualisation and Integration)

Members: GB, GE, AT, PL, FI

Co-ordinator: Bryan Jackson (GB)

Following through (Tracking Children's Progress and Achievement from last year Primary School to first year Secondary School)

Members: GB, AT, GE, PL

            Co-ordinator: Karin Petsovits (AT)

Primary goes Secondary (To develop an effective Transmission for Pupils between Primary and Secondary Schools)

Members: CY, PL, GE, AT, FI

Co-ordinator: Jürgen Michael Wundenberg (DE)

E-L-S: Evaluation Links Schools

Members: PT, AT, GE, CY

Co-ordinator: Gertrude Schwaiger (AT)

How can you get information about LIPSS?

1st Manual – including theoretical and practical aims, the basic information, work done in institutes and schools.

(Sept.2000)

2nd Manual – including “best practise experience”, questionnaires, teaching methods, teacher support, feed back from parents and children.

(Sept.2001)

3rd Manual – including strategies for the best way of linking Primary and Secondary stages, basic paper for the In-service-Training-Course.

(…… April 2002)

WEB-PAGE:

http://www.eduhi.at/schule/lipss/

A CD-ROM is produced, including all the items of the manuals, colour pictures, questionnaires, work sheets, ……..

The last aspect of L.I.P.S.S. is the performance of an international In-Service-Training-Course, which supports teachers in finding Curriculum Continuity in linking Primary and Secondary stages.
The structure of this course should be an example for In-Service-training-Courses of Pedagogical Institutes in the partner Institutes and for the whole of Europe.

The results of LIPSS are given to all educational ministries for establishing a better link from Primary to Secondary in each country across the whole of Europe.