​

BLOOM Pilot Teachers 2018

​

Aim

20 pilot teachers representing schools from Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Israel, Croatia (two teachers per country) who teach physics, biology, mathematics, engineering, technology or chemistry, are needed to join the BLOOM project (January 2018 - October 2020) as teacher-coordinators (10 teachers) or support teachers (10 teachers). The teacher coordinator and support teacher from each country will make up a pilot teachers team, and will have to work together in order to:

a) Produce new bio economy teaching resources together with project experts, test these resources in their schools/classrooms and provide feedback.

b) Encourage, train and support other teachers and schools to use the project resources, and disseminate the project and the resources in their region.

The teacher-coordinators from each pilot teacher team will be invited to three face-to-face workshops in the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels, one to take place on 02-04 March 2018, the second on 14-16 September 2018 and the third in 2019 (date to be confirmed). The support teachers will also be invited to participate in the 2019 workshop. The BLOOM project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773983. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of the organizer and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC), and the EC is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained.

About BLOOM

BLOOM (Boosting European citizens’ knowledge and awareness of bio economy) aims to establish open and informed dialogues, co-created by European citizens, the civil society, bio economy innovation networks, local research centres, business and industry stakeholders and various levels of government including the European Commission. BLOOM will elaborate five hubs (communities of practice) that will allow for an iterative process with all stakeholders through various cycles of value development, enabling cross-fertilization and idea generation through shared knowledge and experiences.

These interactions and activities aim to 1) raise awareness and knowledge on bio economy, 2) build and strengthen a bio economy community, 3) provide reliable insights into the topic, its practices, benefits and implications, and 4) foster learning and education.

BLOOM - Awareness and knowledge gain for young citizens

In the context of BLOOM, a series of educational activities are being planned in order to reach the project objectives.

European Schoolnet’s tasks in BLOOM are to:

a) Select 10 teacher-coordinators and 10 support teachers from the 10 target countries of the project (two teachers per country): Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Israel, and Croatia.

b) Create bio economy teaching resources for schools (the BLOOM school box), which combine bio economy with five disciplines (physics, biology, mathematics, engineering, technology or chemistry) in collaboration with the teacher coordinators and the support teachers (i.e. the pilot teachers teams).

c) Train and support the 20 BLOOM pilot teachers (coordinators and support teachers) on how to use and disseminate the project resources.

d) Organize an interdisciplinary online school competition aiming to reward the most creative and innovative implementation of the project resources.

e) Create a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on bio economy meant to train as many teachers as possible on how to use the project bio economy resources.

Main tasks to be carried out by the Pilot Teacher Coordinators

The 10 teacher coordinators will be required to:

a) Produce new bio economy teaching resources together with project experts, test these resources in their schools/classrooms and provide feedback.

b) Encourage other teachers and schools to use the project resources by disseminating the project and the resources in their region (organise or participate in related events with other schools or headmasters), together with the support teacher in their country.

c) Organize at least one teacher training in the use of the project bio economy teaching resources, together with the support teacher in their country.

d) Assist and guide other teachers in the implementation of the project resources and ensure collection of evaluation data for the project, together with the support teacher in their country.

e) Participate in three face-to-face workshops in the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels, one to take place on 02-04 March 2018, the second on 14-16 September 2018 and the third in 2019 (date to be confirmed).

Main tasks to be carried out by the Pilot Support Teachers

The 10 support teachers will be required to:

a) Support the teacher coordinator of their country in creating, testing, promoting and disseminating the project, its resources and activities (organizing or participating in related events with other schools or headmasters).

b) Co-organize at least one teacher training in the use of the project bio economy teaching resources, together with the teacher-coordinator in their country.

c) Assist and guide other teachers in the implementation of the project resources and ensure collection of evaluation data for the project, together with the teacher-coordinator in their country.

d) Participate in one face-to-face workshop in the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels in 2019 (date to be confirmed).

Benefits for pilot teachers:

a) Opportunity to be part of the selected group of teachers of this European project and help co-create bio economy teaching resources and activities.

b) Training provided in the EUN Future Classroom Lab on teaching resources development, bio economy, and access to state-of-art pedagogical training and support.

c) Travel and accommodation costs of all pilot teachers covered to participate in their respective workshops.

d) Pilot teachers will appear as collaborators in the materials produced (including a MOOC, which will be produced at the end of the project).

e) Certificate of participation for all pilot teachers at the end of the project.

Selection criteria of BLOOM Pilot Teachers

The selection criteria for are the following:

Proficient knowledge of English (understanding, writing, reading and listening):

teachers should feel very comfortable to communicate in English in order to attend BLOOM organized workshops, and be able to develop teaching resources, and collaborate online with the project trainers, experts and teachers from the other pilot countries. Experience in producing learning/training resources: teachers will be required to have proven experience in developing pedagogical material for students, and teacher Professional development materials (instructional videos, e-learning material, etc.) as these materials will all ultimately feed into a MOOC for teachers. Interest in bio economy content: teachers will be asked through an application form to express their interest in working with bio economy content, how bio economy content can be included in the curriculum plus what kind of skills and experience they wish to acquire during their involvement in the BLOOM project. Interest in learning and sharing experiences and good practices: teachers will also be asked to demonstrate their interest in collaborative activities and learning as well as using pedagogical methods including any previous positive experience and lessons they have acquired by their involvement in other European projects. Good internet connection at home both in terms of stability and available bandwidth as well as frequent access to technical infrastructure (i.e., PC’s) since teachers need to be able to regularly connect online for their work. Availability to participate in the three BLOOM workshops: in order to fulfil the tasks described in this call, teachers need to attend all relevant workshops (these will take place during weekends). Experience in disseminating, sharing and training: teachers will be required to have proven experience in disseminating, sharing and providing training of resources, methodologies and or other educational activities to other teachers.

More information

The final selection of teachers will be validated by the Ministries of Education in the corresponding countries. EUN will not enter into detailed discussions or exchanges with any applicant as to why their application was not successful. Selected teachers will be requested to sign an agreement with EUN by Friday 28th of February 2018. The Teacher Coordinator and the support teacher do NOT have to be from the same school, but should teach the same subject(s) (unless they want to contribute to interdisciplinary resources) and must teach the same age group(s).