Cross-Curricular Teaching
The French Institute of Education is involved in a 3-year project on cross-curricular teaching (CROSSCUT) co-financed by the European Union in the framework of Erasmus +.
Project Summary
The CROSSCUT project aims at supporting secondary-level teachers’ professional development by training them to develop and implement innovative cross-curricular approaches, in order to enhance the acquisition of transversal key competences by pupils. Transversal competences are not associated with school subjects while secondary teachers are often trained in traditional academic disciplines. Therefore, competence-based learning implies an important shift in teaching methods and practices.
Within the CROSSCUT Consortium, Universities and Institutes of Education from 6 European countries will collaborate to find, through mutual learning, evidence and data collection, a valid solution to a challenge in teachers’ professional development and classroom practices. It addresses in-service teachers and school leaders from the 6 participating countries (Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal) by involving them directly in the project activities.
The CROSSCUT project will identify enablers and obstacles of effective cross-curricular teaching through a multi-country situational survey. By combining research data and field study, the project will point out competences and skills required to successfully design and implement cross-curricular activities in secondary schools. The competences will be featured in a common reference framework collaboratively designed by partners. The situational survey and the competence framework will be used to design a comprehensive online training programme.
A Learning platform will aim at equipping educational staff and training them with strong pedagogical skills and competences, based on solid research and practice. It will include training modules, teaching resources and collaborative space for teachers to exchange best practices. Teachers and schools leaders taking part in the project will train on the learning platform and will implement cross-curricular activities in their schools. Impact evaluation of the project on teaching practices will be carried out with these pilot users.
Tapping into project outcomes, recommendations will be targeted at policy makers, teacher-training institutions, and schools leaders, to influence at multiple decisive levels teacher education and teacher working environment creating favourable conditions for cross-curricular teaching. Thus the project covers several dimensions of teachers’ professional development. It addresses the way of thinking, from subject-based to cross-curricular approaches; the way of working, from isolated activity to collaborative culture; and the tools for working by giving access to specific collaborative resources.
By equipping educational staff with strong pedagogical skills and giving them access to innovative and collaborative practices that promote transversal competences development, the project will contribute to delivering high quality teaching, strengthening the profile of teaching profession and improving achievement of key competences by pupils.
Key figures
Project Summary
The CROSSCUT project aims at supporting secondary-level teachers’ professional development by training them to develop and implement innovative cross-curricular approaches, in order to enhance the acquisition of transversal key competences by pupils. Transversal competences are not associated with school subjects while secondary teachers are often trained in traditional academic disciplines. Therefore, competence-based learning implies an important shift in teaching methods and practices.
Within the CROSSCUT Consortium, Universities and Institutes of Education from 6 European countries will collaborate to find, through mutual learning, evidence and data collection, a valid solution to a challenge in teachers’ professional development and classroom practices. It addresses in-service teachers and school leaders from the 6 participating countries (Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal) by involving them directly in the project activities.
The CROSSCUT project will identify enablers and obstacles of effective cross-curricular teaching through a multi-country situational survey. By combining research data and field study, the project will point out competences and skills required to successfully design and implement cross-curricular activities in secondary schools. The competences will be featured in a common reference framework collaboratively designed by partners. The situational survey and the competence framework will be used to design a comprehensive online training programme.
A Learning platform will aim at equipping educational staff and training them with strong pedagogical skills and competences, based on solid research and practice. It will include training modules, teaching resources and collaborative space for teachers to exchange best practices. Teachers and schools leaders taking part in the project will train on the learning platform and will implement cross-curricular activities in their schools. Impact evaluation of the project on teaching practices will be carried out with these pilot users.
Tapping into project outcomes, recommendations will be targeted at policy makers, teacher-training institutions, and schools leaders, to influence at multiple decisive levels teacher education and teacher working environment creating favourable conditions for cross-curricular teaching. Thus the project covers several dimensions of teachers’ professional development. It addresses the way of thinking, from subject-based to cross-curricular approaches; the way of working, from isolated activity to collaborative culture; and the tools for working by giving access to specific collaborative resources.
By equipping educational staff with strong pedagogical skills and giving them access to innovative and collaborative practices that promote transversal competences development, the project will contribute to delivering high quality teaching, strengthening the profile of teaching profession and improving achievement of key competences by pupils.
Key figures
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6 countries, 8 partners:
- Centre international d’études pédagogiques (France)
- French Institute of Education (France)
- University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
- Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development (Netherlands)
- Educational Research Institute (Poland)
- Institute of Education de l’Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
- Universidade Aberta (Portugal)
- Norwegian Center for ICT in Education (Norway)
- 3 years (from September 2016 to August 2019)
- Budget: 398,000€