Showing posts with label parental involvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parental involvement. Show all posts
10/08/2017
Inspiring school leaders
If Kids can do it... - Parents and children together for tackling food waste
EPA has been represented in the FEAD Network by our Ambassador Herminio Correa (second left in the picture). In the network they are trying to find cooperation possibilities of projects financed from FEAD funds and those working with groups of people, those who are the most deprived in Europe, to amplify the effect of FEAD funding. The following project idea was developed at the last network meeting at a contest and won. It is a simple but great idea worth considering to implement. Let us know if you decide to make it a reality.
5/15/2017
The World Celebrates Parents as Educators Today
International Day of Families 2017
The
International Day of Families is held on 15 May every year. This year the
United Nations has decided to focus on parents as the primary educators of
their children. The message of the year does not only acknowledge parents as
educators and emphasise the crucial role parents play in the education of their
children, but also calls the attention of policy makers to the importance of
empowering parents as well as offering them conditions for balancing work and
family life. The European Parents’ Association has been advocating exactly for
this for more than 30 years and this was also why we fostered the establishment
of the International Parents Network, a global network of people – parents and
non-parents alike – who wish to act for parents and with parents to ensure
parents’ rights for the best interest of the child. Parent activist all over
the world warmly welcome the official message of the UN highlighting the “vital role of
parents in safeguarding good quality education starting with early childhood
and extending throughout their children’s and grandchildren’s lifespan”.
3/01/2017
Forum on Leadership Policy on Equity and Learning: Take it to the Students
The Maltese Ministry of Education hosted a conference on school leadership and equity, co-organised by the former European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL) on 16/17 January 2017. As an active member of the EPNoSL, EPA was offered the opportunity not only to participate, but also to offer input in two workshops on Supporting National Advocacy of Parents’ Associations and Giving Responsibility to Boost Participation. EPA was represented in the event by Brigitte Haider, our Project Manager. You can read her detailed report below.
The conference also offered an opportunity to have a discussion among former network members in order to successfully submit an application for a next financing round for our work on school leadership policy. Since the event the submission was done and now we all keep our fingers crossed for it. EPA is offered a major role in the planned network, together with our regular collaborator, the European School Heads Association, ESHA. The network would be again led by FORTH and we have enjoyed working with them.
2/02/2017
New scientific tool to analyse the inclusiveness of education systems embraces EPA advocacy messages
Professor
Paul Downes and his team has just published a scientific paper setting up an exhaustive
set of structural indicators to measure the inclusiveness of systems in and
around schools on different vertical levels and local. Inclusion is key to
making Europe more successful in educating lifelong learners who are equipped
for future challenges and can also cope with the present. Professor Downes, one
of the speakers of our conference in Dubrovnik in April 2016, shares our
thoughts about the importance of fully engaging both parents and students of all
ages as the only means to achieve this successfully. We were consulted as
experts during the development of the indicators, and we are proud to see that our
comments were not only taken into account, but the paper refers to and openly
embraces EPA advocacy messages, becoming the first official European Commission document
referencing our Manifesto 2015. The publication offers assessment tools for use
on national policy and also on institutional (school) level. It is free to be
downloaded from here.1/20/2017
Survey on good practices and quality of Childcare Centres
A survey for parents and practitioners working at child care
centres/nurseries is being held as part of a Erasmus+ project entitled
"SEQUENCES – Self and external Evaluation of QUality in EUrope to Nourish
Childhood Education Services" funded by the European Commission that EPA is a partner in. This
project aims to respond to the need to improve the quality of ECEC services
through the creation of evaluation tools. The survey ends on 15th March 2017.
Please respond according to your knowledge and your own personal
experience.Click the link to the different language versions to start the survey:
English https://goo.gl/forms/F5A2a3CCcqatEWnf2
Italian: https://goo.gl/forms/WtCbEqVJy8amgcrj1
Romanian: https://goo.gl/forms/PZqmhCskzwEo5XtH2
Lithuanian: https://goo.gl/forms/c1hUZzcprR6KywGD3
Hungarian: https://goo.gl/forms/IJLj6Rye7qKlLWhF2
Serbian: https://goo.gl/forms/Qx5hT5ne0onTNRHX2
Slovenian: https://goo.gl/forms/zeMVPUy0hgFyLqDp1
If you don't know the answer, give a 1 as you should know as a parent, if you cannot quote any good practices, just put an X there.
English https://goo.gl/forms/F5A2a3CCcqatEWnf2
Italian: https://goo.gl/forms/WtCbEqVJy8amgcrj1
Romanian: https://goo.gl/forms/PZqmhCskzwEo5XtH2
Lithuanian: https://goo.gl/forms/c1hUZzcprR6KywGD3
Hungarian: https://goo.gl/forms/IJLj6Rye7qKlLWhF2
Serbian: https://goo.gl/forms/Qx5hT5ne0onTNRHX2
Slovenian: https://goo.gl/forms/zeMVPUy0hgFyLqDp1
If you don't know the answer, give a 1 as you should know as a parent, if you cannot quote any good practices, just put an X there.
11/12/2016
How to empower parents for a better quality of childhood – EPA co-organised talk in the European Parliament
Professor Ramon Flecha (CREA, University of Barcelona) gave
a Quality of Childhood talk on 8 November in the European Parliament on
scientifically evidenced methods to empower parents to become more successful
educators. This was a major event for EPA to raise awareness of the importance
of empowering parents, and also to raise awareness about EPA among MEPs. The
event was hosted by MEP István Újhelyi (S&D, Hungary, member of the Lifelong Learning Interest Group of the EP). It was the 61st
talk, the first ever to be co-hosted by EPA, and has been for 2 years in the
pipeline.
Our host MEP Újhelyi called the attention of the audience,
including professionals as well as people from the EP, to the importance of investing in children and
empowering parents as part of this investment. To invest in an equitable way
can not only decrease child poverty at present, but also help preventing the
recreation of poverty of forthcoming generations.
11/03/2016
A child rights perspective on parental involvement and child participation
This paper was prepared for school heads and assistant heads participating at a school leadership training, but it may also be useful for all parents and teachers for designing a rights-based participatory system in their schools. It also contains some child rights aspects to be considered generally in education, some of them often violated, a couple of them are regularly violated on the basis of false assumptions on responsibility or out of ignorance. With
20 November, the day we celebrate the rights of the child, approaching, it
seems to be a timely publication. The logo illustrating the article is awarded to schools respecting the rights of the child. There is a lot to be done to achieve that.
9/28/2016
Integrating refugees and migrants through education
9/24/2016
What are young children telling us? - Think about school segregation from a totally different angle
The Serbian member of EPA, Pomoc Deci organised a very
interesting event in Belgrade in the middle of September 2016 with participants
from Balkan countries, Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro as well
as Northern Ireland. While the event had an early childhood focus, EPA was
offered the opportunity to give our views on parental involvement and child
participation with special focus on peace-building, as well as to hold a
totally interactive workshop on active European citizenship on school level.
This was also a great opportunity to pilot our ELICIT+ training material in an
exciting context, the Balkans.
The most interesting presentation of the event was by Prof.
Bojana Breneselovic from Belgrade University. The title of the conference was
borrowed from her, and she made us change lenses and see segregation from a
totally different angle. After listening to the presentation, you are likely to
have realised that the younger your child is, the more likely it is they go to
a segregated school. But to prove that, you need to understand what segregation
really means according to the Oxford English Dictionary ‘the action or state of
setting someone or something apart from others’.
9/23/2016
Why are parents important? - Ask your teacher and publish the video on #ParentsAndSchools Day
On the second Tuesday of October, this year on 11 October, Europe celebrates the European Day of Parents and Schools
since 2002. Initiated by the European Parents’ Association (EPA), this day is
used to highlight the importance of
parents and teachers working together for the benefit of children by
parents’ organisations, often supported by their respective national Ministries
of Education.
Parents’ associations gathered together in EPA want to use
the occasion of #ParentsAndSchools
Day to promote and advocate for the
implementation of new policy
messages by the European
Commission published earlier this year on transforming schools to make them more attractive for students and
families alike in order to achieve the
EU2020 headline target of reducing early school leaving. These
recommendations fundamentally build on
the school community, parents, teachers and students taking ownership of
learning by actively participating in transforming the school to meet the needs of today’s children as well as preparing them for
the challenges of the 21st
century.
4/01/2016
New EU policy recommendations on transforming schools focus on parental involvement and child participation
On 7-8 March a conference in Brussels discussed the results of the ET2020 Working Group on Schools Policy – an expert group of policymakers and stakeholders from more than 30 European countries. The Group’s work over the last two years had focused on identifying successful policy approaches to reducing early school leaving and to raising the quality of Initial Teacher Education. The set of new policy recommendations focus very much on parental involvement and child participation, as well as preparing professionals for this. EPA was represented by Eszter Salamon, President, who was invited to participate at the closing plenary round table discussion, together with representatives of other stakeholder groups, of the event.
2/10/2016
Parents’ contribution to the European public consultation on ‘challenges of work-life balance’
The European Commission
launched a public consultation on a roadmap on ‘possible action to address the
challenges of work-life balance faced by working parents and caregivers’. The
roadmap openly declares that “the main reason behind the initiative is to
address the low participation of women in the labour market by modernising and
adapting the current EU legal and policy framework to today's labour market”.
On behalf of European parents, EPA as a registered lobby organisation
contributed to the public consultation emphasising that issues of
reconciliation parents are facing are much broader than measures pushing women
to participate at the labour market. First of all, it is important for us to
demand the use of another phrase ‘work-life balance’ as it suggests that work
is not part of life while it is.
11/26/2015
Press release: Representing parents in Europe: the first 30 years
The European Parents’ Association
(EPA) is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year. Our November
conference – co-organised and hosted by our Luxembourgish member, FAPEL -,
taking place in the EU Presidency country, Luxembourg is aiming at taking stock
of the state of play and highlighting some of the areas to be developed in the
field of parental involvement. A Manifesto about the direction of parents’
representation for the years to come is launched at the event.
In our event we will revisit the
past 30 years, present the results of two recent Europe-wide surveys on
parental involvement and school costs, with special focus on the achievements
of the past 15 years and give the floor to our members to share their
experiences and try to find answers to our questions.
5/09/2014
ALCUIN Award 2014
EPA’s ALCUIN Award is a prize for excellence in the field of education which primarily
focuses on the role of parents.
This award is assigned to the best
educational initiative judged on the following criteria:
Originality
The project should have the quality of being new and
original. The characteristics of uniqueness and singularity are difficult to appreciate/achieve
in Europe. If the concept is based on existing activities the original sources
need to be declared. The minimum requirement for a proper ALCUIN-candidate is
the adaption to local or national needs with respect to a specific
(multi)cultural situation. The project should demonstrate inventiveness,
imaginativeness, a certain extent of audacity, authenticity, individuality and
rarity.
Contribution to education
The project should be a good
example in the sense of LifeLong
Learning showing the influence and input of parents in the learning process of
their children. EPA especially appreciates a holistic approach to education.
Implementation of non-formal and informal learning and the involvement of
parents as “lifelong learners” – educators, trainers, role model and learning
adults …
Involvement of parents as a characteristic
Parents and parents’
associations should be the main actors in the project. The project should have
a real interest and advantage for parents and schools
Constructive approach to home-school relationships in education
To see “Parents as Primary
Educators” is EPA’s core paradigm. The ALCUIN award is intended to give a floor
to successful support of this parental role in partnership with educational
institutions. The project should be characteristic to the actors and recipients
and have strong personal features.
Its potential as a “role model” in
Europe with easy dissemination and applicability
Every impacting activity is
governed by optimum adaption to specific needs. The ALCUIN trophy can only be
rewarded to initiatives that exhibit good performance along a clear vision.
Disseminating experiences from a winner project should encourage member
associations to implement their own activities based on these examples.
Submission:
Candidates can be put forward by
- a member of EPA
- a Ministry of Education
- The European Commission
The prize will be rewarded in the GA of EPA
in November 2014.
To present the project most effectively it
is crucial that one person is present in the ceremony to introduce and explain
the specific characteristics. We kindly ask to already nominate this person in
the application.
Please explain the main characteristics of
the project in English in the application form and take your time to link to
the five criteria listed above. Though additional information in English is
appreciated we encourage to also add whatever is available in national tongue
(leaflets, posters, brochures, recordings, videos etc.).
To win the ALCUIN trophy all five criteria
need to be fulfilled. The board explicitly decided to accept more than one
submission from a country if they represent different independent local or
regional projects.
Jury
The jury is chaired by Michèle Retter
(FAPEL Lux). Its members come from different European countries and represent
various stakeholders in education.
The jury will judge on the projects with
respect to the specific environments.
Procedure:
Proposals for candidates must be sent in to
the EPA office by 15 September
2014.
via e-mail:
office@euparents.eu
via snail mail:
European Parents’ Association (EPA)
Strozzigasse 2/Zi. 418
A-1080 WIEN
AUSTRIA
Please fill the downloadable application form with
the basic information and explain in detail, how the project is run.
We are curiously awaiting your application
and look forward to new successful ideas.
1/13/2014
Challenges and Opportunities for Organised Parents in the Future of Europe
EPA held its second General Assembly and Conference in Brussels. The topic was the role and possibilities of parents in the next budgetary and parliamentary period of the EU both starting in 2014. Our Slovenian member, ZASSS collected lots of useful links based on the conference programme that all parents' associations in Europe can use to broaden parents' information on Europe as well as for planning new projects.
Opening and welcome words
Parenting Support in Europe, Daniel Molinuevo, Eurofund
European Platforms and Initiatives for EU2020
European NGO’s for EU2020
Workshop
9/26/2013
9th ERNAPE Conference in Lisbon
The 9th Conference of the European Research Network
about Parents in Education (ERNAPE) was held in Lisbon at the beginning of
September 2013. The researchers inspired by the theory and practice of Professor
Joyce Epstein - formerly parental involvement, nowdays school partnership –
from Chile to Hong Kong gathered to share research data and ideas with each
other.6/30/2013
Parental involvement training for parents - EPA workshop in Dublin 14 June 2013
In one of the workshops at the last General Assembly of EPA the Irish example was presented and the participants discussed their national experiences.
5/12/2013
ATEE Spring Conference in Riga
The pedagogic partnership of parents with teachers is one of EPA's key paradigms. Thus the board decided to register the EPA-President as member of ATEE, thei Association for Teacher Education in Europe.
EPA's contributions in prior conferences dealt with co-operation
between teachers and parents as a key issue in teachers' initial and
in-service-training and introduced the European agenda against Early
School Leaving (ESL).11/02/2012
Citizenship Education in Europe - Eurydice Report
The report shows that all European countries now have introduced central regulations to promote student participation in school governance. Encouraging citizens, particularly young people, to actively engage in social and political life has recently become a growing political priority both at national and European level. Because education is viewed as a principal means to promote active citizenship, the report aims to capture how policies and measures relating to citizenship education have evolved over recent years in European countries. To this end, the report provides an overview of the state of play on five main topics: 1) Curriculum aims and organisation; 2) student and parent participation in schools; 3) school culture and student participation in society; 4) assessment and evaluation; 5) and support for teachers and school heads.
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