about B-Level in-service teacher training in ICT…

Hits: 4404

The rapid technological developments in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) transform the world from every perspective. The school cannot remain unaffected or untouched by this process. The learning conditions in the contemporary school, the knowledge, skills and attitudes that the students are expected to acquire must correspond to the demands of society, as these are formed within the above scenario.

Therefore, it is necessary to modernize and improve the education provided in schools, in relation also to the use of ICTs.

ICTs can hold a very significant role in the “New School”, which places the student at the centre of the educational process with his/her active participation in learning activities and with personalized teaching. It improves the education offered, promotes lifelong learning and enhances innovation and creativity.

The key factor for achieving the objectives set by the “New School” is the teacher, who must possess the necessary qualifications that will allow him/her to function within the new reality and to take advantage of the new conditions and ICTs in order to accomplish the learning and pedagogical goals set.

The project “in-service training of teachers in the utilisation and application of ICTs in the teaching practice” of the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning”, NSRF (2007-2013), which is implemented with co-funding from the EU and the ESF concerns the training of a large number of educators in Greek primary and secondary schools, in the in-class utilization of Information and Communication Technologies for the teaching process.

The training program has a duration of 96 hours and takes place outside the school schedule in specially equipped centres - the Training Support Centres - which are usually schools, throughout the whole country, by specialized teacher trainers, the B-Level teacher trainers,  who have undergone the appropriate training for this purpose at Universities, in particular at the University Training Centres. This training is known also as B-Level training, since it constitutes the normal continuation of the A-Level training in basic ICT skills which was carried out in the framework of previous projects.

In the “B-Level” training the following may participate: philology teachers (PE02), mathematicis teachers (PE 03), physical/natural science teachers (PE 04), French, English and German language teachers (PE 05/06/07), primary school teachers (PE 70), kindergarten teachers (PE 60) and informatics teachers (PΕ19/20).  They must be permanent educators at public and private schools and must also be actively teaching in a school during the course of their training, so that they have the possibility to apply in the classroom, i.e. to put into practice, the knowledge and skills they acquire, an element that constitutes an integral part of the training in itself. Except for informatics teachers (PΕ19/20), the teachers of the other classifications must have already received certification for the “A-Level” basic ICT skills in order to participate in the “B-Level” training.

Training will be carried out in at least four training cycles during the time period 2009-2013 and it is expected that 27,500 teachers will participate. Furthermore, 600 teachers, including school counsellors, will attend teacher trainer programs at University teacher training centres.

 

The scope of B-Level in-service training involves learning the principles of the pedagogically sound utilization of ICTs, the acquisition of skills according to teacher specialization, for the pedagogical use and application of educational software and generic tools and the development of the triptych “knowledge-skills-attitudes”.  The goal is for the trainees to: