KNOWING, MODELING AND TRANSFERRING: INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 1 (O1) OF THE EARLY SCHOOL WORKERS PROJECT
The first phase of Early School Workers was scheduled to produce Intellectual Output 1 (IO1): “Critical Review on the UTC model and Concept model (guidelines) for its transferability in the Italian, Spanish and German context”. The output is now available in the four languages of the project. Its realisation was a made possible by a project-wide collaboration, not only by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore research group who led the process and finalised the product. Crucial steps of this process were the on-site training in Warrington, UK (November 2018) and the Consensus Conference in Brescia, Italy (May 2019). IO1, available on the project’s website and presented with the catchy graphics of Early School Workers, is made up of five sections, accompanying the reader to know University Technical Colleges and UTC Warrington in particular, then extracting the “concept model” of UTC (with its pedagogical, didactic and organisational features), and finally drawing the “transferability guidelines” – open and modular – for “exporting” the UTC methodology in other contexts. More precisely, Section 1 – “What are University Technical Colleges” – presents the phenomenon of UTCs explaining how and why they were founded, the challenges that UTCs try to address and provides an overview of the UTC model. Section 2 – “UTC Warrington” – presents the experience of UTC Warrington explaning how this school was able to translate the UTC model in a particular place (Warrington, Cheshire). Section 3 – “The concept model” – points out the distinctive elements that underpin UTCs and the logical structure that connects these schools. Fundamental elements of a concept training model are (at least) (1) the organizational dimension (concerns the organization of the school, its rules, its logics, the practical methods of or- ganization such as the organization chart and the timetable), (2) the pedagogical dimension (values and ideas that influence the schools education system) and (3) the didactic dimension (related to the “tools” used to achieve the final goals, for example the teaching methods to make the contents accessible and to concretize the pedagogical principles). The Section is the result of desk research based on available UTC documents and on a study visit conducted at UTC Warrington. Section 4 – “Transferability guidelines” – defines precise and concrete steps that should be made towards the “ideal-type school model”. Peculiar features of the guidelines, besides the practical approach, are modularity and adaptability to different contexts: the guidelines are divided in four thematic areas, each consisting of eight guidelines providing, in turn, a certain number of methodological principles. Even though the guidelines are strictly connected with each other, they represent recommendations that can be partially applied, thus realizing a version of the concept model suited for the local context, based on the situation and goals of the local community. A further feature of the guidelines is that they have been shared with a scientific community by means of a consensus conference: an initial draft was submitted to a council of experts who proposed amendments up to the final version. Section 5 – “Transferability guidelines across national contexts” – in the English version summarizes recommendations and critical issues to be taken into consideration for translating the model in other education system (outside England). The Section also briefly introduces the Italian, Spanish and German VET systems and highlights the main difficulties, opportunities and advantages that can raise from the application of the guidelines in the different national contexts. Notably, in the Italian, Spanish and German versions of IO1, Section 5 is replaced by a detailed description in which more detailed information are presented on both the individual national contexts and the advantages that the application of the model could bring to the educational and training system of the specific country. The next phase of ESW has already begun, and partners are designing curricula by sector, combining national standards and innovative UTC elements. They are doing so by using and applying IO1, but the Output is also open for the public and other education institutions and operators, both as a practical study tool and as a base for pedagogical reflection.
Intellectual Outputs are an important element of any international project. They are the base for sharing, a concrete tool for working together, and a public product not only for the funding agencies but also for society at large.