On behalf of Porticus Vienna as a main sponsor and in close cooperation and coordination with the Civil Ministry in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), „Open Europe Consulting“ - Consulting Company from Munich under the management of Ms. Andrea Mewaldt, is conducting the national concept-development for the Project „Introduction of the Experiential Learning into the Formal Education in BiH“. The conception phase has started in 2016 and will be enclosed in the end of 2017.
Currently all works on the project's concept are shared between the Department of Education in the Civil Ministry in BiH and all Ministries of Education in the country: 10 canton Ministries of Education in the Federation of BiH, Ministry of Education of the Republika Srpska, Department of Education of the Brcko Districts as well as Federal Ministry of Education in BiH. A unique nation-wide constellation, which overcomes the barriers of divided educational systems.
One representative from each of the responsible Ministries has been assigned to the so-called “Technical Team” (=1 representative pro Ministry) under the management of the OEC, which is responsible for the preparation of the future overall project content. Each representative attends regularly to the working sessions, or works between the meetings on the specially installed online platform "Projectplace".
The aim and main focus of the project is on teacher training, which includes preparation and provision of the teaching and learning materials, as well as direct introduction of the action-oriented teaching into the Bosnian-Herzegovinian primary schools.
Local non-governmental organisations, as well as the regional and international experts integrate their experience to the Experiential Learning in the conception of the further trainings for the teachers and carry out this into cooperation with the educational institutes in BiH throughout.
The project concept prepared by the Technical Team is to be verified by the responsible educational institutes in BiH using MoU and then submitted to Porticus Vienna for funding at the end of 2017. The entire project implementation time frame is planned for years 2018-2020; and after a final outcome analysis, a two-year follow-up phase may be considered.
Co-financing from other organizations or foundations with a strategic focus on education in BiH is desirable. The content-oriented structure and the subject-related content enable each co-sponsor to participate in the project with a defined amount that is adequate to his individual profile.
„Experiential LEARNING through action - therefore action-oriented learning“
Action-oriented learning focuses on "experiencing by doing" and turns away from the pure knowledge transfer towards competence-based learning. As a result, the experiential learning stimulates the key competences of the pupils, promotes their cooperative, communicative and democratic abilities, and also strengthens the motivation of teachers and pupils during the school day.
In the action-oriented teaching, learning is more sustainable because the students not only absorb the knowledge, but also develop their own content; they can better understand, reflect and apply acquired knowledge in different situations. Holistic understanding is the result of interdisciplinary and cross-linked learning. Action-oriented teaching offers the connection of intellectual, craft and experimental / research work.
Moreover, each student takes an active role and learns gradually to take over responsibility and independence for her/his own learning processes. In this way, pupils apart from the necessary knowledge internalize high self-efficacy as well as. Action-oriented teaching enables the teachers to respond to the particular needs of the pupils and to facilitate them individually according to their abilities and performance.
Cooperative work enables introducing and expanding the skills and knowledge within the team work. Each student learns to assess the quality of her/his own work and the others. Students can also rank and evaluate their own results.
Learning occurs in the context of society and deliberately involves local structures as learning partners (at school) and learning places (outside school). In addition, expectations of the economy as regards work and social skills are better developed. In today's working environment, expert knowledge is rapidly becoming obsolete: this requires continuous training, a constant adjustment to the new content and processes. Teamwork and interdisciplinary work are the basis for holistic and innovative solutions.
Your contact person is Andrea Mewaldt (mewaldt@open-europe-consulting.eu).
