Teachers portfolio

After the independency, the qualification categories for the teachers were divided into five levels: from junior teacher to expert teacher. To be promoted from one level to next teachers were required to earn credits at in-service training.

Actually this system was changed according request from teachers and later on was partly changed to a procedure on agreed criteria. By now the responsibility for each appraisal lies with local educational authorities. But the current five level career structure still functions in parallel with promotions based on length of work experience, level of education, publications participation at in service training courses as well as classroom performance judged against goals agreed annually with the teacher.

The society with it’s changes in economy, high unemployment rates and social problems had called a message for the school:

A goal oriented system instead of a system based upon content

  • A decentralised system

Naturally that for a some time the teachers felt insecure with their new main educational planing practice. In this context the exchanges of educational material andcomparison of approaches used by partner teachers of the other countries, integration of material from project partners becomes of extreme importance, because there were no localy ready–to–use developed instruments for a certain aspect.

One can say that in project work the teachers role becomes more important, more time consuming, requiring more intellectual effort.

That’s why by implimenting educational projects teachers applies more often for in-service training, study visits and conferences. Even more - teachers become open to self evaluation, willing to be more involved in schools/community life and cross curriculum work.

Teachers become not only skilled observers of students in order to inform their curriculum planning and implementation. The effects on teachers are evident in the increased turn in preparing teacher’ manuals by themselves, curriculum guides, or achievement tests as well as various recommendations.

Teachers take responsibilities systematically observe, take notes, and record. These observations are shared with other teachers in curriculum planing and evaluation.

Teachers of several schools often work together under the leadership, as they explore ways of expanding on student’s activities.

Questionaires asking facts and opinions of the teachers were helpful in framing teachers portfolio which serves for professional growth and in some way helps teachers to set the personal qualification goals.

The teachers portfolio for educational projects

Implementing educational project teacher should record material for upcoming portfolio.

The purpose of portfolio

  • Serves specificaly evaluate the project,
  • students activities,
  • achievements.
  • Collects and accumulates methodical experience

Composition of a few portfolios allows comparison, and diletable evaluation of educational project

Organization of Portfolio

The other gathering ways of exploratory material (notes, diaries, etc.) designation from portfolio devotes because of it’s comprehensivness. Portfolio’s are being prepared by using various įvairias media forms. The teacher composes portfolio’ material in a cover/folder.

Parts of the portfolio

Theoretic(al) part.

Actual material for concreate project.

References

Layout and planing sketches.

  • Proceeding
  • Examples
  • Course

Project process fixation.

This part is the most important (photos, video, diagrams, drafts sketches) as well as written material on project course.

Project discussion, score analysis.

The teacher consider project scores and achievements of the students

The evaluation of achievements of the sudents in the course of project.

Teather evaluates students progress and achievements.

Key features of the upcoming strategy

On-going and regular meetings and consultations whith schools

A commitment to a long – term process

To use made of a study’s conceptual frameworks rather than bald recommendations

Working with knowledgeable experts in I-Probe Net who understand the field.

Participation through the national projects

How to evaluate a national project?

This paper describes the evolution of a new approach to the project work through the participation in the national projects. The national projects contributes as for pleriminary preparation to join the European projects which offer new methodologies for teaching and learning.

The recent educational system in Lithuania seemed to be for all pupils but had a number of serious drawbacks. Pupils could rather easily pass through school without learning. The system did not promote creative and new pedagogical thinking, as school wasn’t responsible for pupils learning. The system had needed rules now seemed to hinder the schools development.

The main new documents of the Lithuanian Education reform pronounce approach of development of the ideas of democratic education, create humanistic school as well as student – centred education. An introduction of changes into practice are being important for the overal education progress. One of the contemporary urgent problems - the development of new training programmes as well as education models.

In search of new education forms developing the implementation of new methods the national projects are being lounched since 1996.

By implementing the first national project was aiming at the popularisation of the project method among teachers and students. Later on the goals and objectives of the projects were expanded.

Presently the national projects mainly focus on civic, environmental, artistic disciplines as well as use of active methods, encourage community participation and school reform.

Most important objectives

  • During the course of the national project implementation a variety of students groups are being established to participate in the national project as well as separate classes and schools.
  • That makes shooling more humane and engaging by centering it on students interests and activities, provides an opportunity to observe, anlyse the project efficiency in the situations of collaboration, when the same objectives are undertaken by different collectives, at the same time investigate the integration characteristics, observe the opportunities for institutional collaboration, analyse results of socio-cultural education.
  • The outcome serves to a system of curriculum – lighten devolution from academic scientific learning to problem solving and democratic social relations. The national projects reasoned that such work through active participation would help them to learn at the same time giving access to practices.

To evaluate educational quality one needs to know not only what students are tought, but also the general educational philosophy, curricula, hours on the time table, also the teaching methods, textbooks, and how much they actualy learn. This road from intention via delivery to attainment is by no means straight and subtile changes happen along the way. An integrated system to assess or monitor “quality”, therefore, needs not only to take account of input quality, process quality and outcome quality, but to be alert to the way these elements interact with each other and with society outside the schools. It also needs to be prepared to live a useful life in a changing world.

Many strategies accept this comprehensive view of quality evaluation and often sets it out in tables, more or less.

One can understand that during the process when project is underway it is impossible to evaluate everything. The evaluation of project work presents special difficulties because of the complex nature of the task. While assesment of project work can generally be successfully achieved if it is of a formative nature and conducted primarily with invariably with a intention of enabling students to enhance their performance. The grading of project work is often subjective and invariably a compromise.

The ability to develop a theme or a problem over in provided period of time and to get deep into it, can be reflected in various ways. It may be seen in the student working with an assignment longer than the teacher had expected, or making certain revisions in the course of work, or exploring a theme or a problem in more than one work and seeing a possibility of going on, or testing different materials.

Evaluating students participation and his/her work in the national project the following can be accentuate:

  • The student easily gives up, does not pursue his/her own ideas, and just does what the teacher requires;
  • The student shows a ceratin degree of patience, tries his/her own solutions and approaches but does not develop them;
  • The student does not easily give up but chooses a specific approach which she/he then starts to develop;
  • The student works very hard, approaches themes and problems from several angles, develops the work through a series of drafts or attempts;
  • The student can take a problem that the teacher has formulated and change it slightly;
  • The student sets him/herself problems to solve. He/she develops her knowledge, experiments quite often and sometimes finds unexpected solutions to problems;
  • The student often sets him/herself problem of his/her own or reformulates those posed by the teacher. Costantly moves on the regular experiments, willing to take risk and often finds unexpected solutions to problems.
The way of evaluating what is learned

Some comments on the assessement

A teacher evaluating work by pupils must rely on certain accepted standards.

In addition there is a must to know something about the context in which the works were made.

The teacher similary views a student’s works in connection what he or she knows about the student and the problems the student is concerned with.

As background knowledge the teacher has a general grasp of what other students have done, and also needs to know something about the students models.

The most useful effects

  • Outgrouth of the level of cultural participation
  • Complexity of cultural activities
  • Effect on attitudes towards cultural participation
References

Siaulytiene D. (2001) Project Method in Arts Education. Vilnius, p.42 (in Lithuanian with summary in English).

Siaulytiene D. (2001) Some features of Art Education trough Project Method // V., Pedagogika. - T. 47, p. 113-123 (in Lithuanian with summary in English)

Siaulytiene D. (2000) Peculiarities in Arts Education through Project Method. In : Education reform: school, studies, research. VII th International Research Conference. Research and issues. Vilnius (in Lithuanian), p. 229-234.

Siaulytiene D. (2000) Children and Youth Culture in Scandinavia. In: Mokykla (School), Vilnius, p.18-20 (in Lithuanian).

Siaulytiene D. (1998) (with co-author) Toward a relationship between National Homogeneity and Multiculturulasim in Visual Arts. In: Canadian Review of Art Education: Research and Issues, vol.25, no 1, p. 1-14 (in English)

Mice. Model instruments for a common evaluation. A complementary Measures project concerning the self –evaluation of Comenius 1 Projects. – 2001

Reviews of National Policies for education . Lithuania. OECD. - 2002