Index
THE CROSS CURRICULAR APPROACH ON WATERS 2
BACKGROUND 2
1. EUROPEAN RECOMMENDATIONS ON WATER 2
2. EUROPEAN RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING 3
3. KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING 5
4. THE CURRENT STATUS OF KEY COMPETENCES IN MEMBER STATES’ LIFELONG LEARNING STRATEGIES WITH REFERENCE TO SCHOOL CURRICULA: A CHANGE OF PARADIGM 6
5. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION? 7
6. SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS 9
A CROSS-CURRICULAR APPROACH 9
1. GENERAL IDEAS 9
2. SELECTING THE THEME 9
3. PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT 10
4. ASSESSMENT 11
5. PUPIL BENEFITS 11
6. STAFF BENEFITS 12
7. CHALLENGES 12
8. CITIZENSHIP WILL BE PROMOTED 12
THE CROSS CURRICULAR APPROACH ON WATERS
BACKGROUND
1. EUROPEAN RECOMMENDATIONS ON WATER
Water Ecology itself is a science in progressive development. Water protection Directives and laws (at National, European and International level, too) have also been in progress for the last 30-40 years, changing together with the evolution of the knowledge of the water and river ecosystems. Laws for water protection in EU countries, for example, first started with the prevention of pollution, so they were initially implemented to ban chemical pollution coming from industries and cities. Besides this, regulations on rivers in the past were managed in order to control flows with walls and dams, aiming to prevent lands and people from flood events.
Successively the basic concept of laws changed step by step, so that now an integrated approach, water circle based, was taken as a basis of a new way of thinking. At this point ecology evolution could clarify the role of a freshwater eco-system as a “body’ with many different functions to respect.
EU Water Framework Directive of 2000 starts from this new integrated approach. Water is a finished resource to protect. Chemical, biological, ecological functions of a water system are seen in order to prevent freshwater from being damaged or getting unhealthy.
Recent declarations coming from International Agencies affirm the role of active citizenship in the governance in Water management.
The World Water Assessment programme of UNESCO says:
“The comprehensiveness of water resource planning and sharing has been the subject of much controversy and debate. It has been widely recognized that in order to maximize the benefits from any water resource project, a more systematic analysis of the broader environment is needed. In addition to a broadening of traditional management approaches, there needs to be increased sensitivity to decision-making that involves multi-purpose actions and multi-user considerations” (from The 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report: 'Water, a shared responsibility' – 2006)
http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/
The summary of the “European Declaration for a ‘new water culture’” (Madrid, 18.02.2005) http://www.unizar.es/fnca/euwater/index2.php?x=3&idioma=en starts with “The fact that over 1.1 billion people do not have guaranteed access to drinking water and over 2.4 billion do not have safe sanitation, whilst the health of the planet's aquatic ecosystems is breaking down, has prompted the emergence of growing social and political conflicts worldwide. Achieving sustainability, equity and democratic governance in water management is one of the main challenges for the international community in the 21st century, and we believe that the scientific community must become involved in this debate through an inter-disciplinary effort”
The same UNESCO in the 1st United Nations WWD Report “Water for people, water for life” of 2003 assessed progress in 11 challenge areas, including: health, food, environment, shared water resources, cities, industry, energy, risk management, knowledge, valuing water and governance.
In the programmes or projects managed in the schools, science teachers are used to introduce an ecological point of view on problems as the water protection, but often teachers start from their curricular activities and they prefer to use strictly their specific competences. These competences can be different, depending on specific university degrees and specialisation courses, but they have a common main characteristic: usually, a disciplinary approach is used instead of an integrated approach towards the acquisition of a citizenship active role. Often, in other words, Water protection and correlated projects are “a problem of science teachers”. In many cases science teachers stop at the science itself and the managing of the data. The correctness of the data and their trustworthiness are often their major objective to reach with students. No attention is given to citizenship.
However, the Lisbon recommendation towards the competences for 2010 is aiming for an active citizenship. They also ask the school to change their teaching methods, also in teaching about scientific subjects. A good scientific basis is of course necessary to speak with awareness about rivers, but it can be taken much further than that.
Only a cross-curricular approach towards the ecological subjects can really fit into the Lisbon recommendations.
2. EUROPEAN RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING
Lifelong learning has become a necessity for all citizens. We need to develop our skills and competences throughout our lives, not only for our personal fulfillment and our ability to actively engage with the society in which we live, but for our ability to be successful in a constantly changing world of work. The knowledge, skills and aptitudes of the European workforce are a major factor in the EU’s innovation, productivity and competitiveness. Growing internationalisation, the rapid pace of change, and the continuous roll-out of new technologies mean that Europeans must not only keep their specific job-related skills up-to-date, but also possess the generic competences that will enable them to adapt to change. People’s competences also contribute to their motivation and job satisfaction in the workplace, thereby affecting the quality of their work. The ways in which we access information and services continue to change. We need new competences to master a whole new digital world, not only by acquiring technical skills, but also by gaining a deeper understanding of the opportunities, challenges and even ethical questions posed by new technologies.
In this climate of rapid change, there is increasing concern about our social cohesion. There is a risk that many Europeans feel left behind and marginalised by globalisation and the digital revolution. The resulting threat of alienation implies a need to nurture democratic citizenship; it requires people to be informed and concerned about their society and be active in it. The knowledge, skills and aptitudes that everyone needs must change as a result.
It is against this view that the Council and the European Parliament adopted, at the end of 2006, a European Framework for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. The Framework identifies and defines, for the first time at the European level, the key competences that citizens require for their personal fulfillment, social inclusion, active citizenship and employability in our knowledge-based society. The Member States’ initial education and training systems should support the development of these competences for all young people, and their adult education and training provision should give real opportunities to all adults to learn and maintain these skills and competences.
The differing needs of learners should be met by ensuring equality and access for those groups who, due to educational disadvantages caused by personal, social, cultural or economic circumstances, need particular support to fulfill their educational potential.
The foundations for lifelong learning are laid during initial education and training which has to provide all citizens with the key competences that prepare them for a life in a modern world and set them on the path to lifetime learning. As to the systems, this means integrating the provision seamlessly both from the lifelong (from cradle to grave) and life-wide point of view (formal, non-formal and informal learning).
3. KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
Competences are defined here as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context. Key competences are those which all individuals need for personal fulfillment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.
The Reference Framework sets out eight key competences:
1) Communication in the mother tongue;
2) Communication in foreign languages;
3) Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;
4) Digital competence;
5) Learning to learn;
6) Social and civic competences;
7) Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship;
8) Cultural awareness and expression.
The key competences are all considered equally important, because each of them can contribute to a successful life in a knowledge society. Many of the competences overlap and interlock: aspects essential to one domain will support competence in another. Competence in the fundamental basic skills of language, literacy, numeracy and in information and communication technologies (ICT) is an essential foundation for learning, and learning to learn supports all learning activities. There are a number of themes that are applied throughout the Reference Framework: critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem-solving, risk assessment, decision-taking, and constructive management of feelings play a role in all eight key competences.
All European countries are or should be working on integrating these key competences in education. Integrated teaching, using several subjects, offers an excellent approach to tackle these (European) key competences.
Source: European Commission
KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
European Reference Framework
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
2007 – 12 pp.
4. THE CURRENT STATUS OF KEY COMPETENCES IN MEMBER STATES’ LIFELONG LEARNING STRATEGIES WITH REFERENCE TO SCHOOL CURRICULA: A CHANGE OF PARADIGM
At the Member State level, there is substantial activity in creating lifelong learning strategies that build on the development of key competences, and on combining better non-formal and informal learning with the formal provision. Much emphasis has been put on the consistency and comprehensiveness of provision – both from a systemic view and from a learners' perspective.
Similarly, the initial education curricula reflect a shift of focus from imparting knowledge to developing transferable competences that equip young people for adult life and further learning. In more concrete terms, this paradigm shift implies a growing emphasis on competences that include knowledge, skills and attitudes and that together give students a solid basis for further learning.
Two mapping exercises (from 2004 and 2007) have been undertaken on how national policy agendas for lifelong learning and school curricula recognise key competences. Either implicitly or explicitly key competences are included in most important documents guiding school education, as the following examples suggest.
• In Hungary, the key competence-based approach dominates all areas of school policies: the revised curriculum, teacher education (initial and in-service), assessment system as well as material production.
• In Austria the lower-secondary curriculum comprises three areas: subject related competences, social competences and self-competences. The pre-vocational curriculum reflects the shared responsibility between subjects and cross-curricular objectives, and recently defined standards include elements such as critical thinking, self-regulated learning and co-operative learning.
• In Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain, the legislation regulating school education curricula (and lifelong learning) include key competences. In addition, the Hungarian Lifelong Learning Strategy builds largely on key competences and the links between employment and social developments. In Spain, for instance, the key competences have been incorporated into compulsory education curricula. Moreover, one of the innovations of the new Law regulating school education is the incorporation of a diagnostic assessment of students’ basic competences.
• In Cyprus, mother tongue, foreign languages, maths and science and ICT are promoted through subjects. In addition to that, the Ministry of Education and Culture sets specific objectives for cross-curricular competences for each school year.
• In the Czech Republic, the curriculum defines six key competences with a strong focus on learning to learn, social and communication skills which are further defined as skills to be developed within and outside subjects. Moreover, schools are requested to draft their own programmes, in which key competences and the implementation of cross-curricular competences are planned.
• In Greece, the curriculum reflects the paradigm shift towards lifelong learning and includes key competences described for each level with a strong emphasis on the cross-curricular competences.
• The Croatian 2005 national standards that guide schools have a strong emphasis on the development of creativity, problem-solving and other cross-curricular qualities of pupils.
• In Lithuania, a Strategy for renewing the content of general education stresses the need to develop e.g. citizenship, entrepreneurship and digital competences, and a current project develops key competences for basic education.
• In the UK (England), the government has a Key Skills Framework that is primarily accessed by young people. It describes competences such as problem solving, communication, application of number, ICT, working with others, and improving one's own learning as key skills. The English School National Curriculum includes Personal, Social and Health curriculum integrated in it. Similarly, the Early Learning Goals summarise what each child should know, understand and be able to do. In Scotland, A Lifelong Skills Strategy sets out ambitions for skills from cradle to grave and the National Qualifications Framework recognises five core skills: communication, numeracy, ICT, problem solving and working with others. In Northern Ireland, the current focus is on standards on literacy and numeracy.
In conclusion, several European countries exercise the key competences through a cross-curricular approach.
5. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION?
For several years there has been a strong demand for helping young people to integrate their knowledge learned within subjects, to help associate knowledge and to be able to use the knowledge they have acquired. All learners should comprehend the meaning and significance of things they learn and to make informed judgements about them. The competence-based approach in teaching and learning aims to achieve this. A successful implementation of curricula based on key competences, is not in contradiction with subjects that can allow for a development of in-depth knowledge of a certain discipline and target the acquisition of specific skills. However, if the focus is on the development of a full range of key competences for lifelong learning, subject knowledge should be seen rather as a first step that alone is not sufficient to fully respond to the needs of a learner in a modern society. The challenge is thus the systematic use of subject matter and the specific skills related to subjects as essential elements of the development of key competences. This requires all teachers, irrespective their subject specialisation, to be aware of and responsible for, developing the key competences of their students in the whole school context.